- Jun 8, 2016
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I guess I misunderstood, tennis balls are mostly for developing soft hands, not mechanics of fielding grounder as you describe (although I think they can be useful for teaching them to get all the way under a pop fly, catching above their shoulders, as well as teaching them to squeeze). although he might just be trying to develop the mechanics using something the girls are not afraid of, get the habits ingrained, ie.
I agree about popups and using tennis balls. Tennis balls are even good for teaching how to catch at an early age. However IMO developing "soft hands" are really about mechanics, e.g. catch it out front and funneling it back to your chest area ie thinking about receiving it vs. going and getting it. Lots of other things involved in good fielding, footwork being at the top of the list. The footwork aspect is really hard to teach, other than getting them to have their momentum going to first base as they are catching it e.g. trying to get to the right of the ball and fielding it under their left eye. The hard part is having them adjust their feet so that they get a long or short hop if at all possible. I don't remember anybody ever teaching me that I think it may just come with experience. DD isn't there yet regarding that but a few million more buckets of grounders and maybe she will get there
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