Kicking the Head Pull Habit

Have you been hitting your players groundballs and they keep pulling their heads away while the balls go through their legs? You keep telling them to bend their knees and keep their head down but it doesn't seem to help. If this sounds familiar then here's some information that just might help.

Players pull their heads off of groundballs, not because they're trying to make you crazy (although that is often the by-product) but because they're pretty sure they can't properly field the grounder and they know the ball will hurt them when it hits them.

So, a few things will really help:

1. Fix the field - In addition to doing your best to rake the dirt part of your field before every practice and game, teach each of your infielders to take their foot and smooth out the area in front of their position every single time they get ready for groundballs - practices and games. Too often it's the professional players with all their skill that get the perfectly smooth infield, and yet the young players with average to poor fielding skills are trying to field groundballs that are ricocheting off of dirt clods. Help them build up their confidence and trust by smoothing out the infield and limiting those bad bounces.
2. Use softer balls when practicing their fielding skills so they can really allow their faces to get closer to the ground and the ball without the fear of getting clobbered by the ball.
3. Hands Out - Teach them to keep their hands out past their noses as they get ready to catch the ball.
4. Catch the bottom of the ball - This will really help your players get their hands and body low in an effort to get underneath the ball instead of catching the back of the ball as many players will do. This causes their knees to be a little too straight and their rear-end up too far.
5. Have them count the number of bounces out load - it will take their minds off the possibility of being hit and direct their attention onto the ball itself!

Some great eDrills to help with fielding groundballs:

• New! - Belly Pops
• Ground Balls with Runners
• Run and Gun
• Wall Drill

In addition, our 50 Infield Drills Manual is packed with some great drills guaranteed to help infielders of all skills and ages.