Conditioning

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Mar 1, 2016
195
18
Some coaches do conditioning at the beginning of practice. Some might say that this makes the girls tired, drains their energy, and then they won't have the energy to execute other drills properly. They might also run out of time at the end of practice to get to some of the drills they intended to do (like hitting). Others might say that it builds endurance and mental toughness that the girls will need at the end of the day in a tournament.

Other coaches prefer to do conditioning at the end of practice, which might give the girls more time and energy for drills, but then if they run out of time at the end they may not do conditioning at all. In that case they may not have the endurance they need for those long, hot days.

What's the balance? When is it ok for the players to ask the coaches to make an adjustment to the practice agenda?


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Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
Depends on the level. I wouldn't suggest a college player ask a coach to change the conditioning agenda. :)
 
Dec 7, 2011
2,368
38
The kids better get used to it now if they have big college dreams. If any kid said to themselves that they chose SB because they just like "playing the game" odds are they are in for a harsh surprise the way I have seen college coaches drive their team like decathletes.
 
Mar 1, 2016
195
18
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that we're talking about a 16u team here. They condition for over an hour every practice and work on hitting for about 15 minutes. Seriously, 3-6 swings of the bat for each player. Then they go to tournaments and lose games because of their inability to score runs.

And for what it's worth, if a kid has big college dreams, she better be able to hit the ball just as much as any of the other skills. Maybe even more so. Also, we're not talking about a bunch of slackers here - they're in much better shape than 90% of the teams they play against. Maybe that's what frustrates the girls the most - losing to teams they should have beaten because they can't put runs on the board. A loss is a loss whether the score is 15-0 or 1-0.

So, are there alternative solutions or suggestions, or will we just continue to get the standard "suck it up buttercup" response, even in this forum?

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Last edited:
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that we're talking about a 16u team here. They condition for over an hour every practice and work on hitting for about 15 minutes. Seriously, 3-6 swings of the bat for each player. Then they go to tournaments and lose games because of their inability to score runs.

And for what it's worth, if a kid has big college dreams, she better be able to hit the ball just as much as any of the other skills. Maybe even more so. Also, we're not talking about a bunch of slackers here - they're in much better shape than 90% of the teams they play against. Maybe that's what frustrates the girls the most - losing to teams they should have beaten because they can't put runs on the board. A loss is a loss whether the score is 15-0 or 1-0.

So, are there alternative solutions or suggestions, or will we just continue to get the standard "suck it up buttercup" response, even in this forum?

That sounds like poor practice planning to me. Conditioning is important, but it shouldn't constitute the bulk of the practice. An out-of-shape player who works on specific skills won't play to her maximum potential, but she'll be a better than a well-conditioned athlete who never works on hitting, fielding, throwing, etc.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
Conditioning is pretty much integrated into everything else we do in our practice so we really don't have a special 'conditioning' session as part of our practice... Dynamic warm up, and into high paced throwing and fielding, work on anything we identified as a weakness and into some version of hitting/fielding stations and rotations (we do a lot of live BP/fielding/hitting/base running combined drillls so we are working on multiple things at the same time).

Also at 14U and up our girls are getting plenty of conditioning in their High School off-season workouts so there really is even less need in this age group. The ones who want it are plenty conditioned.

With limited practice time, dedicating a significant amount of practice to getting fitter doesn't seem like a priority.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Conditioning is pretty much integrated into everything else we do in our practice so we really don't have a special 'conditioning' session as part of our practice... Dynamic warm up, and into high paced throwing and fielding, work on anything we identified as a weakness and into some version of hitting/fielding stations and rotations (we do a lot of live BP/fielding/hitting/base running combined drillls so we are working on multiple things at the same time).

Also at 14U and up our girls are getting plenty of conditioning in their High School off-season workouts so there really is even less need in this age group. The ones who want it are plenty conditioned.

With limited practice time, dedicating a significant amount of practice to getting fitter doesn't seem like a priority.

This!!! Depending on how you organize your practice, the players should sweat without the need for other conditioning. I am also a firm believe in a dynamic warm-up before doing anything else.
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
In high level TB most coaches expect their players to do conditioning outside of regular practices, just like they expect players to be hitting and pitching outside of practice. If a player joins a team expecting to do everything in a 2 hour team practice once a week they need to stick with REC ball.
 
May 17, 2012
2,804
113
Yeah condition on your own time. We aren't trying to be the best at exercise.

You need to dynamically warm up before games for the sole purpose of getting loose and avoiding injuries. Specifically girls are prone to knee (ACL/MCL) injuries. We use the dynamic warmups that FIFA spent millions of dollars designing (and is scientifically backed).

Anything else you do before the game is like cramming for an exam (soft toss, wiffles, ground balls, fly balls). It's not going to actually help you in the game you are about to play. We actually joked about setting up chess boards during warmups.

We use our one hour before the game to practice team concepts as we have all of the girls together (how many practices do you actually have all of your players?). We surely aren't going to waste that on conditioning. Don't think that I don't value conditioning. The players need to work on that on their own time. We also weed out players that are out of shape at tryouts.
 

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