Anonymous wrote:
I've always been afraid of the ball, particularly heavy ones that can hurt. My son is the same way. He has diagnosed motor and coordination issues and ADHD, and I may have a lighter version of that.

I really don't care, OP. He's happy without ball sports in his life, and so am I

I need to check my son for ADHD as he clearly has issues with coordination and attention. Can you recommend a specialist especially pertaining to sports coordination ?

I've always been afraid of the ball, particularly heavy ones that can hurt. My son is the same way. He has diagnosed motor and coordination issues and ADHD, and I may have a lighter version of that.

I really don't care, OP. He's happy without ball sports in his life, and so am I

Biggest thing is don’t say “don’t be afraid of the ball”. Kids cue in on the word “Afraid” and that’s all they hear.

You don’t want to associate anything negative with something like Sports that should be fun.

Start with squishy balls...build up the hand eye coordination and confidence....be patient....and before you know it they’ll be catching fastballs. It’s not where you start...it’s where you end up.

I hated any sport that involved having to make contact with a ball. As an adult I am still pretty bad at playing catch with my kids and my natural reaction is to wince and try to avoid getting hit by the ball instead of catch it. So I'm not sure if that means that my parents should have pushed me to practice playing catch more or if it was a lost cause. That said, I always liked tennis because you don't have to make contact with the ball yourself - you have the racket for that. And I'm now a very active adult, just not with ball sports!