Listen up League Moms! If you want to help your little baseball/softball player make contact with the ball, here is a little game/drill for you to practice in the back yard.
1. Have your child stand over a make believe home plate with bat in hand and ready to receive the next pitch. Take a bucket of balls and mark each ball with quarter size colored permanent marker in 2 or 3 spots. Each ball should have a different color on it.
2. Pitch to your child having them just ready to hit but not actually swing...just watch the ball as it comes by.
3. They are to identify the color on each ball as it passes over the plate, holler out the color and confirm correct as it is caught by Dad.
4. Do not hide any part of the ball as you pitch and as it is being caught. The point of this game is to train your player to keep his/her eyes on the ball and all the way into the catchers glove.
Many players watch the ball until it gets to the plate then close their eyes or look to where they want to hit it. By keeping one's eyes on the ball all the way to the catcher, your player will be less likely to loose site of the ball during real play. This will help them to make more consistent contact with the ball.
