Before a kid can field a fly ball, they need to learn how to follow a ball through the air with their eyes. A tennis racquet hits a tennis ball higher and softer than a bat hits a baseball, so this is a safer way to teach tracking.
What you need: A tennis racquet, 5 tennis balls, an open grass area.
Setup: Kid stands 30 feet from where you stand with the racquet.
How to run it:
- Cue: Find, Track, Camp, Catch. Today the focus is Find and Track.
- You hit a soft pop-up with the racquet. The ball goes about 20 feet up.
- Kid watches the ball from your racquet to wherever it lands. They don’t have to catch it. Just track it with their eyes.
- After 5 tosses without catching, add the catch. Glove up, two hands.
- Last 5: hit slightly off-center so they have to move to the ball, then track and catch.
What to watch: Are their eyes following the ball or are they watching you? Eyes on the ball from contact to landing. If they look away, they lose it.
If they’re struggling: Hit shorter and softer pops. Or just toss the ball up by hand so it’s slower.
If they’ve got it: Hit higher pops. Or hit two in a row so they have to track one then quickly find the next.