Softball Sliding - Learning the Head First Slide
I find that we don't spend enough time teaching and learning softball sliding techniques. There are a variety of softball sliding techniques: bent-leg, pop-up, hook, around the bag, and head first just to name the most common.
Now, I've been under the assumption that the head first slide was a tough slide to teach and only the "naturals" could do it. This past spring, I got my eyes opened by Dalton Ruer, a clinician in Atlanta. This guy can teach head first slide to any player in 5 minutes literally.
I realized that I had these false assumptions all these years about girls not really being keen or good at head first sliding. I tried it with a few players later this past summer and it is not that hard to teach actually. Most softball players can pick it up relatively easily with the right instruction.
Here's a quick video on how to do it:
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Comments on Softball Sliding - Learning the Head First Slide »
I've been teaching girls (U/14 & U16) to forward slide for years. First I start by demonstrating it step by step. Getting them to start on their knees removes a lot of the fear. Then, we go down into the forward slide, getting the hands and arms into correct position, being careful to keep the chin tucked in.
I've found it most useful to teach and implement when taking a load off from 1st base and returning to it if a pick off attempt is made.
I've also found that once the girls become comfortable with it, they adjust very quickly to do avoidance slides and others where the straight forward motion is the basis of the slide.
Thanks for the video!