Follow
Donate to HeyBucket.com - Amount:

Welcome Anonymous !

Your Fastpitch Softball Bible
 

Tip & Drills

The head first slide

Must be a registered user to be able to post.

by grass stain » Wed Sep 07, 2011 12:53 pm

At my DDs 10U team practice yesterday. During the base running portion of the practice as the girls were going from 3rd to home the coach was telling them to slide head first into home. I thought this was really odd 1) at no time during the practice were they instructed on how to correctly slide head first 2) half the team just moved up from 8U so they are just learning how to correctly slide FEET FIRST let alone head first 3) Sliding head first into home with the catcher armored up IMHO is too much risk with too little reward.

My older daughter has been playing year round travel for the past 4 years and is now in 14U. During that time I have only seen one girl go into home head first and that was when she tried to knock the ball loose from our catcher. Predictably the runner was the one that ended up hurt (and out).

But I would like to get people's thoughts.
grass stain
 
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:55 pm

by DunninLA » Wed Sep 07, 2011 1:32 pm

Bad, BAd, Bad idea. Most of the injuries I've seen in Rec ball are from sliding (usually feet first, and LATE). Those injuries were to knees or ankles. Image a late slide into a shin guard, face forward... could break a neck and paralyze the runner.

Instead of teaching girls to slide head first into catching gear, I think more teams should teach their girls to slide really, really wide, such that they can barely reach the plate with an outstretched hand, thus avoiding the tag of the catcher who is planted 6" inside the 3rd base line to take the throw.

I don't believe I've ever seen a runner called out for being "outside the base path", which is truly one of the most ill-defined concepts in baseball or softball. Most of us grew up thinking the base path was 3' or so either side of a line drawn between the bases... but such is not in any rule book.
DunninLA
 
Posts: 307
Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 8:12 pm

by joaquinjunior » Thu Sep 08, 2011 7:49 am

I think that there is a better chance of a base runner knocking the ball out of a potential tag with her cleats, rather that her hands. Thats just me. LOL
joaquinjunior
Premium Member
Premium Member
 
Posts: 418
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 8:04 pm

by joaquinjunior » Thu Sep 08, 2011 7:51 am

Oh, and that a great Hook slide. that is a better chance of avoiding a tag as well.
joaquinjunior
Premium Member
Premium Member
 
Posts: 418
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 8:04 pm

by Makina » Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:38 pm

The coach that is teaching that to 10u rec players does not know what he is doing. You should never teach players that do not even know how to slide to go in head 1st. If a player gets hurt doing this, he is liable for a huge lawsuit. He should be teaching them to hook slide on the back side of the plate and get their hand on the back of the plate!!
Makina
 
Posts: 176
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 10:40 am

by rofoto » Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:53 pm

I would start teaching them to dive back to a base at the 12u rec level, but would not teach diving into them.
rofoto
 
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:09 pm
Location: Carlsbad, CA

by Coach B.Hill » Sun Dec 30, 2018 6:46 am

Not good nope, nope, and nope. Good injury waiting to happen. Head 1st on a dive back yes but to teach 10's to dive head first into home dumb, dumb and WTF (what the fridge) are you thinking man!
Coach B.Hill
Premium Member
Premium Member
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2018 6:43 pm

by Sue Trubovitz, Turbo » Sun Dec 30, 2018 4:27 pm

Enjoy your softball adventure!!
Last edited by Sue Trubovitz, Turbo on Sat Mar 28, 2020 12:41 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Sue Trubovitz, Turbo
Premium Member
Premium Member
 
Posts: 163
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:21 pm

by NumeroUno » Sun Dec 30, 2018 5:26 pm

Great story n awesome picture. Thanks
Help support heybucket and become a premium member today for only $12.00 a year
premium.html
User avatar
NumeroUno
 
Posts: 8912
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:50 pm

by meghna31 » Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:16 am

Excellent thread..!!!
meghna31
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2019 11:33 pm

Next

Return to Tip & Drills

cron