How to Teach Little Leaguers to Catch and Throw

To play baseball, a little leaguer must first be able to catch a ball and throw it. Some children appear to be able to do this at a relatively young age. Others struggle and may never learn these basic skills, but still continue playing Little League ball for a number of years, hating every moment of the experience. A good coach-or an understanding father or mother-will do everything possible to help the less talented kids at least learn to catch and throw.

Instructions

1. Accept as a fact that there are kids who are deathly afraid of a baseball. No amount of pleading, humiliation or bribery will erase that fear. Let these kids begin the process of learning how to catch and throw using a tennis ball-and don't ostracize them for their fear.

2. Begin with an "on one-knee exercise." Separate two players by roughly seven paces. Have them both on one knee. For right-handed throwers, the right knee is on the ground; for left-handers, the left. Instruct the players to throw by reaching behind them and touching the ball to the ground, then raising their arms and completing the throwing motion, tossing the ball to their partners. Being on one knee and touching the ground emphasizes the most basic parts of throwing - the back foot is planted, the arm is extended and the ball is thrown. Easily half of all Little Leaguers never integrate these elemental features into their throwing motions.

3. Use a drills. These drills should emphasize keeping thumbs together above the waist, little fingers together below the waist, at the waist, best you can. This places the hands in the correct position to field a ball, avoiding those awkward moments when a child tries to catch balls thrown at his head with the heels of his glove because he has his little fingers together (and hopefully avoids the bloody noses as well). The drill can be done by having the player move his hands to various positions while in the appropriate configuration. Then start playing soft toss with him, varying where the ball is thrown.

4. Begin every practice with every player repeating these drills. After a time, it will be apparent which players are ready to move up to actually playing catch, which players are ready to play catch with a tennis ball, and which players need to spend a lot more time on the basic drills

5. Have fun with it. Understand that the child who starts Little League with an unspoken belief that he or she will never learn how to throw a baseball and learns to do so benefits as much if not more than the "natural" who can shag flies with the best of them. In the end, learning new skills, with catching and throwing the most basic, having a good time, and gaining a new degree of self-confidence are really the goals of Little League.

Tips & Warnings

• If the players balk at "those stupid drills" you should honestly tell them that these same drills are used by major league players.

• Sometimes, having a player go through the throwing motion in slow motion can begin to integrate the proper motor skills.

Resources

• Website that discusses baseball fundamentals.
• Website with information for Little League coaches.
• Website of the Positive Coaching Alliance.