What are the steps to building good outfielders at the 8u level. What are good drills to do individually at home and at practice. My dd plays middle infield with her rec team but plays outfield with travel team. She catches pop up pretty good in the infield but has a little trouble in the outfield. What can I do to help her?
8u outfield basics
- Thread starter richard
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With DD I place cones on the field representing various players and bases. Like a cone for a cutoff player or 2. She has general rules on what she is suppose to do with the ball depending on if she catches or it gets by her etc. Occasionally I will yell a different throwing location after the ball is hit.
I know she can get the ball; I want her to come up throwing and not holding on to the ball.
Then hit her lot of balls.
I know she can get the ball; I want her to come up throwing and not holding on to the ball.
Then hit her lot of balls.
I have them start by throwing a tennis ball up in the air, to themselves. Demonstrate how you want the toss, how you want their feet and knees and their hands. Do this w/o a glove, first. Then, add the glove.
Make certain that they all have some sort of softie ball, that they can do this at home, with. Tell them to get up to 25 catches in a row.
Then, grab a parent (she/he does not need any skills) and have them toss pop flies to a group of girls. I teach one skill at a time, so I have them catch the ball and run and put it in the parent's bucket. I think you will see how you would progress from there.
Make certain that they all have some sort of softie ball, that they can do this at home, with. Tell them to get up to 25 catches in a row.
Then, grab a parent (she/he does not need any skills) and have them toss pop flies to a group of girls. I teach one skill at a time, so I have them catch the ball and run and put it in the parent's bucket. I think you will see how you would progress from there.
Repitition, repetition, repitition. There is no substitute for catching fly balls off a bat. It takes some time for kids to get used to judging fly balls. Though at 8U you may have to work up to that. Good suggestion from Amy above.
Football toss drill is good too. Gets them used to catching the ball on the run which for some reason girls have a bigger problem with than boys at that age. Not sure why. Football toss drill is have them run away from you at a diagonal and thn trow them a pop up they need to catch on the run. You can doo it both directions to practice forehand and backhand. Make difficultly of popup appropriate to skill level. Throw a few just out of reach though to stress running through the ball.
The most important thing though at U8 outfield is getting the ball back into the correct fielder as quickly as possible. I tell girls if they can count to 2, then they held the ball too long in th outfield.
Football toss drill is good too. Gets them used to catching the ball on the run which for some reason girls have a bigger problem with than boys at that age. Not sure why. Football toss drill is have them run away from you at a diagonal and thn trow them a pop up they need to catch on the run. You can doo it both directions to practice forehand and backhand. Make difficultly of popup appropriate to skill level. Throw a few just out of reach though to stress running through the ball.
The most important thing though at U8 outfield is getting the ball back into the correct fielder as quickly as possible. I tell girls if they can count to 2, then they held the ball too long in th outfield.
Oh, and teach them early to move almost every time the ball is hit. There is nothing worse than going and just standing in the OF. Teach them to back each other up and move towards the infield, to back up the bases. And I would love to hear them cheering and talking.
To add to the great stuff above:
- Teach them how to drop step back
- First step should be back unless they are 100% sure it will drop in front of them. Even at 12U a lot of players either stand there too long or take a step forward when the ball is actually going over their head
- Teach them to keep their glove down until they get to the ball. Running with the glove over their head slows them down.
That one I have found to be really hard.
