Baseball Fielding Practice Plan for 7 and 8 Year Olds

The glove becomes a friend: body in front, two hands out front, the alligator chomping every roller. Soft balls, guaranteed wins, and fear quietly dissolving.

---

Ten self-tosses caught in the glove, watched all the way in. Then "hot potato": ball tossed to their glove from five feet, transferred to the bare hand fast, tossed back, racing the clock for ten. Ends with the alligator demo: glove flat and open low, bare hand chomping down on top, five practice chomps on a resting ball.

---

Slow rollers from fifteen feet, straight at them. The pattern, celebrated piece by piece: feet move so the ball is in FRONT of the body, bottom drops (knees bend, backside down like a catcher half-sitting), glove out front on the ground, alligator chomp, stand and toss back. Ten to fifteen rollers. The glove OUT FRONT where the eyes can see it is the make-or-break habit; a glove under the body is a ball off the shins.

Rollers a couple of steps to each side, slow enough to beat: they shuffle sideways FIRST, get the body in front, then the same drop-and-chomp. Eight per side. The shuffle-first habit (feet before glove) is the entire future of infield range, planted here at walking speed.

---

Gentle underhand pop-ups from ten feet, only as high as guaranteed catchable, glove up around eye level with the bare hand beside it. Ten to fifteen catches, height climbing ONLY as confidence does. A kid flinching means the ball is too hard or too high; soften and lower until catches are automatic, then rebuild. Confidence is the curriculum; the technique is just glove-up-early.

---

They guard a six-foot cone goal; you roll balls trying to score, at very beatable speed. Every clean alligator stop is a save, counted out loud; sneaky wide ones make them shuffle. Ten shots, then trade places so they roll at you and judge YOUR alligator harshly.

---

A closing streak: clean grounder, clean pop-up, clean grounder, counting the run of perfect plays. End on a catch, name the day's best play like a broadcaster ("WHAT a stop!"), and put the glove away wanting tomorrow.

---

What to watch today: where the glove lives when the ball arrives. Out front, on the ground, visible: everything works. Tucked under the body or waving at the side: nothing does. Say "show me your glove" instead of any longer correction, and the whole pattern usually fixes itself.