- May 16, 2016
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Home to first is all about a player's inherent speed... Home to 2nd is mostly about making a good turn.
Speed. How fast is fast?
- Thread starter John 800
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Reaction quickness is a big deal. I've seen a few girls who were flat-out fast runners in a drag race, but they cost themselves time (and outs) because they take too long to read and react.
- May 20, 2015
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what's interesting is we had girls on our 10/12u rosters who were fast......but when they got to the 14/16 rosters, they weren't a fast any more......puberty can def change a lot of things with athletes........now, some teammates did just catch up with them, and the speed at which opponents played didn't make them seem as fast, but the measurables also changed.....the girl that was 3.1 at 12 and 3.4 at 2nd year 14 def happened to us
They are growing fast at that age, learning fast as well. As much as my daughter s group has learned, they have to keep up the rapid learning if they want to be competitive.
Can we assume that's an average for travel ball players? Or average for elite TB players (i.e. data collected at USSSA All-American Tryouts or the equivalent).
Thanks.
- Jul 31, 2019
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These numbers come from a variety of Combine sources including ODM, NFCA, ONE Softbal, USSSA All-American, Softball Excellance to name a few. To answer your question, these represent the averages of travel players that have participated, and college player measures. The “watch out” on the college number (specifically D1) is that there is a wide spectrum of D1 level schools/talent.
- Jul 31, 2019
- 495
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You are spot on. Girls gain weight in that 14-16U range and often it’s not good weight.
When they came up from 10u at the beginning of fall season, they were pretty rusty after missing summer ball from covid, they went through a couple phases. Rusty, smart and aggressive, then in the last game I think they got a little greedy and had a few runners thrown out and that was a contributing factor to them loosing a close game. One thing for sure with the teams we are seeing the base running starting to “get it” faster than defenses are.
Im surprised 1st-2nd (steals) isn't listed on that chart of all the different measurables. I always like to have a list of all my players "steal/reaction" times and then see what the pitcher/catcher times are from pitch release to 2nd base. Gives me a baseline to go from as the game progresses.
Speaking of steals... What method do you teach/coach for your runners... Rolling start by the bag timing the pitcher or sprinter start pushing off the bag?
Younger girls seem to do "push" start better and struggle with the rolling start. Even sone older girls seem to struggle at timing different pitchers various motions.
Speaking of steals... What method do you teach/coach for your runners... Rolling start by the bag timing the pitcher or sprinter start pushing off the bag?
Younger girls seem to do "push" start better and struggle with the rolling start. Even sone older girls seem to struggle at timing different pitchers various motions.
