This is such a bad habit and being such it will be VERY difficult to overcome. That so many of your players do it shows me that there is a possibility that you are hitting beyond their capabilities or playing level. So first they need some fundamental retraining. Treat them like first time players, lower YOUR expectations, by reducing the power of the grounders coming at them it will reduce the pressure and the fear they feel so you are able to teach them how you'd like to see them field the balls. You have to allow success at one level before you are able to acheive it at the next.

If they're scared, they won't be able to listen to you. Re-approach your girls, reassess your coaching goals and only ask them to do what they are ready to do. Humiliation and Failure won't make athletes want to please you. they already want to please you. They are failing you. Allow them to succeed at their level not yours. They want to do better...you have to motivate them with positive communication. Explain clearly a task they feel they are able to acheive and watch them...they'll get better. If you're too hard or negative they melt and develop bad habits.

If they don't want to work at it...sit them on the bench (don't be shy about that) You have a responsibility to your team. Show the girls that do things right and work hard that they have done it for a reason and that the players that don't aren't rewarded with playing time.

Sounds like they have been smacked with the ball and hurt. The only way to break the bad habit is to build confidence.

Go back to the basics. Show each one how to PROPERLY field grounders. Then start running the drill with WIFFLE balls. Actually a little tougher to field IMO but with no pain if they do fail. Then simply REPEAT...REPEAT...REPEAT!!! You might also use paper plates instead of gloves or the black pads (more expensive) to help them gain their confidence in their abilities. After awhile move back to real balls and put less speed on them. Gradually increase until you get them where you want.

There are no quick answers, just time and lots of practice. It usually takes 2-3x the amount of time to break bad habits vs developing good ones.

Good luck!

Also stop blasting balls at them. Put them in drills over and over and over and over and over again where they can do it right. Remove the fear by using softer balls OR by hitting/rolling them balls that are NOT scary. It's definitely a tough habit to break, but continually hitting balls at them that scare them is not going to help. Good advice from Larry above.

Go back to the basics of fielding a ground ball and make sure to build their confidence. Even if this will eat most of your training session, it's ok to focus on correcting bad habits this shows that you really want to help them get the right movement done. It would be nice if you can use a pancake glove or a makeshift pancake glove so they have no choice to cover the ball and stay in front of the ball. Rolling a ball is a good idea, when fundamentals have improved give them manageable and easy batted balls first so they can gain more confidence. Increase the speed and power little by little until you see that they're veering off their bad habit.

Things you should remind them to do:
1. Tell them to stay low and bend their knees.
- staying low will help them see the ball more and give them a better prospective of where the ball is coming from

2. tell them to catch the ball in front and at the center of the body. Unless ball is too fast and far from them

3. Tell them to look at the ball until it enters glove.

5. Slowly increase speed and difficulty when they're getting their grove

6. Tell them also that they can talk to themselves so they don't get
scared of fielding. (it might work for them)

7. Tell to mentally prepare themselves with every pitch because this will help them catch and incoming ball going towards them

get more drills online so they can have fun doing it at the same time they don't think it is a punishment for missing balls during game.

Go back to the basics of fielding a ground ball and make sure to build their confidence. Even if this will eat most of your training session, it's ok to focus on correcting bad habits this shows that you really want to help them get the right movement done. It would be nice if you can use a pancake glove or a makeshift pancake glove so they have no choice to cover the ball and stay in front of the ball. Rolling a ball is a good idea, when fundamentals have improved give them manageable and easy batted balls first so they can gain more confidence. Increase the speed and power little by little until you see that they're veering off their bad habit.

Things you should remind them to do:
1. Tell them to stay low and bend their knees.
- staying low will help them see the ball more and give them a better prospective of where the ball is coming from

2. tell them to catch the ball in front and at the center of the body. Unless ball is too fast and far from them

3. Tell them to look at the ball until it enters glove.

5. Slowly increase speed and difficulty when they're getting their grove

6. Tell them also that they can talk to themselves so they don't get
scared of fielding. (it might work for them)

7. Tell to mentally prepare themselves with every pitch because this will help them catch any incoming ball going towards them

get more drills online so they can have fun doing it at the same time they don't think it is a punishment for missing balls during game.

One drill I have my girls do that they seem to love is "softball dodgeball". Simply split the team in half. Make one side line up on the base line from 3rd to home (equally spread apart). Have the other half do the same on the base 1st to 2nd base line. Take ONE ball and place on the ground between the two teams. Have each team choose a runner to retrieve the ball (just one and they can't use the same one twice). Once set blow your whistle, and watch the 2 runners scramble to retrieve the ball. The winner tales it back to their team and gets to play OFFENSE first.

The girls then have to throw grounders to each other. The point being to make the other team miss. I allow my girls to use ONE girl as backup to the one retrieving the grounder. Helps make them work as a team. When a girl misses she is out and is removed from the lineup. Continue until one team is victorious. I also like to add a rule that if a girl throws a bad "grounder" that never hits the ground and the opposing team catches it before it ever touches the ground then they get to bring in an eliminated teammate.

Makes the girls hustle, builds team work and agility while improving their grounder fielding technique. If I have 5 girls on each side I make the girls run the drill 5x so each girl can be the runner. The winning team doesn't have to do lunges around the bases at the end of practice; however I always offer to let EVERYONE dolunges to 2 bases(opposed to all 4) if the winners want to help them. Most the time they do which I think helps further bond our team. If you have uneven girls (11) get creative with the extra. During the drill I let the losing team call in the extra ONE time when they feel they need it most.

Seems anytime I make a drill a game the girls try harder and enjoy it more. Give it a whirl, good luck.

ohh god I just BROKE this habit.. but I'm a pitcher.. THEY have to tell themselves the can do it.. convince them that the only way they are going to get hurt it if they do THAT.. that is why they have a glove and that if they pay attention they wil not get hurt.. by the way I just laughed when I saw this question, because I used to do the same exact thing.. but only when line drives were hit to me.. =)

Have then wear a helmet and face mask even when fielding.

Practice rolling tennis balls to her/him. Tennis balls don't hurt so they will become more confident about ground balls or line drives. ALWAYS wear a face mask.

I would have them wear the face protectors and shin guards. Especially for all infielders. This is definitely a good safety practice, as the balls coming through the infield are getting much faster and harder than they used to be. Some leagues are now using .52 core balls this year so it will definitely be that way. Once your players get used to the additional equip this should take care of it. Make sure they wear all equipment in practice so they get used to it. Also, with the shin guards, if you get hit in the leg, yes it may still hurt a bit, but usually you can still make the play, even if the play isn't made at least your player is not really hurt. Also practice with no gloves in the infield and hit softly to them so they will have to use both hands and then speed up then go to gloves.