Scared of the ball

[Murz]

What do you guys do with a kid that is scared of the ball?

Lil Murz has played two seasons of T-Ball. I really only count it as one because the first season we basically brought him to practice and he day-dreamed 99.9% of the time. I know most 5 year olds dont have a good attention span, but Lil Murz is bad... That, coupled with bad coaching left him with little to nothing learned for the season.

Last season I coached and made sure he was paying attention at least 40% of the time, improvement! He started picking up some of the basics of the game, but was still behind most of the team. To add to that he is very uncoordinated, and worst of all still afraid of the ball. I think a lot of the uncoordination is a product of him being an only child with no dad in the picture. So he never really played outside with other kids and dident have a dad to get him into sports until I started dating his mom.

Durring the summer I worked with him at least 3 days a week (we dont live together so its hard to see him every day) mostly just playing catch with a saftey ball and BP with wiffle balls. Hes to the point where he can catch about 60% of the balls I throw to him, but only on his glove side of the body. Anything to his body or his throwing side he well flinch or close his eyes and miss. He also hits about 50% of the wiffles I throw in BP.

Fastforward a couple months and now hes playing Pitno (kid pitch) fall ball. The hardball is introduced, no more saftey ball. Hes ducking out of the batters box as soon as the pitch is released. Hes still flinching on any balls thrown to his body, throwing side and sometimes even when its on his glove side. The hardball has really gotten into his head.

As a new coach/teacher Im just kind of at a loss. Do I just keep on with the practice and hope one day it clicks? Do I find new queues/drills? Get someone else to teach him?

Sorry for the long winded post. Any suggestions would be greatly appriciated

[jbolt_2000]

Did I read this properly and see that he is currently 5 years old and playing in a kid pitch league???

IMHO that is waaayyyy to young to be playing kid pitch. Nevermind the whole "pitching too much hurts the arm" stuff, but how many kids throw consistant strikes at that age?

I don't blame him for being scared of the ball. It is probably coming at his head every other pitch.

My son is 4 and loves the game. We play almost every day. We get out a glove and have a catch and we get out the soft tee balls and bat around a bit. When we watch games on TV he gets out the wiffle bat and swings as the pitcher pitches, and steals bases when the ball is thrown on during the game. He loves it and is good, but I still have reservations of putting him in T-Ball next season as I don't want him to get burnt out or bored with it.

I just couldn't imagine putting him in a kid pitch league next year, no matter how good he is (or I think he is).


That all being said -- I coached my daughter last year in T-Ball. We had a team of 12 players ranging from 4-6 years old. By the end of the season I had kids still a little afraid of the ball when it was thrown by a player (e.g. a throw to 1st base or home). If it was thrown by me or another coach they had full confidence. Even after they missed the ball and were hit in the chest or arm, they still stayed in there and felt comfortable with hitting and catching. But have another player playing catch or throwing to first and 9 out of the 12 kids would jump off to the side so that they didn't get hit.

I believe it is totally a confidence thing, not only in themselves, but in the person throwing/pitching the ball.

[Jake Patterson]

IMHO that is waaayyyy to young to be playing kid pitch. Nevermind the whole "pitching too much hurts the arm" stuff, but how many kids throw consistant strikes at that age?
I don't blame him for being scared of the ball. It is probably coming at his head every other pitch.

At this age machine pitch with injury reduced balls is best.

[Harley]

A lot of kids can't catch at the age of 5. I think he should stay away from the hard balls and use nothing but tennis balls and wiffle balls. Have him catch without using a glove.

It may take a while for him to un-learn being afraid of the ball. I've heard that it takes 1500 repetitions to un-learn something so don't be in a hurry for him to master catching the ball. When he can confidently catch a tennis ball with his bare hands, then move on to using a glove. When he can do that, then try a soft T-Ball.

I believe that forcing him to try and catch a hard ball too soon will make him not even want to play baseball.

[coach scotty]

First put his helmet on him and second get out and throw to him a lot. He needs to catch or defend himself against balls thrown to him enough to learn how to do it. The helmet will help lessen the fear until the confidence and competence grows.

[Murz]

Thank you for everyone's comments!

Did I read this properly and see that he is currently 5 years old and playing in a kid pitch league???

Sorry I think I made that a little unclear. He was 5 in his first year of T-Ball, hes now about to turn 7 playing kid pitch (Winterball) and well be playing kid pitch (Pinto) next regular season. If I had the choice I would keep him in T-ball for one more season but because of his age he has to move up.

By the end of the season I had kids still a little afraid of the ball when it was thrown by a player (e.g. a throw to 1st base or home). If it was thrown by me or another coach they had full confidence. Even after they missed the ball and were hit in the chest or arm, they still stayed in there and felt comfortable with hitting and catching.

I see this with Lil Murz. At practice he routinely misses throws from teammates that he would regularly catch from me.

[Murz]

At this age machine pitch with injury reduced balls is best.

I hear yah Jake, but this league is in the city he lives in. A lot of his buddies from school play with him and on top of that me and his mother have made friends with some of the other parents. The one in my area where I actually grew up playing is a Pony style league as well. Convincing him and his mother to switch leagues would be pretty challenging.

[Ursa Major]

Pinto level (ages 7 - 8) of Pony ball is usually coach pitch and uses Soft-strike/Incrediball types of baseballs. It sounds like some overzealous Dads who want junior to be ready for 10u travel ball have taken over the asylum.

Some leagues will have two levels for kids at this age - one for those ready for serious baseball and the other for kids who are still figuring out which base to run to. Maybe this can be introduced in your league.

Otherwise, just keep on with what you're doing, and take some of the advice in the other thread about helping kids overcome a fear of being hit. But this is likely to be an overwhelmingly common problem because of the stupidity of using kid pitchers and hard balls at that age level. There's no cure other than playing a lot of catch and taking a lot of hitting practice ... and time.

Just make sure that he doesn't get discouraged and that more advanced kids don't razz those who are still afraid. During games, the important thing is that he enjoys the nice uniform and the after-game snack, so he'll have good memories and want to come back in succeeding years. Don't worry about it and don't let him think that you or his mother are worried about it. I know several kids who were still flinching at the ball at age 11 who are now high school stud players.

[Murz]

It sounds like some overzealous Dads who want junior to be ready for 10u travel ball have taken over the asylum.

I think you may be right. Lil Murz's two seasons in T-ball we played with a coach who had his four year old playing-up. This year his son is five and he wanted the league to let him play-up into Pitno. The league wont allow it so hes changing leagues On top of that last season they had a travel T-ball team made up of the best kids from the league. Five and six year olds playing travel ball . Its kind of crazy. The funny part is Lil Murz's winterball coach was the coach of the travel team, lol. Hes actually really good with Lil Murz and the other kid on the team that is at the same level. The rest of the kids on the team are form his travel team so they are all pretty much studs. The good thing is I havent noticed any of the studs teasing Lil Murz or the other kid so far.

There's no cure other than playing a lot of catch and taking a lot of hitting practice ... and time.

Yeah last night we played catch for about 15mins focusing on balls thrown to the body. He was flintching at first and took a couple to the midsection, but by the end he was catching most of them without flintching

Thanks for the feedback. Its really setting my mind at ease. I guess we've just been playing with a bunch of little ballers, leaving the bar set a bit high.

[hitnpeas]

I think you may be right. Lil Murz's two seasons in T-ball we played with a coach who had his four year old playing-up. This year his son is five and he wanted the league to let him play-up into Pitno. The league wont allow it so hes changing leagues On top of that last season they had a travel T-ball team made up of the best kids from the league. Five and six year olds playing travel ball . Its kind of crazy. The funny part is Lil Murz's winterball coach was the coach of the travel team, lol. Hes actually really good with Lil Murz and the other kid on the team that is at the same level. The rest of the kids on the team are form his travel team so they are all pretty much studs. The good thing is I havent noticed any of the studs teasing Lil Murz or the other kid so far.



Yeah last night we played catch for about 15mins focusing on balls thrown to the body. He was flintching at first and took a couple to the midsection, but by the end he was catching most of them without flintching

Thanks for the feedback. Its really setting my mind at ease. I guess we've just been playing with a bunch of little ballers, leaving the bar set a bit high.

Also remember it is a journey not a sprint....Each child develops at a different rate and I think in a lot of cases you will see the gap start to close. Just keep working with him and most importantly, BE PATIENT!! Good luck to you and your son!!

[Ursa Major]

Lil Murz's two seasons in T-ball we played with a coach who had his four year old playing-up. This year his son is five and he wanted the league to let him play-up into Pitno. The league wont allow it so hes changing leagues On top of that last season they had a travel T-ball team made up of the best kids from the league. Five and six year olds playing travel ball . Its kind of crazy.

Ah, but watch out for the 8 year old "Baseball Annie's" on those road trips; they'll take your kid into their rooms and read Judy Blume books to him. ((Obscure Bull Durham reference.))

The funny part is Lil Murz's winterball coach was the coach of the travel team, lol. Hes actually really good with Lil Murz and the other kid on the team that is at the same level. The rest of the kids on the team are from his travel team so they are all pretty much studs. The good thing is I havent noticed any of the studs teasing Lil Murz or the other kid so far.

That is good coaching. Over the years, Ursa has been on a couple of teams where he's been one of the wekest players on the team, and the good coaches (and their players, who adopt the coaches' attitudes) treated him with just as much respect. I'm trying to wrap my brain around the concept of 5 and 6 year olds being "studs"....

Yeah last night we played catch for about 15mins focusing on balls thrown to the body. He was flintching at first and took a couple to the midsection, but by the end he was catching most of them without flintching.

After Ursa Minor's first Pinto practice at age 7, the manager told the dads to take their kids out and play catch for however long it took for the kid to catch 100 balls. I think it took us over an hour. Within a couple of weeks, we could knock those 100 catches out in 5 minutes.

Another thing to get used to is this: now, they want to catch everything forehand. In about 18 months, they'll all want to catch everything backhand. So, try to work in drills for turning your glove the appropriate way.

[Murz]

I'm trying to wrap my brain around the concept of 5 and 6 year olds being "studs"....

Yeah stud was probably a little too strong of a word. At 6 and 7 years old they are a sight to see though. They have run ruled the other team in the first two games, 16-0 last sunday

After Ursa Minor's first Pinto practice at age 7, the manager told the dads to take their kids out and play catch for however long it took for the kid to catch 100 balls. I think it took us over an hour. Within a couple of weeks, we could knock those 100 catches out in 5 minutes

I like that idea. I'm gonna try that with him today, maybe starting off with 50 at first.

Thank you for all the comments Ursa, they are very helpful

[Ursa Major]

Originally Posted by Ursa Major
After Ursa Minor's first Pinto practice at age 7, the manager told the dads to take their kids out and play catch for however long it took for the kid to catch 100 balls. I think it took us over an hour. Within a couple of weeks, we could knock those 100 catches out in 5 minutes

I like that idea. I'm gonna try that with him today, maybe starting off with 50 at first. Thank you for all the comments Ursa, they are very helpful

I take no credit for the idea. Just remember that kids like games and little contests like that, especially when they can use them to help measure their progress.

Glad to offer some help. I envy you the journey.

[KevinOK]

Once you have him able to play catch the next step is keeping him in the batters box. The best way I found in to get a kid over being scared of the ball period is to put them in at practice playing catcher. With all the gear (cup included) it gives them a feeling of protection. Sell the protection part and in no time without them even being aware of it they will stay in the batters box.