Afraid of the ball

[Coach JV]

HIT THEM WITH IT!!!!!!
You guys think its funny, but a few years ago, that is how a coach
formerly with our organization developed his catchers. The legend is,
that one of the dads came on to the field and had to be restrained.
The funny thing is, this coach stayed on for at least one more year but was not
allowed to throw at the girls any longer.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

I have not found any one particular thing that helps with fear of the ball for all players.

Generally, the only thing that works is repetition, repetition, repetition, and with repetition comes confidence and less fear of the ball.

I worked with one particular kid that got hit in the chin HARD by a hard hit grounder; she didn't want to get anywhere near a moving softball. She stayed after practice and we worked on her confidence - made sure mechanics were sound, fielded slow thrown grounders, then short slow grounders, then long slow grounders, then faster and faster grounders. Within a month or so she was back on 3rd base challenging batters to try to get one past her.

 

[santafe]

I have not found any one particular thing that helps with fear of the ball for all players.

Generally, the only thing that works is repetition, repetition, repetition, and with repetition comes confidence and less fear of the ball.

I worked with one particular kid that got hit in the chin HARD by a hard hit grounder; she didn't want to get anywhere near a moving softball. She stayed after practice and we worked on her confidence - made sure mechanics were sound, fielded slow thrown grounders, then short slow grounders, then long slow grounders, then faster and faster grounders. Within a month or so she was back on 3rd base challenging batters to try to get one past her.

Lots of repetition seems to do the trick nicely. Wondering if you can recommend any fun fielding drills that indirectly build fielding confidence?

 

[hummingbird]

My DD had the hardest time of getting over the fear of the ball when catching it.
I almost had her quit softball because she couldn't get over it no matter what I did.

What finally worked was to keep reminding her that the ball can only hit you if you don't grab it with your glove first!

 

[canyonjoe]

You should be afraid of the ball until you are sure you can catch it.

 

[Filterbing]

My DD had the hardest time of getting over the fear of the ball when catching it.
I almost had her quit softball because she couldn't get over it no matter what I did.

What finally worked was to keep reminding her that the ball can only hit you if you don't grab it with your glove first!

I tell the younger girls (and the older ones too) that the nobody "hit" you with the ball. If you have a glove and the ball hit you, then you let it hit you. I teach that the glove is your shield, use it properly and you'll never be hit.

To get them catching, I start all of them with bare hand tennis ball tosses, under hand. Gradually increasing distance and adding the glove and eventually going to an over hand lob. Then if I have some, we start with a softie or liteflight. Again rebuilding from underhand to over hand. And then transition to a standard 11" or 12" ball tossing underhand and moving to overhand. This process takes time and receiving technic should be corrected as you go, but once complete they are ready to go for the most part.

 

[hummingbird]

I teach that the glove is your shield,

That's exactly the term I used for my DD actually. The glove is a shield!

 

[bmakj]

Generally its lack of confidence that they will catch it and protect their body that causes that. That just comes with experience and ability. When I have taught very young kids that arent exceptional ( 6-8), I teach/drill them to actually do just that first when learning how to catch. Step one way and extend to glove side to catch ball on glove side, step other way and turn and backhand across body to catch on throwing arm side. I do this to teach/drill them how to catch a ball on both sides of their body. They learn to catch before being threatened with bodily harm, Besides they are scared to death of it anyway at first if it has any speed to it, they need confidence.

basically do this, but couple of things I will mention. start out with them with glove in either forehand upright (waving hi) or back hand (arm across body, thumb towards ground, and throw the ball from say 6 feet away DIRECTLY into their glove. this builds their confidence in their glove and their ability to catch a ball that goes into their glove. once that is an instinct, you can move on to center of body (hand in front of chest, thumb down). then on to balls below waist (ie underhand catch). once they have mastered them all, you can alternately increase distance and/or mix up location. downside is this is really a one on one thing, but demo to parents, tell them to work on it with girls at home. having them up against a wall or fence can help as well (no where to retreat to).

for fly balls, tennis balls are great, do not hurt, and emphasizes squeezing the ball to secure it.

also, facemasks help a great deal. when wearing facemasks and still turning away from ball, point out to the girls that the back of their head has nothing, and I do rap at their facemasks (while they are wearing it) with the ball, kinda like knocking on a door, several times. this gives them confidence in their facemasks to protect them.