Outfield - Letting Fly Ball Drop

[GTRH8R]

I could not even figure out what to title this thread. Does anybody know a good drill for an the fly ball that is hit to the outfielder that they let drop in front of them for a one hop instead of running through it for an easy catch? I see this happen fairly frequently on the 14U TB field. A girl will run like crazy and run through a ball to the left or right to catch it but will let the one coming right at them fall in front of them.

I hope I have made sense on the description.

 

[iMlearning]

Protect the island. Make an island (circle) with dixie cups or something that won't hurt to step or fall on. Have fly balls go into the island and tell them that if it hits the grass, they loose the island and someone takes their place. The balls can be thrown in front, behind, etc... If it is a competition, you will not believe how well they will run through those balls (or dive).
I got this idea from a link that was posted awhile ago here by some one. You can put two people in a larger circle to work on calling it etc...

 

[cshilt]

Setup a pitching machine to toss popups in the air to get a (fairly) consistent flight then make it a competition to see who can start the farthest away. It doesn't have to be a competition between players either, they can go for personal bests as well.

 

[Bucketrider]

Saw this at 16U team practice. First start the girls on their knees and toss the balls to where they have to land on their stomachs to catch the ball, this gets them used to the stretch. They then go back about 30' and hit grounders to the side where they have to dive to try and stop them(My dd's fav!). After that, while on foul line, place girls in CF, hit a pop fly they have to run to catch, make them throw in immediately, while still running in, hit a grounder that they throw back immediately. After that throw while still at a sprint, have your catcher toss a ball just out of reach making them dive! It has taken a few practices to have this make it into a game, but it showed up a few times last weekend.
For the infield, place half the girls at third, half at SS, hit directly between them, HARD. For this drill, it does not matter as much if you stop the ball, but you have to lay out. They learn about taking the proper angle to stop the ball as well. Pretty soon, fewer balls make it thru. All the girls infield and outfield do both sets of drills and they love getting dirty!

 

[01mom]

Setup a pitching machine to toss popups in the air to get a (fairly) consistent flight then make it a competition to see who can start the farthest away. It doesn't have to be a competition between players either, they can go for personal bests as well.

My dad & I did this w/ DD and she is the best fly ball catcher on her team. I have to say I also love the drills bucketrider described, I think I will start doing those with her to teach her how to lay out for balls. Maybe I can get a friend or 2 of hers to come along so it will be more fun.

 

[GTRH8R]

Protect the island. Make an island (circle) with dixie cups or something that won't hurt to step or fall on. Have fly balls go into the island and tell them that if it hits the grass, they loose the island and someone takes their place. The balls can be thrown in front, behind, etc... If it is a competition, you will not believe how well they will run through those balls (or dive).
I got this idea from a link that was posted awhile ago here by some one. You can put two people in a larger circle to work on calling it etc...

How far away do they stand from the island? Just pick a distance where they have to run full sprint to get it?

 

[GTRH8R]

There is some good stuff here...although I don't know if I am coordinated enough for bucketrider's suggestion.

 

[01mom]

How far away do they stand from the island? Just pick a distance where they have to run full sprint to get it?

At their age that's what I would do. With DD they were all 10u, most of them 1st year 10's so we started them close to where the ball would drop and as each girl would get better we would challenge them by moving them a little further away/off to the side more etc. Some of the girls we did this with got good enough that we could put them at the back fence hit a ball so it would drop short of mid outfield and they were able to track it & get there fast enough for the catch.

 

[redhotcoach]

My girls never ever drop a fly ball..........until game time!

 

[quincy]

One quick comment about this is that the fly ball that the OP mentioned, right at the fielder, are the hardest for the OF to judge. It is easy to get a slow jump or misjudge the ones right at the fielder.