Practicing Without a Glove

[quincy]

One of my plans going into next year is to spend a fair amount of time having the Players field grounders without wearing a glove. Somehow some Players twist their hands into the most convoluted positions possible; do not know how some of them catch the ball.

Do you do these type of drills and if so what drills do you do and how often

 

[WinThemAll]

We spend a couple of minutes in practices fielding or catching flies with tennis balls. We also use this type of pad.

We have also used those simple foam knee pads used for home construction. You can turn them inside out.

 

[quincy]

My thought process hasn’t gotten to fly balls yet but it sure might apply. Players putting their glove up to catch a fly ball, who knows where their throwing hand is. I can see catching a tennis ball would keep their hands together.

 

[WinThemAll]

My thought process hasn’t gotten to fly balls yet but it sure might apply. Players putting their glove up to catch a fly ball, who knows where their throwing hand is. I can see catching a tennis ball would keep their hands together.

Plus, it good for when you are inside and not a lot of room.

 

[starsnuffer]

We do these drills quite often. Do them the first few practices and all the girls will be wearing knee pads, which helps with a lot of other things later on. It's also a great segue into diving.



-W

 

[quincy]

I go to a lot of baseball and softball tryouts, most the Players do a good job of keeping their hands together on ground balls, some do alligator some do side to side. Almost all of them disconnect when catching a fly ball.

Thanks, you just added another drill to my list that I am going to share with other people so I seem smart.

 

[guero_gordo]

Baseball middle infielders will take grounders while keeping a ball in the glove. This puts emphasis on stopping the ball into the throwing hand instead of catching the ball deep in the pocket, and it sure forces technique.

 

[PA SB Dad]

These can be a bit pricey for what they are:

I've had girls bring oven mitts to our winter indoor clinics and use those for ground ball drills. Short fly balls with the oven mitts are especially effective but you need to reinforce catching the ball with two hands out in front of their body.

 

[quincy]

Had the opportunity to attend some presentations by Caryl Drohan, the instructor in the video. Looking forward to attending some more, she was great.

 

[Quake Softball]

Had the opportunity to attend some presentations by Caryl Drohan, the instructor in the video. Looking forward to attending some more, she was great.

Amen, quincy. She did a great job at the coaches clinic in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. I am going to take my DD to Northwestern's player clinic too.