One of the most common refrains you’ll hear from coaches in practice is “two hands,” i.e. use two hands to catch the ball. While there are some cases where you really don’t want two hands — catching and some first base come to mind — generally speaking that’s good advice.

Yet getting players into the habit of catching with two hands takes more than just yelling “two hands” every time they don’t. Here’s one of my favorite drills for forcing the issue.

Have your players play catch using the back of the glove instead of the pocket to catch. When they do that, they’ll either have to use two hands or the ball will fall to the ground. They’ll get the picture very quickly.

This drill is also good for teaching soft hands; if the player makes a stabbing motion they’re likely to push the ball away before they can clamp down on it.

Remember that you’re not using two hands just because it’s more secure for catching. It also makes it easier to make a quick throw since the hand is already on the ball, instead of fumbling for it afterwards.