Teaching Defensive Baseball Skills To Young Children

A parent endeavoring to teach the art of defensive baseball skills to their child need not necessarily have tremendous experience themselves in the sport, just the desire to cover the most basic of fundamentals. Too often, a parent delves far too deeply into the topic, and in many instances the child is left feeling inadequate and confused, as the parent faces issues of frustration from the resulting failure. It is imperative in teaching defensive baseball skills to young children to recognize the physical and mental limitations of the age group, and fashion lessons in accordance with capabilities.

The mastery of baseball defensive skills at any level of competition begins and ends with the ability to concentrate, or in plain terms, to keep ones eyes on the baseball. Because children tend to become distracted rather easily when bored, it is the duty of a parent serving as a coach to make baseball practice and lessons an interesting and eagerly anticipated activity for the young child. This can be easily accomplished with simple positive reinforcement, frequent praise for the child and the creation of an atmosphere of fun and enjoyment. An overly aggressive posture by an adult in teaching children benefits no one, especially an impressionable child seeking appropriate guidance.

One of the most difficult aspects of teaching defensive baseball skills to young children is enabling them to overcome their fear of the baseball itself. This single obstacle in learning the game can be conquered by slowly rolling a baseball to the child repeatedly. With each new teaching session, the baseball should be progressively rolled at a faster speed, thereby building the child's confidence and coordination. As the child's skills develop, the new step is to duplicate the prior efforts incorporating the use of a baseball that is hit to the child using a baseball bat.

As the child's ability to catch the baseball improves, the notion of catching the baseball and throwing it to back to the adult can be added to simulate game conditions. Repetition is key to success in teaching defensive baseball skills to a young child, and in the vantage point of a child, success is what makes the game fun.