Teaching Girls to Dive
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There are two or three aspects to teaching a player to successfully dive for ground balls and line drives. First there must be a desire on the part of the player to go all out to stop the ball. Every player does not have this drive, but if that aspect is there then the technique is fairly simple. |
For ground balls the key is to stay low. The biggest mistake most infielders make is to stand up before moving to the ball. By staying low, you can get to the ball quicker and if it is necessary to layout, the ground coming up at you isn't so scary. To teach this, you start out with the player in a ready position and the coach in a kneeling position about ten feet in front. The coach throws the ball slightly to each side and the player slides to each side and fields it. The coach moves back and throws the ball farther and farther out until the player has to take a step or two and lay out on the ground to get the ball. ( this drill should usually be done on the grass with a piece of cardboard for the player to dive on ).
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