KID COACH'S CLIPBOARD: How to Teach Young Children/Kids to Field a Baseball (Part 2-Dynamic)

Part 2-Three Steps to Fielding a Baseball (Dynamic)

Teaching Time: 4 Minutes

# of Steps: Three Easy Steps

Level of Instructional Difficulty: Easy

Ages Appropriate for: 3.5 years +

Keyword or phrases: Teaching Shuffling, Shoelace-to-Shoelace, Running, Dancing

Introduction

One problem in baseball that has persisted across generations of new ballplayers is the absence of or limited knowledge young children receive about the skill of fielding a baseball or softball. Historically, young children have been taught a little about what fielding is and how to do it, and only as an afterthought were they told (instead of taught) how to move to the ball. Consequently, generations of t-ball and little league parents have cringed as their young All-Stars come so close to fielding the ball only to be disappointed that it rolled between their legs or got by them because it was a little left or right of where the child stood. What I have found is when young children are told to move to the ball, they often pull themselves out of proper fielding position and are then scrutinized for doing so.

Rather than it continue to be an afterthought, I thought it would be good idea to share with you how I get young children to, at the very least, begin understanding the general concept of properly moving to field a baseball.

Dynamic Fielding

Fielding is a dynamic process. At some point, fielding, if it is to be done effectively, must learn to be done while moving. Young children are capable and can be taught to move their feet in different directions, but it takes a refined approach to consider orchestrating the otherwise complex movements of moving then fielding. Some of you may be wondering what makes one movement better than another when fielding a baseball. There are advantages depending on how far a ballplayer must go to field a baseball. In order to keep this instruction very simple, I assume young children will only be taking a few steps in either direction to field a baseball within close proximity of where they are standing. Covering short distances like this requires specific footwork that is designed (regardless of age) to maintain a ballplayer's balance and fielding technique.

Dynamic fielding requires young children to learn how to shuffle their feet. The purpose for moving feet laterally or shuffling them is to avoid crossing them. There is an old baseball adage that says "Cross your feet, and you're beat." This may not be helpful to repeat to your young child, but I say it to you to help you better understand how my coaches encouraged me to shuffle instead of run to a ball that is slightly left or right of them. The advantage of shuffling is it prevents a ballplayer's feet from getting tangled up as they make short bursts in either direction, and it also prevents young children from getting their bodies and gloves out of position to get down low enough to field the ball.

We, as parents and coaches, must teach our young children how to move their feet, and shuffle with their glove down, to field a baseball or softball. And as some of you might be saying, "Yeah right" I'll ask you to stay with me. I am going to show you how this works, it is not as hard as you might think. Even if the information is not right for your child to learn today, it will be something you will want to know so later as your child gets older you can confidently apply it. If you'll remember that the beginnings of working better with young children is often about reprogramming our thinking to think about how they think about things, you'll always be ahead of the game in life and sports.

Three Easy Steps to Fielding Dynamically:

1. Essentially, what shuffling does is kisses young children's shoes or as I like to say shoelaces together. Begin on a hard surface that offers children stable footing. Demonstrate for children how-to kiss their shoelaces together, make a loud, fun kissing sound as your feet come together, separate your feet and repeat kissing your shoelaces across the yard, kitchen, or living room. Practice footwork ONLY first, then you can add the glove and roll the ball. Have fun with it.

2. Part of effectively demonstrating shuffling is about demonstrating what shuffling or shoelace-to-shoelace is NOT. Demonstrate crossing your feet and ask, "Is this shoelace-to-shoelace?" Tell them, "No, this is running or as I like to call it dancing." Ask them with energy, "Do baseball players dance?" They will enthusiastically answer, "NO!" And ask them, "How do baseball players move?" They will answer, "Shoelace-to-shoelace." Keep building a collaborative spirit and an investment into the instructional process with these types of conversations.

3. Add glove and ball and follow the 3 step process from Part 1 of this blog.

Children's Sports Development

Mom and Dad, what you are doing is creating a visual image kids can imagine and ultimately buy into. As you probably already know, young children don't just buy what we are selling. Beyond children's and adults' temperamental behaviors, there are stark differences between the way adults and children think. Differences in our thinking are what makes working together often difficult and sometimes frustrating. What we have to remember is how children want to be sold.

Teaching shuffling, for example, is based upon a universally known concept we learn from birth, kissing. A very simple process, children learn kissing from Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa, etc. The new discovery inside the process, that I am assuming nobody has ever taught your child, is how shoes kiss. This discovery for your child can be exciting and one he or she will, hopefully with your help, work hard to perfect on and off the ball field.

Of course, it is not a perfect formula. Children are smart and some will tell you they do not have shoelaces. In that case, you tell them to kiss their shoes' zippers, straps, or clips together in the same way as they would if they had shoelaces. Keep using the term shoelace-to-shoelace because whether you realize it or not, kids are watching you tie your shoes and they aspire to be able to tie shoes one day. Model the way, show your child how to move shoelace-to-shoelace across the kitchen floor randomly. Let them ask, "What are you doing Mommy/Daddy?" This randomness is what children find fun in and what you can do to earn their respect. Never force anything. When you do, you lose children's respect.

Conclusion

Children naturally love to experiment and make new discoveries. At the beginning of their lives, what you teach a child about sports or anything else must start by falling inside their limited understanding of the world. Children rely on what they already know to help them grasp new experiences. When they have no frame of reference for what they are learning it takes them much longer to learn and understand it. I know you don't always have the time to stop and think about how your child may be experiencing the world at any given moment. Therefore, I have made it my business to understand the way children perceive the world and in order to help you, I have developed specific strategies and learning tools that will equip you with everything you need to teach your child sports. Luckily, you don't have to come up with it yourself. It is my gift I am happy to share with you. If it works for you, pay it forward, share via facebook or twitter at the top of this page.