The Youth Baseball Coach

Level: 1

Purpose:  To teach your players the proper glove position when catching a ball.

Equipment: Glove and tennis balls (or similar soft-type ball that has a little weight to it)

Description:  Glove positioning when receiving a ball is very important.  The earlier you can teach this, the safer and more successful your players will be.  Most young players tend to receive a ball that is above their waist with the fingers pointed down and the palm of the glove on top.  This can be dangerous as the ball can skip off the glove and hit the player.  The proper way to catch a ball above the waist is to rotate the glove so that the fingers are pointing toward the sky.

Execution:  Have the player lie down flat on his back.  Stand over him and hold the ball up so they can see it.  Start by dropping the ball to the side of the player (not directly at his face) and have him practice holding the glove the proper way and catching the ball.  As, the player gets more adept and used to catching it, move the ball to the center of his/her body and continue.  By lying on his/her back, the player cannot move out of the way of the ball (which new players will tend to do).  As they progress you can start to toss the ball up a little higher (increasing the difficulty).  Make a game out of it and count how many times they can catch in a row.

Saying:  On a ball that is high, point your fingers to the sky.