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Two hands...

D deaconspoint100+ posts
My son(8) has a habit of positioning his throwing hand behind the glove, kind of at the wrist when making a catch. He is trying to use both hands which I encourage, but the throwing hand is not where it should be and fron what I can see is not really helping out any. Having it kind of attached to the wrist may be limiting mobility a bit as well in my eyes.

My thought is to have him kind of start over by catching withoout using two hands and then bringing the throwing hand in to cover. he basicall gets the hand there early and it is in the way from what I see. Does that make any sense? I don't want to teach him not to use both hands, I just need to help him better understand when the throwing hand should arrive I guess.

Would this be something that a pancake glove might be good for? My dad and I used to play catch and we had to use the outside of the glove rather than the pocket. Trapping the ball against the fingers of the glove with the throwing hand. Funny thing is Aidan can do this with little trouble, but when catching normally with the glove the throwing hand ends up back at the base of the glove by the wrist.

Should I just tell him to catch without two hands until he kicks this habit and then work the second hand back in? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

Tim
deaconspoint
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D deaconspoint100+ posts
Thanks Texan. I certainly wouldn't plan on hitting or even throwing anything more than very short tosses if anything. I can see where that would be pretty dangerous.

We'll keep working on it slowly until he has the progression down. I'll probably have him try simply catching with one hand and then bringing the other in to the ball after the catch is made.

I am probably the cause of this. I'm sure I put too much importance on catching with two hands from the beginning and didn't notice right away when the problem started. It doesn't cause any really noticable difficulty so it kind of slipped by without my notice. Now that he is advancing a little I can see where it might be problematic. He's had a high fly come in and actually sting his throwing hand through the web because of it's placement. That's what I'm trying to avoid.

Thanks again,

Tim
T theEH1,000+ posts
Try having your son keep his hand's and arms at his side until the last second, Then up to catch the ball with both hands.
Also have him stay back and come to the fly ball so he is in a forward going position to throw the ball.
Soft hands?
Not stiff mitt.
Absorb the catch.
Do not reach for it.
Does that make since?
Plus your boy is young and still learning.
Play catch, play some more catch.
And then play some more catch.
Practice,practice,practice.
EH
D deaconspoint100+ posts
Thanks again everyone for the comments and advice. he is young and I know he'll continue to dial it in with time and lot's of catch. The good news is he loves to play catch. I can tell now that I've noticed and addressed this small issue that it's not going to be too hard to fix in time. Keeping it light and fun with just a subtle reminder every oncein a while.

I've found that correcting stuff like this with kids is a lot like training my gundogs. Putting them in a position to do it correctly, in a somewhat controlled environment, and then letting them know when they did it right goes a long way toward the goal. Constant correction when there trying to have fun does not.

Thanks again for taking the time to help with this.

Tim
redbird5redbird510,000+ posts
Start off without a glove and softly toss him balls. Make sure his thumbs touch before you throw.

I am working on this with my daughter now. She told me her hand is behind her glove because she doesn't want it to get hit. After a bucket full of barehanded catches, she is now confident that her throwing hand fingers will not get smashed.
coach2709coach270910,000+ posts
Use the softball sized whiffle balls to throw at him because they won't hurt his hands.

Throw these and he can either catch barehanded or use a pancake glove.

Basically the purpose is to have them catch a ball that is too big for one hand. They have to use two hands to make the catch.

After doing this use a baseball sized whiffle ball and do the same drill.

Then bring in the glove with the baseball sized whiffle ball if he still seems a little skittish about his hand. He gets used to the motion by using a ball that won't hurt.

Finally bring in the regualr ball and he should be good to go.

This might be a little advanced for an 8 year old but once he seems pretty comfortable doing this then add his glove with the softball sized whiffle ball. Now he can get comfortable catching the ball with two hands without really having to close the glove. This drill will help an infielder work on a quicker transfer by catching the ball at the palm area and having the throwing hand coming over to make the catch.

Once again this one might be a little too advanced for an 8 year old.

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