Charging the ball

[coachtucc]

place 3 balls horizontally by each position where you want the girls to field the ball..have a runner at home....on go the runner runs and tries to get to second....the fielder must charge field and throw each ball to 2nd before the runner gets there!

 

[shockcoach]

...And those that charge it stop charging as soon as they get to it, instead of charging through the ball..

Any suggested drills folks have used with success?

How do you have them fielding the ball? I use the 2-handed method, while fielding out in front of the triangle. It would be rather difficult to still charge through the ball with this method. I have my girls charge, then break down before the ball gets to them to field it. I don't teach Howard Kobata's method, because I've seen too many errors.

The drill I use is to have the girls line up facing each other 40' apart. The roll the ball to the front girl in the other line and she fields it. She then rolls it to the back to the next girl in line. After they roll it, the pretty much follow the ball to the opposite line. I correct each girl as needed and hand out the atta-girls to those who are doing it correct. We start off with no gloves with softer rolls. After a couple of minutes we put the gloves on and roll it harder, but not too hard. The idea is to muscle memory in the charging and fielding techniques.

Good luck

 

[PEPPERS]

One thing I've seen over the years when players don't charge the ball, especially younger players, is often the coach (usually a big, burly male) has been hitting hard ground balls at them in an effort to teach them quick hands. The problem is, what it really teaches them is to sit back on their heels and defend themselves from balls hit much harder than a kid their age can hit.

I prefer hitting softer ground balls on a regular basis and getting them in the mindset of charging everything. If I want to work on quick hands, we do it at a short distance, with their butts up against a backstop or net, hitting balls that require fast reactions. At full distance, though, get them charging.

One way to do it is create a competition. Put a stopwatch on them, with a prize for whoever is the quickest, or for anyone who gets below a certain time. It doesn't have to be much of a prize either. My players will generally kill themselves and run over their teammates to win a $1 McDonalds gift certificate.

I would do the same thing, used the same with throwing drills also with the young kids. I would get cheap items from the dollar store and have competitions. The kids would love it, even as they got older the team mates would hassel them on winning a Little Mermaid YO-YO or something had a lot of fun with this in practice.

Seen to many coaches hit hard ground balls to kids who could not catch with them good mechanics.

 

[Dragoncoach]

What do you guys think of charging the ball then scooping on the run on all balls that you have time for?

 

[starsnuffer]

What do you guys think of charging the ball then scooping on the run on all balls that you have time for?

Depends on your goal.

If your goal is to have a successful 12u travel team focused on winning trophies, you will avoid this, as it causes more errors. If your goal is to have the kids practice now for what they will be expected to do in A ball showcases later in life, you will teach this because they will be expected to do it.

There is no right or wrong answer. The assumption that a 16 year old will do something a particular way just because she was taught it at 10 and did it for 6 years and cannot relearn something is not a valid assumption, however (ever wonder about the beginning of that word?).

-W