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Breaking a glove habit?

BD Bluegrass Dad100+ posts
My son is a sophomore MIF for the HS JV team, working to make the varsity squad. He has been working on pushing through instead of funneling routine grounders as he has been asked to do by his coaches. Now they are asking him to eliminate a habitual little glove circle as he approaches the ball. He isn't fully aware of it, and it doesn't affect his timing to the ball, but they want it gone. It's only when balls are hit at him, not forehand or backhand balls. How do I get him to work on breaking the habit, and should he break it if it doesn't affect his fielding? I see it as similar to his pre-pitch setup routine when hitting, and likely helps him keep his glove hand loose. I wonder if it may be why he gathers and funnels as opposed to pushes through the routine grounder. Will scouts see it as a handicap in the coming years?
Last edited by Bluegrass Dad
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floridafanfloridafan5,000+ posts

Bad hops happen so quickly, if one occurs while he is doing this "glove circle" thing, it is likely that he would be unable to recover adequately. It all gets down to such fine separators as he advances levels of play. Get the glove out and open and get low to the ground and stay there until the ball is in the glove. Stay low as he moves to the ball, no bending at the waist, bend the knees and practice running with bent knees.

 

If the ball is hit right at you, you will "Funnel" it, if you are charging the ball, you will "push through".

Last edited by floridafan
coach2709coach270910,000+ posts
Originally Posted by floridafan:

Bad hops happen so quickly, if one occurs while he is doing this "glove circle" thing, it is likely that he would be unable to recover adequately. It all gets down to such fine separators as he advances levels of play. Get the glove out and open and get low to the ground and stay there until the ball is in the glove. Stay low as he moves to the ball, no bending at the waist, bend the knees and practice running with bent knees.

 

If the ball is hit right at you, you will "Funnel" it, if you are charging the ball, you will "push through".

^^^^^^^^^This is good stuff

CaCO3GirlCaCO3Girl10,000+ posts

Our 12u coach is also the assistant coach of one of the upper aged East Cobb Teams and he said very clearly that the way you approach the ball with the glove is critical when you get older.  Meaning, when you are dealing with scouts, and college coaches.  He said he has seen more than one time if a short stop went to get the ball and the kid did some sort of flourish thing as he grabbed the ball he was dismissed immediately as a potential player.  I don't know how true that is, seems a bit harsh to me, but he looked serious when he said that there was only one way to approach a ball, and it didn't involve unnecessary movement in the wrist.

BD Bluegrass Dad100+ posts
I agree that unnecessary or wasted movement could be a turnoff, and detrimental to getting into a good position. Saw it this weekend during fungo work when he was late because he misjudged the ball speed. We are working to get rid of it and adding in a more dramatic pointing of the palm at the target on approach to the ball. It's a work in progress. He isn't aware he does the glove wag, so it'll take lots of fungo to break it. I appreciate the responses.
meachrmmeachrm100+ posts

Here's a quick video I made a while back on this habit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...iDmfkf6_UC5x0UV1p7QA

 

Many infielders will try to develop the habit of always holding their glove in the palm up position when they are on the field.  Doing so will eventually get the player to just lower the glove under the ball instead of having to flip it down.

Hope this helps!  Good luck!

 

www.BaseballByTheYard.com

 

BD Bluegrass Dad100+ posts
Thanks for the responses. He can fix it on cue, buts it's definitely a habit. He can field with a paddle glove without a problem. It's not the fielding or flipping that's the issue. It's just an unnecessary little glove waggle or circle as he begins his glove approach. It coincides with his 1st 2 steps. Then he goes to the ball. It seems to be a mechanism for him to keep his glove arm and hand soft. Not sure I'm explaining it well. He did the camp at U of Alabama last weekend, and nothing was said to him about it.

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