Teaching flyball catching to 6 year olds?

I would say use some tennis balls and whiffle balls to start out with. Have them catch barehanded with the whiffle balls and easy tosses with tennis balls. Do this until they seem comfortable and then go back to real balls.

Here's how I did it when my son was 7:

**Start out with tennis balls until they get confidence**

1) Toss ball and have them follow it and point to the exact spot on the ground where the ball will or did hit. They are not to catch anything yet. Once they can handle everything in a 10' diameter circle, move to #2.

2) Toss the ball and have them run to get behind it. Putting their glove up and letting it fall in front of them (about 2' in front of them).

3) stand 10' in front and toss the balls 10' in the air right at them. No glove...simply watching it into their hands.

4) Repeat #3 but with a glove. As they get better, move back and throw them higher.

5) Throw left and right, making sure they get to the ball. Make them run to the spot where the ball will fall, just like in drills #1 & #2 but now they catch it.


You will be amazed at how well they pick this up.

i saw this drill in a book

using tennis balls, have your players wear their batting helmet, throw a pop fly and make them get under the ball and let the ball hit them with the helmet on. i'm sure they will have some fun with it too.

+1 on the tennis balls.
#1 they eliminate the "fear factor".
#2 they teach "soft hands" or the ball will bounce right out.

We worked with them for quite a while (much older than 6). I would hit with a tennis racquet to exagerate the slice and hook of balls hit down the lines, catcher pop-ups, and so that I could spot balls between infield and outfield. On really windy days I would pound tennis balls sky high to get them used to tracking and keeping the feet moving with the head up. Great fun.

we used soft t-balls and stopped hitting or throwing them really high. If you watch a game at this age 99% of flyballs are not sky high.

The hardest thing to get to sink in for us was to get the players to stop running in on balls that would inevitably go over their heads to the fence and get them to take the first step back.

This thought is a bit "outside the box" but has some validity I believe. I teach young kids, 5-8, depending on skill level to learn to catch with ONLY the glove hand. This allows them to get away from the ball if a bit scared, but does what we want them to do which is "CATCH" the ball. As they get older and start to get more confident, we can bring the throwing hand into play and teach them the proper mechanics in catching, fielding, and throwing (2 hands and transfer). I don't believe that 5-8 yr olds are going to be turning too many vital double plays or staying behind a fly ball and making a play on a tagging player to home that will make or break a season or their careers. Teach them to catch first, then to build mechanics and the throwing hand into the deal.

I like the visual image of the kids in batting helmets getting under tennis balls. Sounds like great fun.

I'm thinking that illini fan's suggestion of teaching a glove hand only catch could cause a couple problems. For one, they are creating a habit of not protecting the ball once it hits the glove. Secondly, it allows them to think it OK to reach out for a ball rather than line it up properly. Doing that increases the chances of a missed ball dramatically.

The safest way to catch a ball, and actually catch it for an out, is to teach the player to put his glove between the ball and his head. Understandably, little ones might not line it up right to start and could get hurt.

With that in mind, the tennis ball drill described by fullertonowlz has a lot of merit. It introduces fun to the newbie, and it teaches them how to align their heads with the track of the ball. I can see them graduating from that to the next stage of putting both hands up (no glove) between the tennis ball and the head and thus learning a life long skill for eliminating the embarassment of a missed fly ball!

Here is something I did with my son and his team when they were little. I would have them lay down on their back. I would start out on my knees above their head. I would hold a tennis ball over their head and drop it and have them catch it with their hands. After that, I would stand up and do the same thing. We would make a game out of it. Who can catch the most balls. IO have never had a kid get hit in the face and you will be surprised at how many of them with catch the majority of the balls. Well, we then add the glove with the tennis ball and then use a regular baseball. Give out little treats as areward and the kids will love it. Then we just gradualy moved them to the standing position where I would throw it in the air and progressed to hitting the ball. THis can all be done over a 3-4 practices. Make it fun, make it fun and make it fun!

ps...remember kids at that age take things literal. Don't assume they understand what you are saying. Break it down to what they can understand and give very specific instructions.

even tennis balls not thrown properly to a kid who can't catch could have issues. My suggestion would be to use a juggs lite flite machine with the yellow balls. The yellow balls are softer then tennis balls and they fly true. Here's a tip, when you go to buy lite flite balls, open up the box and find the hardest ones. Mix and match with other boxes to get the soft ones out...

there are tons of drills you can do with your player for a long time. Plus it takes the tossing of balls out of the equation so you can work on pop ups, line drive, ground balls, and etc. The juggs works 100%... my .02 cents...

http://baseballbytheyard.blogs...ng-in-new-glove.html

The "Keep it open" tip might be of some use to your son as well.

Okay, this may be going against the grain here, but this has been my experience.

I have found by coaching, not only my sons, but little league kids that there are certain things the human brain can't do until they develop a little.
Six and seven year old brains have not developed enough to do the really complex calculations to judge a fly ball. Now this is not to say that there are not kids out there that can, but for the most part, I have found that 10 year olds are about the time when they get it. For most kids that is. After years of coaching kids and following my kids as they got older, I noticed that, for the most part, before 10 most kids had no clue where the ball was going to land.

It’s just my experience and just something to consider.
One drill that does help… throw the ball in the air and have the kid point to where he thinks it will land.

I'd have to agree with Hawghauler, my son didn't really "get" catching flyballs until he was 9. Most of the efforts prior to that seemed counterproductive, some kids get it sooner then others, it doesn't mean your kid won't play HS/college/pro ball if he can't catch flys at 6 or 7

When my son was 9 I coached his team and to get the kids to go after fly balls I combined soft toss with 500 and the kids staqrted diving all over the place to get the ball and score points to be the hitter.