Home runs in Tee Ball / Coach pitch

Baseball Dads... 5-10 year olds Tee Ball / Coach Pitch / Kid Pitch... Help your lil slugger develop a technically sound short, accurate stroke and have fun doing it! 

Email: wristhitting@gmail.com for your FREE copy and drills you can do today!

Derived from the teachings and instruction passed down personally from ”The Kid", 

"The Splendid Splinter", "Teddy Ballgame", "The Thumper", "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived", Mr. Ted Williams!

TEE BALL COACHING TIP: TEACHING PLAYERS TO CATCH THE BALL

The Little League® Tee Ball program is focused on bringing fun, fitness and fundamentals to its youngest players and newest volunteers. As a part of this program, Little League partnered with SKLZ to provide Tee Ball coaches with online training related to various components of the program.

This month, we take a look at teaching one of the most difficult skills for a tee baller to master - catching the ball. The online training segment below covers a three-step teaching method.

The method consists of:

Teaching the basket catch
Teaching to catch the ball with the hands up
Teaching to catch the ball with two hands

You can view this month’s online training segment by clicking on the images below.

Source & video: http://www.littleleaguecoach.org/home.aspx?article=1258

At what age should youth know how to catch with a glove? Is there an age that is best to start teaching this?

At what age should youth know how to catch with a glove? Is there an age that is best to start teaching this?

I've been trying to work with my five year old son on acquiring this skill, but he's having a difficult time with it. I have a bucket of about 100 tennis balls that I throw him a couple times a week, and while there have been subtle improvements, he's still pretty scared of the ball.

Thanks for your help!

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One thing that helped me with my younger son was this deal i made with him (with tennis balls or soft tee balls): If i hit him, he got to hit me. It really seemd to make him feel better if i hit him in the chest, i would take one in the chest. The tears would turn to laughter pretty quickly. I think after a while he started intentionally letting the ball hit him so that he could hit me back :)
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I used tennis balls at 5 and 6 yo all the time. I highly recommend them at this age.

Practice catching using a windshield wiper motion. Keep the elbow down and move the glove hand left or right.

Of course, tennis balls pop out of the glove, so don't worry if it pops out.

By the time my kids were 6, I could throw as hard as I could (I can't throw very hard) to them (this is the speed of a batted ball after all). Plus, I would stand them in front of the bushes (so they could retrieve easily) and throw to the left or right so they could work on their windshield wiper. I also threw popups with tennis balls (they dont hurt the noggin), and made them keep their glove at their shoulder - if they stopped moving their feet, we started over - if they raised their glove arm, we started over. This practice paid off years later in Jr's (ahem "open") HS tryouts - coach hit monster popups and Jr was the only one that easily glided over and caught everything.

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Early success makes it fun. Let them catch it like a bucket (glove pocket facing up) at first. You basically throw it into the glove. Then work up to the windshield wiper action, first on glove side, more advanced opposite glove side.

I find most 5 yo's that have trouble catching have a new glove that isn't broken in. It's hard to catch with a glove that is stiff and they can't close.

Lastly, some say have the kid lay down on their back and then hold the glove up (glove side). The glove will be on the ground, or near it. Drop the ball into their glove. Practice like that, they can't shy away from the glove (cause the ground is there). Just don't hit him in the face or he'll be more scared of the ball! 

Just some ideas, good luck!

PS I always found it most successful to just throw the ball into the glove at first, until they get some confidence and have fun, then advance slowly. Most 5 yo's I know don't catch well so your son is probably normal enough :)
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Don't get to worried if the kid can't catch at 5. Sometimes it takes a little longer for the light to come on and when it does they can go from not catching anything to catching everything near them. Just be patient and play catch as much as you can.
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When my kids were three or four and we started, I stumbled upon something that worked wonders. It's a set of large circular paddles covered in velcro that attach to the hand with a strap (just a loop really). The velcro holds a tennis ball tight. They just use one on their glove hand. It teaches them to catch knowing that every thrown ball will stick to the velcro as long as it's in the right spot. I later even used this with six and seven year olds to teach catching fly balls. When I've found them, they're basically sold as beach toys. Once they move from that to a glove, they have all the basic motions and are much more confident.

Link to Amazon: Velcros Paddle Ball $15.99
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The next step would be to just get one of these:

Link to Amazon: Toysmith Easy Catch Ball and Glove $9.97
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I cannot even remember what age we started at, but I remember the first thing we played catch with. It was a plastic Easter egg. I'd throw it and have my son reach out and grab it. He couldn't wait for it to get to him. It had to be in a reaching out motion or sometimes diving (more accurately falling down back then) on the bed or sofa. Gosh, we'd do that for hours and hours and hours a week. He just loved it.

Moved on to the soft baseballs. I think he was about 4 or 5 then. We'd play in the backyard. Even now when we play catch we joke around about "playing to 25." We had a goal of making 25 consecutive good throws and catches between us. Hate to say it, but a time or two dad was the one who broke the streak.

Can honestly say that I never remember him being afraid of the ball. I've done some pretty non-PC things. We laugh now and say it worked out alright, but in retrospect I'll admit that it was probably not the best parenting. What's worse though is I'm seeing getting a taste of my own medicine rapidly approaching as his strength and physical maturity increase and my better days are behind me.
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If your house bound this time of year...rolled up socks...(clean or dirty)....
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Source:

http://www.baseball-fever.com/archive/index.php/t-102326.html

Teaching Baseball to Kids: LESSON 1 – PLAYING CATCH

Playing catch.  One of the most fun, relaxing things you can do in baseball.  Until your kid tries to catch a ball the wrong way.  Or he throws like a girl.  Or he’s scared of the ball.  Can you feel your blood pressure rising just reading that?  Then you’re at the right spot. :)

Your goal with a 5-8 year old boy is very simple and has nothing to do with skills. YOU NEED TO GET (AND KEEP) THEM CONFIDENT. Even if your son is on a 7u travel team, and routinely makes backhanded putouts from deep in the hole at shortstop – BEGIN EVERY PRACTICE SESSION WITH A CONFIDENCE BUILDING ACTIVITY. This is the most important thing that you’ll do.

NEVER start out by firing line drives or throwing hard to your son to warm up- no matter his skill level. Start slow, easy and close.  Kids love games and races. If you’re playing pitch and catch, give them a reward or tell them you’ll do 5 push ups every time they catch 3 in a row. You want them smiling as they play.  Here’s 4 steps to build confidence in young players.

1 – Use tennis balls underhand from about 10-15 feet away when you get to the field or in the back yard.  The ONLY thing you want to see is your son catching the ball with his thumbs together above his waist, and pinkies together below it. If you can get him to turn his glove over and reach across his body to catch balls on the side opposite his glove – that’s great. Throw balls to him left of his body, right of his body, high and low. Try not to get anything around or near his face.

I know what you’re thinking. I even think it every time I write this. “He’ll never learn how to catch balls that come at him in a game then. If he’s on an all-star team, he’s going to get balls thrown to him way harder than this – and he won’t be ready!” You’re forgetting our first goal already. You have to build him up and ease him into tougher and tougher catches. Let him experience success. If he catches it – praise him. If he misses it, say nothing or show him his mistake in a positive way.

FOR LITTLE LITTLE GUYS – try using THOSE VELCRO PADDLES with a tennis ball.  This will get them used to putting their thumbs together and pointing fingers up to correctly catch above the waist balls.

FOR ADVANCED PLAYERS, go ahead and use a baseball, but stay close- and your goal doesn’t change: we just want to see them catching the ball correctly, wherever the ball is in relation to their body.

2 – Once he’s consistently caught balls all around him, give him some tosses around his midsection. Tell him beforehand, and point out how good he’s doing already.  You want to encourage him to stay in front of the ball at watch it into his glove.  Once he’s been thrown a few, each of you take 2 steps back. Rinse and repeat.

3 – If he’s looking confident (note: I didn’t say catching everything) and having fun go get the squishy tee ball. Toss it to his left and right, make sure he’s got his glove in a good position on either side of his body.

Again, build confidence with good catches and show him pointers with misses. Be positive. He’s going to make dumb mistakes. He’s going to start doing things he’s NEVER done before.He’s going to be afraid of the ball. You just have to encourage through it, show (not tell) him the right way and keep at it.

4 – After you’ve thrown a bit ask him if he wants some grounders, etc. Let him experience good catches and let him decide if he wants more. If he’s done, move on to something else-at this age kids will like playing catch, but not as much as you do.

Source: http://teachbaseball.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/lesson-1-playing-catch/

Teaching Your Kids to Catch a Baseball

Some kids just have a natural physical ability to play sports, specifically baseball or softball.  The rest of us had to learn and practice, practice, practice.  Personally I had the reflexes of a cat and was an aggressive and mean child growing up…perfect for playing Little League baseball.  As a follow up to my previous article on how to teach your kids to hit a baseball, here are some helpful tips for how to help them learn to catch a baseball…

Coaching my boys through T-Ball and into Little League allowed me to share my lifelong knowledge of baseball with the young players on our teams.  I worked hard to make every practice worthwhile and fun at the same time.  Learning to catch a baseball provides skills your kids will hopefully keep with them the rest of their lives.  So here are the basics… and a little secret for you aspiring coaches (Dads).

FEAR FACTOR – Regardless of all your intentions, some kids are just afraid that the ball is going to nail them.  Resist the urge to simply peg them with the ball to show them “it doesn’t hurt”.  That only validates and reinforces the fear.  Just like my other article on how to hit a baseball, start out using big balls…soft vinyl balls…or volleyballs in order to help them learn the basic in a fearless environment.  Don’t use any gloves so that 1) they learn footwork and hand placement; and 2) you can clearly see what they are doing and their hands are not hidden inside or behind the gloves.

FOOTWORK – No matter how a ball is hit or thrown to you, your best opportunity for catching it cleanly is with good footwork.  First year players really benefit from focusing on moving quickly to “square up” your body to catch the ball.  Position players will sprint to a spot and set up themselves to receive the ball STRAIGHT ON.  As your kids get older and more experienced, this is even more critical.  Setting up to catch the ball eventually transforms into setting up your body to be in the best position to properly throw the ball after the catch.  It all begins and ends with the right footwork.  Practice side-shuffling; hopping; charging; and dropping straight back.  All these drills can be done without even using a ball.

THE HANDS – Any balls hit or thrown all around you are almost intuitive to catch.
 The “overhead” shot; on your “glove side”; and even a “backhand” can seem like a natural motion.  Where catching a ball gets harder for beginners is when the ball comes straight at you either on the ground or as a line-drive.  And remember, with the proper footwork your child is already in position to make the catch by being in front of the ball...so most catchable balls end up in this “juggle zone”.  This is the area where your child will spin their glove left-right-up-down in a valiant effort to line up their glove in order to catch those balls coming straight at them.

THE SECRET – So here is how I teach kids to catch those straight-on balls.  I drill them with two very easy rules in every practice until I can see they have developed an automated reflex approach.  This is called the “Pinkies & Thumbs” drill.



Pinkies – Any ball hit (or thrown) towards you that is below your waist is called a “pinkies” catch.  What this means is in order  for your child to catch this ball they need to put their pinkies (little fingers) of each hand together in a side-by-side manner.  Spreading out their fingers and forming a big basket – one bare hand and one gloved hand.









Thumbs – Any ball hit (or thrown) towards you that is above your waist is called a “thumbs” catch.  The opposite of the pinkies, this requires your child to put their thumbs of each hand together side-by-side, again forming a two-handed basket with proper hand placement to catch and throw.


COACHING - This “pinkies & thumbs” drill puts their hands in the perfect position to catch the ball in their glove; secure it with the bare hand; and be ready to pull the ball out for the throwing motion.  It’s really simple and easy for your kids to remember.  You can easily run this drill with a repetitive hand motion (not even throwing balls) by calling out loud “pinkies” or “thumbs” and mimicking the proper hand placement with them.  Plus it provides you as the coach with a quick and subtle verbal reminder during the game if a player misses a ball.  Just simply call out “pinkies” if a player misses a grounder…or yell “thumbs” on those fly balls or pop-ups.

So there is my simple how-to approach to help you teach your kids to catch a baseball.  Remember to practice with them regularly…but most of all remember to make it fun!  I hope this article helps please post your comments and check out my other post on Teaching Your Kids To Hit A Baseball.


Source: : http://4busydads.com/article/teaching-your-kids-catch-baseball#sthash.6DiEOgiz.dpuf

Hand / Eye Coordination Exercises: Balloon Drills

Quick video showing some basic FUN games/drills you can do with your U5 to help build and improve Hand Eye coordination and confidence.

Source: http://gamesforkidsunder5.net/

Improving Your Child's Hand-Eye Coordination

Developing good coordination is a hugely important skill. From getting dressed in the morning—to succeeding at school—to using a telephone or computer, it's a skill your child will draw on throughout the day, every single day for the rest of his or her life.

Think about it: the ability to use hands and eyes together to perform a task requires kids to synchronize vision, touch, movement, and cognition. It's quite a complex feat!

Obviously, kids develop at their own pace. However, most hand skills are learned, which means skills will improve with repetition. And because nearly all everyday activities—from eating breakfast to doing homework—involve fine motor skills, coordination develops on its own over time.

Still, all children can benefit from additional coordination-boosting activities, especially those who lag behind. Not surprisingly, kids with poor coordination often avoid activities that require manual dexterity, preferring, say, to play on a swing set rather than string beads into a necklace. The good news is, with so many choices, parents can find coordination-building activities that will appeal to every child.

The easiest approach is to expose kids to as many different types of activities as possible. You can give your child's coordination a boost by introducing playthings that require activities like grasping, aiming, sorting, and even digging. Here are some of favorite play activities that offer big coordination-enhancing benefits:

Infant Play Gyms and Activity Toys - This is where it all begins! Babies' first mobiles and activity gyms encourage infants to first visually focus on and track objects, then eventually reach out to touch and grasp them.

Arts and Crafts - Drawing, painting, scissor cutting, and craft projects all help build dexterity as well as creativity. From modeling clay to lacing boards, the more different tools and materials you introduce to your child, the more coordination-building opportunities you give him.

Puzzles - Whether puzzles are made of wood, foam, cardboard, the act of fitting pieces together is very beneficial for hand-eye coordination, as well as spatial recognition and cognitive skills.
Blocks and Building Sets - Stack, nest, interlock. Putting pieces together…to create three dimensional structures is a great way to build fine motor skills, one kids rarely guess is "good" for them.

Play Sets - Again, while we don't always think of play sets as coordination builders, the acts of picking up and manipulating small pieces is terrific for dexterity.

Musical Instruments - Whether tickling the ivories or banging on a drum, making music gets little fingers and hands in motion. And once kids learn to read music, the benefits accelerate further.

Games - Board games and card games are great for coordination as well as problem solving and social skills.

And of course, many timeless family activities—playing "patty-cake" with your baby, baking cookies with your child—build coordination as well as strong family bonds..

Source: http://www.onestepahead.com/articles/parenting-tips/improving-your-childs-coordination

#handeyecoordination #kids #youthbaseball #teeball #tball #littleleague

Video games & Hand/Eye Coordination

Parents tend to be wary of video games due to their violence-prone plot lines and media stories that they might dumb kids down. But a new study—one of the few that has looked at the physical effects of playing video games rather than the behavioral ones—indicates that the games might actually give kids a cognitive edge. The authors found "a robust positive association between cortical thickness and video gaming duration," which could point toward "the biological basis of previously reported cognitive improvements due to video game play."

The researchers recruited around 150 male and female 14-year-olds to take part in the study. On average, the group played about 12 hours of video games per week, although that figure varied between individuals. The team found that those teens who invested the most time in their games also had thicker cortical matter in two areas of their brain. Here's Forbes on what those findings imply:

The prefrontal cortex is often referred to as our brain’s command and control center. It’s where higher order thinking takes place, like decision-making and self-control.  Previous research has shown that the DLPFC plays a big part in how we process complex decisions, particularly those that involve weighing options that include achieving short-term objectives with long-term implications. It’s also where we make use of our brain’s working memory resources – the information we keep “top of mind” for quick access when making a decision.

The FEF is a brain area central to how we process visual-motor information and make judgments about how to handle external stimuli. It’s also important in decision-making because it allows us to efficiently figure out what sort of reaction best suits what’s happening around us. The term “hand-eye coordination” is part of this process.

If these two areas are more well-developed, then it might mean a person does better at multi-tasking and making decisions. 

While these findings are still in the realm of correlation rather than causation, the authors point out that there is a strong likelihood that "gaming is sort of like weight lifting for the brain," Forbes writes. And as Wired UK points out, other studies have found that people who play video games tend to be better at responding to sensory stimuli than those who do not, and that novice players who spend about 50 hours devoted to an action game (not in one sitting) can quickly develop these real-world skills.

The authors also think their research might help explain other recent studies have "associated frequent video game playing with improvements in cognitive functions." But they admit that more studies are needed to make a completely convincing case that video games really are harmless—and even cognitively productive—sources of entertainment.

Source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/playing-video-games-could-actually-change-your-brain-not-bad-way-180950453/#dsW33gbrcPT8U2ok.99

TIP: Try This Simple Tip For A More Engaged Game Of Catch

The other day my five-year old son, Carter, asked me if I’d play catch with him. When we started to play, he wasn’t catching and throwing the baseball very well. When I threw the ball to him it glanced off his glove, popped in and out or he wouldn’t even get a glove on it. When he threw the baseball back to me, it was all over the place. I was spending most of my time running after his wild throws.

Carter didn’t seem to be concentrating on our game of catch. A bunch of the neighborhood kids were out running and riding their bikes around, so I figured he was a little distracted. I knew it wasn’t a case of him not wanting to play ball at the moment, because he was the one who asked me.

Make It A Game Within A Game
Then I tried one simple thing. I said, “Hey Carter. Let’s see how many times we can catch and throw the ball without dropping it.”

It was amazing how much more he concentrated on catching and throwing the baseball. The first round we made it to 32. Then 73. Then 97! Before adding this little contest into our game of catch, I bet we didn’t make it to five good catches and throws in a row.

Concentration
It was so funny to see him concentrating on watching the ball all the way into his glove. Then again when he threw it back to me. He did an awesome job of stepping toward his target and looking at my glove the whole time. Plus, he had a lot of fun with it!

I can’t wait to try this at his next practice. I don’t know about you, but my little guy gets distracted a lot while playing catch before practice or games. A lot of times he pays more attention to his teammates playing catch with their dads instead of playing catch with me.

Source: http://www.sportsdadhub.com/try-this-simple-tip-for-a-more-engaged-game-of-catch/

Playing Video Games, tune hand-eye coordination

Playing video games, such as Super Mario, not only helps tune hand-eye coordination, but also enlarges brain regions associated with memory and spatial thinking.

The study, conducted by researchers at Max Planck Institute for Human Development, found a causal link between video games and brain volume.

For the research, participants were asked to play Super Mario 64 for two months for about 30 minutes a day. A separate control group didn't play any video games.

Researchers then compared the MRI scans taken before and after the study period to determine whether playing video games changed the brain volume.

They found that regions associated with memory, spatial thinking and strategizing were significantly larger in people who played these games than those who did not.

Related research had found that video games slow memory decline in older adults. Duke University researchers had earlier reported that people who regularly play video games tend to "see more" in a visual field and have better decision-making abilities than other people.

 "While previous studies have shown differences in brain structure of video gamers, the present study can demonstrate the direct causal link between video gaming and a volumetric brain increase. This proves that specific brain regions can be trained by means of video games", says study leader Simone Kühn, senior scientist at the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development.

Importantly, these games could help people suffering from mental disorders such as Schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"Many patients will accept video games more readily than other medical interventions", added psychiatrist Jürgen Gallinat, co-author of the study at Charité University Medicine St. Hedwig-Krankenhaus, according to a news release.

Source: http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/4703/20131031/playing-video-games-increase-brain-volume.htm