The ability to predict the flight trajectory of the ball so as to move the hands to exactly the right place at the right time to catch the ball is essential for successful catching. Children with poor ball catching skills often need additional training to ensue that they gather the information they need to predict the path of the ball.
Predicting the path of the ball depends on two sources of information:
- Firstly we watch the actions of the person throwing the ball, as this provides information about the direction that the ball is likely to move.
- Once the ball is released from the thrower's hand, the path that the ball follows can be tracked visually, but this is only useful if the ball is moving quite slowly.
- If the ball is moving fast, the person catching the ball will usually shift the gaze to the place where the ball is expected to arrive at a place where it can be easily caught.
Children learn to visually follows the path of a moving object from an early age, and with practice they learn to watch the thrower, predict the direction and speed of the ball and start to move the hands towards a convenient place for catching the ball.
Catching a rolled ball is a good way to start training a child to watch the person throwing the ball and predicting the path of the ball. Because the ball is moving relatively slowly along the floor, it is also easy to catch. This means that the child can succeed most of the time, which builds confidence and encourages the child to stay on task.
In this video clip you see two preschool children playing a game of catching a rolled ball with me.
How to train catching a rolled ball
1 Stand facing your child, at a distance of 3-4 meters.
Hold a medium sized ball (about the size of a soccer ball) in your one hand. Instruct the child to catch the ball.
2 Prime the child to pay attention to your actions as you move your hand to roll the ball: Are you ready to catch? Watch the ball in my hand - here it comes.
3 Roll the ball towards the child at a steady pace so that it approaches him in the midline. Encourage him to catch the ball with two hands and then roll it back to you again.
4 Once the child has mastered the ability to catch the ball in the midline, roll the ball so that it passes a little way to the left or right of the child.
Over time, as your child's ability to move his hands into the right place at the right time improves, you can start to roll the ball further to the left or right so that he needs to take a step sideways to intercept the ball successfully.
