Baseball- America's favorite pastime! All we can hope for our youth is that they enjoy what they do so we have compiled a list of three fun drills to help your youth player excel in the infield. Keep reading to learn more about them.
Focusing Drill
A big problem for young baseball players is that they don’t keep their eye on the ball. The purpose of this drill is to stay focused and practice keeping their eye on the prize. Have your player either take their hat off and put the brim in between their teeth or tilt their head down with a baseball under your chin. Then, have them field about 30 ground balls while concentrating on watching the ball. Make sure they watch the ball all the way to their glove.
Footwork Drill
The next drill emphasizes footwork when getting to the base. It is called step-throughs. It is hard for young players to keep momentum while running. Have them get into an athletic position, and then act like you are fielding the ball. Step in order to speed up and stay low while you step. Once they have the step through down, add the glove smack. This will help sync up the rest of their body to the footwork. Make sure they stay low the entire time.
Agility Drill
The final drill will help with agility. Throwing the ball to your player. Make sure they don't wear a glove, stand in an athletic position, and move side to side in order to catch the ball. They should catch the ball with their glove hand and throw the ball back. It is important for this drill to stay low and shuffle from side to side.
All of these drills will help to take infielding to the next level. Practice these drills frequently and your youth players will notice a difference in no time. Most importantly, make sure the players are having fun!
