Overcoming Child's Fear of a Baseball

Fear of catching a real baseball is natural behavior amongst most youngsters learning the game of baseball. The possibility of the hard and abrasive round weight zooming in at the head or body is enough to make children shy away from learning the correct way to catch a ball and rise up through the little league ranks. The good news is there are a few practice measures a parent and coach can take to overcome a child's fear of catching a baseball.

Fear of a baseball: Short Catch Session

Do not start off five or six year old "catch" session with a real baseball; use a tennis ball or t-ball. A t-ball resembles a baseball but is softer textured and a bit lighter. If you do not have either a t-ball or tennis ball even consider wrapping a waffle ball in duct tape to add a little bit of weight. The softer and lighter ball will reduce a youngsters fear of the ball reducing the temptation to shy away when the ball is thrown at them.

Begin the catch session by standing five to ten feet apart from the child. Instruct the "catcher" to keep their eyes on them and the ball. Let them master the art of catching without the glove for the first ten minutes. Once they get good at catching barehanded, it is time to move on to the glove.

Fear of a baseball: Catching with a Glove

The successful short toss will then require follow up using a baseball glove. Try and opt for a t-ball glove or even a glove slightly larger than a t-ball glove for your five year old. Make sure the glove is broken in and the child can successfully close the glove to grip a ball. The mastery of catching a ball first involves always using two hands and knowing when to hold the glove up and down. Keep the rule that the fingers of the glove hand should be pointed towards the sky for throws coming in over the belly button. Anything below the belly or waist should have the glove fingers pointed down towards the ground.

Repeat the short toss distance of about ten feet with the child catching the ball using the glove and two hands. The other hand open and closes over the ball when received in the pocket of the glove. This step will take some time as the child gets comfortable with the stiffness and mechanics of the mitt. Once the child starts successfully catching the ball, increase the distance to about twenty to thirty feet.

Fear of a baseball: Repetition and Confidence

The key to instilling confidence in the little leaguer is regular practice and patience by the coach or parent. For many children, it takes time to master the art of catching and throwing. These children are outside playing ball to have fun so it is up to coach and parents to keep it that way. If the child takes a throw or shot off the bat into the head or body, they may need to overcome fear of baseball again. Simply repeat the steps mentioned above starting with the short toss, softer ball and work your way back again.