One of the quickest ways to break in your softball glove is to simply play catch with it. Tie the baseball glove shut, with the baseball inside, using shoelaces or a belt. Another Method. This acts as a conditioner. Any time you're catching or beating the glove to soften it, focus on squeezing the area around the pocket to make it soft enough to mold itself around the ball. Softball gloves are fashioned from thick, durable leather, so you’re unlikely to damage the glove, as long as you don’t employ extreme measures like running it over in a car or dropping it off a cliff. Manufacturer recommendations are sometimes included with new gloves. Continuous pressure from your hands as well as the constant touching will begin to slacken up the tightness of the glove, making it more malleable. The oils from our hands alone can help. Use the glove to play catch. This sounds odd, I am sure but you may find it less monotonous than kneading the glove. Some of our favorite oils and conditioners can easily be ordered online with your new glove purchase: You can also break in your softball using heat. Most of these just contain basic oil and expensive bands used to wrap the glove. Rawlings outlines the best way to break in and care for your new glove. If the heated methods discussed previously all seemed too extreme for you, but you still need you softball glove broken in, in a hurry, you should consider steaming it. By far, this is the absolute best way to break in a glove. Wearing the glove while you steam it will help it shape itself to your hand, and also protect your hand from the heat of the steam. There are lots of different tricks and ways to do it, but ultimately the best way to break in your glove, is to give it some good tender loving care. But there are a lot of strange -- and potentially harmful -- ways that p In addition, it can soak into the padding of the palm. When heating the glove, it should be at thirty-second intervals. Once the oils and conditioners in the shaving cream have absorbed into the leather of the glove and cools down you should play a game of catch as soon as possible. You can also try soaking your glove in water and then microwaving it for less than a minute so the heat from the microwave breaks it in. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article has been viewed 115,872 times. Some ways are more radical than others but which technique you choose to undertake is dependent upon how fast you need your glove ready for your next game. Your body weight while sleeping on the glove causes the tautness of the glove to dissipate. Even with these methods, your glove will take some time to break in completely. ", "The glove in the hot car method worked. Parts of the gloves such as the webbing and the stitching needs to be done properly as these are important parts of the glove with regards to catching. It is important to place a ball into the glove. The natural oils on your hands can also be good for conditioning a stiff glove. Brad is a local softball enthusiast and has been involved in fastpitch softball and baseball for 20 years as a parent and coach. This will also give the stitching a bit of stretch. It is a manual option and when executing this technique you should take the following suggestion into consideration. The most surefire way to break in a stiff new softball glove is to use it to play catch frequently. Though this is a swift way to break in your glove, it will still take at least a few hours before the leather becomes soft and pliable. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. All-Star Pro-Elite TM, System7 TM, Pro Advanced TM, AF-Elite TM, and Vela TM gloves and mitts are designed and built for the serious player at a High School level or above. This stretchable neoprene strap fits both softball and baseballs gloves will help shape the pocket as well as keep the pocket in its shape between games and practices. It may be best to leave the glove out of direct sunlight, as the intensity of the sun’s rays may warp the leather or cause it to shrivel up. First, buy a bottle of conditioning oil. The best way to break in a glove is by using it, manipulating the glove in different positions to loosen it up, and making it your own. This action not only allows you to break in your glove fast, but it assists in the results the glove produces in the long run, as creating this curve makes catching the ball much easier. There is a method when doing this that you should always adhere to. "After using this, I was able to have fun playing softball with a broken-in glove, making it easier to catch the, "The article helped me because we didn't know how to break in the glove. When using oils though, it is important not to use too much because you don’t want the glove to be drenched as this will make it heavy and hard to use. And eventually, oil will start to break down the leather. There are actually special mallets made specifically for glove-beating, check out some examples available online: A fourth and final manual way to break in your glove fast is simply to sleep on it. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 115,872 times. Baseball bat or ball mallet, striking it in the center of the page executing this technique you should to. 19 References cited in this browser for the next time I comment than that at... For breaking in or maintaining gloves focus should be used on a glove glove Locker SGL... 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