Sliding while wearing shorts?

[southpaw23]

Is there any advice on teaching and practicing sliding while wearing shorts instead of pants?
Our uniforms consist of shorts (which I hate but it is what it is) but the league we play in recommends sliding as much as possible to avoid head on collisions.
Any thoughts as to how I should promote this and practice this? I guess I can throw a piece of slick cardboard out in the outfield to practice on but I'm worried that this won't carry over into the game because the girls are wearing shorts.
It almost makes the pop up slide useless (they won't do it for fear of tearing up the skin on their legs); what about a sort of hip slide to the side while reaching for the base?

Thoughts as to how I should approach this?

 

[ShortStuff]

Highly recommend padded sliding shorts that go under the uniform shorts, and a knee pad on the leg they tuck underneath when sliding.

 

[obbay]

Short stuff is absolutely correct!
also, practice sliding - I have done the plastic sheeting and baby powder as described below, but one of the surprisingly most popular ways was sliding in the grass in the rain (in summer)!
the following is from another post:

1) very important: make sure the players have sliding shorts and two knee or shin pads on.
2) have the player stand relaxed with her back to you. gently push her in the back (or have the girls push each other in the back-this might be more politically correct to avoid inappropiate touching) and she should put one leg out to stop herself from falling forward. have her make this leg the leg that is straight out when sliding.
3) next have the player sit cross legged, then straighten out her leg that she stepped out with, and tuck the other leg under her knee to make a figure 4. do this a few times.
4) next have two coaches or parents hold a bat on each end, at about waist high, and have the player walk up, grab the middle of the bat with both hands, and swing underneath it like a parallel bar a few times. then have her jog up and swing underneath it and try to straighten her leg and tuck the other leg underneath.
5) finally, use the pad you are talking about, and have the players run full speed and slide. have the player hold a softball in each hand, and raise them above their heads when they slide, to keep them from putting their hand down behind them. Yes, you can use raw eggs too, but you might have some parents that dont see the humor in eggs all over their kid and car interiors...

when you see them sliding correctly, move to the dirt.
you'll be surprised how quickly they pick it up. I think using the pad when they first slide at full speed keeps them from getting scraped up and scared to slide...

And from another post:

One way we have practiced this is to take a strip of heavy gauge plastic sheeting, (like the stuff they wrap around large appliances), and cut a piece about four feet wide by 12 feet long. If a new refrigerator is not in your plans, you can buy this stuff by the roll in the paint department. Lay it out on the grass, take off your shoes, and work on your form.

Coach Chris is right, you want to make sure you are sliding on your butt and not rolling over onto your side. Keep your hands up so you don't jam a wrist or a finger in the dirt. Work first on bent left leg, right foot high, (easier for right handers), and then reverse. When you are comfortable with that, lose the plastic and start working on pop up slides, (same basic form, but you will push off the bottom leg a bit at the base to stand up on your top leg). Keep your feet as high as you can while you are drilling this and stay on your bottom.

On close tag plays, or throws away from the bag the hook slide is not nearly as common as head first slides anymore, (THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF HEAD FIRST SLIDES), but can be worked on the same way, just change the position of your legs, throwing the trailing foot away from the middle of your body, (already identified above as your butt).

One way to make this fun is to bring a can of baby powder and dust the plastic. This makes for a slicker surface and the scent also makes the Moms hug their “Babies” when they get back from practice.

 

[southpaw23]

Thanks for the great info. Maybe this makes me look stupid, but I didn't even know they sold "sliding shorts" to wear under uniform shorts. Makes sense and I'll get my daughter a pair. Now I have to convince the rest of the team to try and get a pair of them and actually slide.

 

[smddad]

Highly recommend padded sliding shorts that go under the uniform shorts, and a knee pad on the leg they tuck underneath when sliding.

And after they are done putting on all this gear, it would have been easier, more protective, cheaper and cooler to wear pants. Just sayin'.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

i have never wore ball pants in my life. You can slide safely, with shorts on. I would almost have to be there, to teach it. The biggest problem are the fields, today. We played on well manicured infields. Some fields I see today look like gravel.

With girls today, I would have them wear blue jeans and teach them to slide. Locally, the 8U girls wear shorts, so they are taught early on, how to slide.
Yes, to sliding shorts - but I had my DD wear those under her ball pants anyway. They serve as compression pants. And we use slide sliding pads to protect the legs from the ball.

Any girl that prefers ball pants, should be allowed to buy her own.

 

[softballphreak]

One of the very best ways to learn to slide is inside on a basketball court. Wear knee pads and helmets until they get it.

Slide on your butt—not your knee! Hands above the head.

Want to make it quick and easy? Get a few baseball players in the mix and let them demonstrate sliding on grass. The kids learn better from other kids.

 

[Scl1991]

i have never wore ball pants in my life. You can slide safely, with shorts on.

Amy, you sound like my daughter's travel coach, when the girls whined about shorts for their practice uniform! She eventually convinced them to slide right!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

It was just 2006, that my DD's team was complaining about changing to pants. You can't keep 'em happy.