Conditioning at Practice.

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Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
I agree with you that the girls sign up to compete but who is the better competitor, the girl that receives conditioning in practice (Mental and physical) or the girl that receives no physical conditioning?

I don't have an issue with conditioning. I just have an issue with conditioning that is really punishment.
 
Jun 1, 2013
847
18
I asked the question earlier with no luck, so I will ask again.

Are we supposed to be getting our players ready for the next level? Do any of you really think there is no running/conditioning at the college level? Will your player pass the fitness standards that some of these colleges have? Or will your players wash out, like many do, because they can't handle the physical conditioning. Watch the clip, my girls are not ready for this but sound like they are closer than most of yours. Be a coach and get them ready to succeed at the next level. Warning...may include some physical conditioning.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...H9ng5u8K0iFsbYgGQ&sig2=qSmsIspfIBLp1tY1EWyh3Q
 
Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
Good stuff from Auburn. However, find it interesting that people always refer to this even though the program was pretty much in the dumper. :)
 
Last edited:
May 17, 2012
2,804
113
I asked the question earlier with no luck, so I will ask again.

Are we supposed to be getting our players ready for the next level? Do any of you really think there is no running/conditioning at the college level? Will your player pass the fitness standards that some of these colleges have? Or will your players wash out, like many do, because they can't handle the physical conditioning. Watch the clip, my girls are not ready for this but sound like they are closer than most of yours. Be a coach and get them ready to succeed at the next level. Warning...may include some physical conditioning.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...H9ng5u8K0iFsbYgGQ&sig2=qSmsIspfIBLp1tY1EWyh3Q

Lets try this another way. I don't think anyone has said that conditioning is not important. I believe the consensus is that there are better things to do with your practice time.

Conditioning should be done at the individual level outside of practice. There will be some conditioning during practice as a result of various softball specific drills.

No one would argue against speed and agility training, I just wouldn't use my practice time for it.
 
Feb 15, 2013
650
18
Delaware
I don't have an issue with conditioning. I just have an issue with conditioning that is really punishment.

Depends on how you view it. I think people depending on their nature and background will call conditioning punishment no matter what.

NOT DIRECTED AT COOGANSBLUFF:
What is the correct action for a player that after 5 stoppages of practice and explaining to the players that if they miss a ball they need to hustle after it, misses a ball and instead of doing what you have instructed them to do since August and now in March decides to get a ball out of the bucket instead of chasing her ball down?

At what point are there repercussions for their actions? You can send her home for the day but that's like out of school suspension, really you just gave that kid unsupervised time at home which is probably what led to the action in the first place. Do I put her in the corner and have her teammates laugh at her? That seems harsh like hazing. Do I kick her off the team? Well they are all going to make mistakes and errors right?
 
All my practices incorporate strength, conditioning and agility. We practice 8 hours every week and 25% of that is spent on those items. We have aggressive programs with personal trainers teaching proper form. The girls love it, but they obviously don't think of it as punishment because none of it is applied that way. Plus, they see results. Greater exit speeds, greater velocity on throws, warning-track balls go out, line drives to the gap get out of the infield like a laser beam, home-to-home times go down .... etc., etc., etc.

All the girls do some form of our workouts at home, with personal trainers or at a gym in addition to what they get from us.

We teach that to be competitive, you must be willing to work harder than your opponent.

Our mantra is that we must be prepared to win and that preparation is what sets us apart.:

1. You will not beat us because you are faster than we are.
2. You will not beat us because you are stronger than we are.
3. You will not beat us because you are tougher than we are.
4. You will not beat us because we run out of gas before you do.
5. You will not beat us because you are better prepared than we are.
6. If you beat us by playing better than we did, we will be eager to learn from the experience and it will make us a better team.
7. We will beat you next time.

My job is to prepare athletes for our 16U Gold program which, according to a question posed by the OP, means that we are indeed getting girls ready for the next level. Strength and conditioning is a huge part of that and we take it very seriously. I just don't use it as punishment. :)
 
Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
...My job is to prepare athletes for our 16U Gold program which, according to a question posed by the OP, means that we are indeed getting girls ready for the next level. Strength and conditioning is a huge part of that and we take it very seriously. I just don't use it as punishment. :)

I am sure you are doing a very good job of getting them recruited to play at the next level (college) and maybe give them some tools to help them succeed. It sounds like you are doing all the right things and have a great program. But getting them ready for the next level is a bit of a stretch. They need to understand that when they arrive at the next level they are not ready and the real work is just starting. But to your point your girls will be closer than most.
 
Last edited:
I am sure you are doing a very good job of getting them recruited to play at the next level and maybe give them some tools to help them succeed. It sounds like you are doing all the right things and have a great program. But getting them ready for the next level is a bit of a stretch. They need to understand that when they arrive at the next level they are not ready and the real work is just starting. But to your point your girls will be closer than most.

Absolutely right. I perhaps should have said we are getting them ready to take the next step in their development and to open enough doors for them to do so.
 

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