"Soft Toss Competition" Drill

This drill comes from Donnie Long our January 2005 Drill of the Month Winner.

Equipment: Balls (for appropriate age group), Gloves, and Helmets

The objective of this drill is to make the young player comfortable catching a fly ball, as well as learning the proper glove position. Be sure and to see that your players are catching correctly and have them catch balls that are knee high to just over head high. If you are coaching the T-Ball or Pee Wee age group, you might start out using a tennis ball or a JUGS Poly or Lite-Flite Ball for obvious safety reasons. This will lessen the young player's fear of being hurt by a missed ball.

This drill works better and stays more consistent if the coach or an adult is the person that is soft tossing to the players. This drill not only teaches players how to properly catch the ball, but also how to field the ball. Remember any ball that is tossed from about the player's mid-section to over their head will require them to have their thumbs in, and balls tossed from about their mid-section to the ground will require them to have their pinkies in.

First -

• Begin with three or less players. With each set of players being their own team.
• Players should line up facing third base on the halfway line between second and third base.

Second -

• Coach should setup halfway between the players and the third base foul line, about 12 to 15 feet from the players.
• Toss the ball underhand about 10 to 15 feet in the air taking turns to toss each player.
• Toss the ball to the player right then left, remember to keep the ball close enough to give them the best chance of succeeding.
• If all players catch the tossed ball then the team will receive one point.
• If one or more misses the ball then the coach receives one point.
• Set a number of times to score as in the best two out of three.
• Whoever scores five points first wins.
• As player's skills improve toss the ball over their right then left shoulder so the player must turn and move to successfully catch the tossed ball.

The rules can vary for this drill. For example, if you are playing with three players, and any of the three catch the ball, you might give the team one point for each player that catches the ball. As the player's skills improve, you need to make it more challenging for them to win. Also, as your player's skills progress, you may start using your players as the one who soft tosses and challenges the other players to a catching contest. Always have a coach or adult present to supervise. Another version might be to test the skills of one player at a time. This would require more adult (parent) participation giving each player more repetitions and having the parents get involved is an added bonus.