fear of the ball

[laxatca]

I've seen several threads about goalies who are afraid of the ball, but i have a defender on my team who ducks everytime he is shot on. How do i help him get over his fear. BTW He is going to be a sophomore next year and it will be his third year of play. And he also is afraid of going in for ground balls, he just hacks at them.

[tiplax]

tell the other kids to hit him in practice. I play defense in HS and i hate it when kids play timidly and are afraid to get hit. I go out of my way to hit them(not to hard) to show that that it does not hurt. Also talk to him and tell him if you hit back it does not hurt but if you stand still and get hit, it does hurt

[BigKLaxer]

He's asking about a defender who is afraid of the ball, not being hit. Have him play a little goalie to get used to having balls flying at him. For ground balls, just have him do alot of one vs. one's.

[tiplax]

o, my bad. like BigK said , have him play goal, or tell your offensive players to aim for his head.

[goalieskcickay]

No, you were right tip. He said he was afraid of going in for groundballs, and I'm assuming it's because he's afraid of getting hit.

[POCK3Ts]

well i play goalie and did play defense but i actually like it when the ball is out top and my defenders duck then i can see the ball all the way in. i mean that personal preference. and as for ground balls have him go against the biggest toughest senior on his team everytime. and everytime he goes in soft or just hacks he has to do 25 pushups or run a lap or something. after he has done enough of that he will never go in soft. i mean it has worked with kids on our team. just make sure and tell the senior thats y ur doin it so he understands