Quarter 2, Blogpost #6

This blogpost was supposed to be done last weekend, but once again, I forgot about it, so am deciding to make it up now. This series of pictures were taken today while I was showing my sister how to field a ball using the back hand technique. Since we were in the 10 and under division, our coaches have constantly stressed how a back hand catch is a different from a forward hand catch. When fielding a ball on your glove hand side, you want to step into the ball and catch it as soon as you can. With a back hand catch, you want to "ride" the ball and give it as much time as you can for it to settle in your glove. When "riding" the ball, you are also increasing its contact time. This week we did a balloon toss activity where Mr. Blake showed us how to catch the balloon in a way that would increase its contact time and reduce its force. This is exactly the same when it comes to back handing a ball. In these photos, you can see how instead of stabbing at the ball and trying to pick it up in front of me, I draw my hand back and upward, giving the ball a type of cushion to increase the time in which the ball makes contact with my glove, reducing the force it uses to hit my glove, bettering my chances of catching it. Back hand catches are my fav (: