what u do u take time out from u busy scheduleand play pop fly with here if she catches 10 straight in a row tell her u will take her to mcdonandls or pizza

Use soft softballs at first. Teach the proper two handed catching technique. As they learn to use the softy balls intergrating the regulation softballs will be easy.

I did this with my U10 girls, we started out using tennis balls. Stand about 10 yards away from them. Throw fly balls about 10 yards above their heads and slowly they will teach themself where to position themself and if they miss, the tennis ball will not hurt them.

Once they are use to catching the pop ups. Move back to the regulation softballs. They have now taught themself where to position their body to properly catch fly balls they shouldn't fear the ball any longer. (Note: some kids will take a little longer to get there) but work with them til they feel comfortable before you move back to the hardball.

If that doesn't work, have you looked at the D-Mask. http://www.emasksales.com/dmask/ This contraption provides a guard for the kids.

not all children do well in the outfield. they have to see the ball hit off the bat and be able to judge where it is going. using a softer ball and proper throwing and catching techniques with regular practice and positive reinforcement will help.

Definitely start off with balls that don't hurt. Work on proper catching technique for sure. Start off at close distances (maybe only 10 ft even) and throw the ball up and get them use to moving to it to catch the ball (again with something that's NOT going to hurt if they don't catch it).

When they are ready to go out into the "outfield" maybe start off with thrown balls vs hit balls. Just lengthen that distance of 10 ft slowly by slowly.

Also - hitting balls off to the side of the player rather than directly at them may be a good idea.
1. It's less scary
2. It's easier to judge a ball off to the side rather than one that's coming straight at you
3. At this age level, if the player doesn't quite catch it, their body usually isn't in a position to get hit

As they gain more confidence in their ability to catch the ball, you still see them start to move to the ball better.

When I teach fielding fly balls to beginners I first establish the proper basics of catching. I make sure the glove is out and in front of the fielder before they start catching the ball. I tell them when they catch anything above waist, fingers of glove must be facing up then make sure that they cover ball once ball is inside the glove

SELF-TOSS
This drill is what i give my beginners. Let the players get one ball for each of them. Let them toss ball up and let them catch their own ball with the proper form. Tell them not to throw too high first. when they're comfortable and doing the proper mechanics, that's when they can toss higher.

Hope this helps

http://www.softballperformance.com/softball-fielding/fielding-tips-for-outfielders.html

i started playing softball when i was 10, now im 14 playing 18u, and i remember i used to be afraid of the ball. eventually, my dad took me out in our yard and used tennis balls without a glove and it helped. next, my team went to a field and we played catch first. my coach reminded us that a fly ball is just like playing catch only its higher up in the air. then he hit balls right to us and gradually hit them higher and harder and we got over our fears.

i was afraid of the ball also, but what you have them do is be catcher for a period of time, they'll get used to catching the ball. my coach had me do that- no matter how much i hated catcher!

excelent advice above. We have used teh Safe Toss Ball over and over and it will imrove all catching. Even flyballs. check out the videos on their website www.SafeToss.com
and yes it works for softball too!!!

i suggets (for safety) teh safetoss ball found at www.SafeToss.com

We just had this problem with my U8 team, so a couple of weeks ago I filled a bunch of waterballoons and found these soft foam balls in the pool section that you dunk in water thus spraying it when you throw the ball. It was a warm day so ofcourse the girls were trying to catch them. They learned to get in front of it, we immediately noticed a difference at game time.