Home to first time

Is there a standard practice used when timing girls from home to first? I am going to do this with a few girls to give them a starting point and then see how much they can improve over a period of time. Was planning on timing from the time of contact to touching first. This will work for what we are doing, but was curious how it is done at college camps and such.

If you're doing it to measure improvement over time, then it's more important to be consistent.

You could have them swing, run on the word "go", or simply start the timer at first movement.

Having two clocks is better than one...average the times...and have the same people doing the timing with the same gear for each run.

As [MENTION=11935]Strike2[/MENTION] pointed out, the key is consistency of the measurement criteria to compare before and after results. I would suggest starting in the RH batters box with a "ready, set, go" countdown for all players. If you try to incorporate a swing some players will over swing and mess up their times, while others will just drop the bat and run.

We have the girls bunt and run wether they make contact or not. That seems to give the most consistent start for right and left batters.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Just do a straight 20 yard dash if you're looking to track improvement in speed. Most college coaches prefer a straight 20 yard dash because it is the most consistent measurement.

So how fast is this (in game) base running?

I'm naturally skeptical about base running times. I'm an old school "track guy" and one thing I know is that most softball coaches do not understand running technique very well compared to track coaches (fair enough?). With that said, my DD (U14, 1st baseman) hit a stand up triple over the weekend.

I watched the video and she got to third in 10.7 seconds ( would have got there in about 10.5 if she didn't coast in), after getting to second in 7.1 seconds. My timing method was to start the watch at the end of her swing (bat hitting her butt), before she dropped her bat or moved her feet. I thought this was a fair as the defense started to "more actively" react to the ball at this time.

So how is this for a girl who hasn't attempted to work on her speed yet as she has been prioritizing hitting and fielding?

Speed is hard to time unless you're having a race.