You could just toss fly balls to your players until they can’t miss. But where’s the fun in that? 

This trio of drills will increase the challenge for your players as they develop the skills they need to catch whatever comes their way. 

Selfies

When your players are ready to make the transition from receiving drills to catching pop flies, it’s time for Selfies. Each player has their own ball for this drill and they toss it high to themselves. This is a great way to individually work on hand-eye coordination as well as catching with fingers up and glove in front of the face. 

Heads up – this drill can get a little silly with young kids. For tee ball, it works better if a coach tosses gentle pop ups to two lines of three or four kids. That way the coach can give constructive advice while keeping the kids moving through the drill. Encourage kids to practice the “drop-step, crossover, go” footwork that’s key for catching fly balls — but only after the art of finding the glove has been mastered. 

The Box

Reinforce the “drop-step, crossover, go” fundamentals with The Box. This drill keeps kids in a controlled space, compared to running through the outfield for a fly ball. 

Set up four cones to create a large box and have one player stand in the center. The coach tosses shallow pop ups to each corner of the box. Start by calling out which corner and work up to random tosses. Along with footwork, this drill helps kids get their ball-tracking down.   

Trust Catch

This advanced drill brings it all together. A coach throws a high fly ball to the first player in line. That player executes the “drop-step, crossover go” footwork, first taking a step back in the direction of the ball. After the crossover step, the player chases down the ball. Increase the challenge by throwing the ball further up and out.