incorporate sprints at beginning or end of practice?

[BrianMonk]

I'm sure coaches can go overboard but you don't start out the beginning of a basketball game by jogging. I suppose you could but the other team won't.

You sprint at the start and through the entire game. You often play the game winded. I don't see anything wrong with practicing while winded with some tired legs. That's what happens in a game.

 

[softballphreak]

The poster said they did what sounds like a warmup lap before they did sprints. Nothing wrong if that's the case.

Surely, the coach will find time for BB skills and strategies. But BB does involve a lot of sprinting during the game.

Dynamic stretching should be done after the warmup lap(s) before the sprints. Static stretching should be the last activity of the practice.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

I'm sure coaches can go overboard but you don't start out the beginning of a basketball game by jogging.

Brazilian soccer teams do as a warm-up.

It makes some sense to do this rather than going straight into sprints.

On a field, I would have the team walk and then jog the warning track to warm up and then go into sprint work.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

The poster said they did what sounds like a warmup lap before they did sprints. Nothing wrong if that's the case..

Agreed.

Dynamic stretching should be done after the warmup lap(s) before the sprints. Static stretching should be the last activity of the practice.

If you've already jogged a warm-up lap, then there's no need to do dynamic stretching. It would just be redundant.

There is no evidence that static stretching is ever a good idea, before or after a work-out, and significant evidence that it's always a bad idea.

 

[starsnuffer]

When I use sprints at the beginning of practice, it is so the team can get used to practicing/playing while they are compromised/tired, not at their peak. . . sort of like any given Saturday after being in the sun playing softball all day.

Practicing at peak performance certainly has merit, especially when teaching new skills and working on strategies that require a bit of brainpower until they become muscle memory, however, it's also important to understand that our softball players will not always be able to play games at their peak, and we must practice for how we are going to play.

In the beginning of the year, during tryouts, and before the season really stars, I will commonly do a drill at the beginning of practice with just my pitchers and catchers lined up, say 5 catchers and 5 pitchers. Catchers are lined up against the third base fence. I mark off a line 40 feet away from them, each pitcher pairs with a catcher and pitches 10 pitches (I rotate pitches, they pitch what I call, say 10 fastballs, 10 drops, whatever). After the 10 pitches the pitchers rotate to the next catcher. The pitcher at the end sprint's to the left field fence and back then gets back in line and begins again. We cycle through about 5-10 times. I can guarantee you that by the end of this drill you will know which pitchers can go the distance, which have difficulty pitching when tired, and what pitches actually work for a given tired pitcher. This information is more valuable to me then watching a fresh pitcher "throw her best" trying to get a spot. It certainly isn't a drill that is going to improve "pitching" as mechanics tend to slip, and it isn't a drill I'd recommend doing every practice, but I still think practicing while tired has a lot of merit.

Besides, we want our daughters to play softball, not look like softballs. General fitness is very important, and just because softball has less running then soccer or basketball, we would be amiss in our duties as coaches if we let our young ladies get away with not training for general health alongside learning softball skills.

-W

 

[chinamigarden]

A drill I do with my daughter during her pitching sessions at home. We often finish up this way. She pitches then runs to me for the ball, then runs back to the mound and pitches, repeat 10 times.

It gets her used to performing when she is tired, sweaty and when her heart is beating a mile a minute.

 

[obbay]

I took it as the coach had them running sprints and or suicides the lengh of the gym over and over before practice.

That is the case.
thank you all for the added input. I know there is a place for conditioning in all sports, but I am questioning this application of it.
Another thing I'm trying to figure out is how a kid who loves basketball and is a good athlete, can get worse with practice.

Even though it is Travel Ball, it is also daddyball and the favorites have been picked. I'm trying to tell her it builds character.

 

[bosoxfan]

Basketball games are won and lost in the 4th quarter when you are tired. Running at the start of practice should be standard. Foul Shots should be the last thing done at practice when you are spent just like in the final seconds of a close game.

 

[SoftSocDad]

There is no evidence that static stretching is ever a good idea, before or after a work-out, and significant evidence that it's always a bad idea.

Doesn't the 'static stretching = bad' philosophy apply only to cold muscles? For years, many people thought (and I'm sure a good many still think) that stretching was the first thing one should do.

I'm always willing to learn something new, however.

 

[BrianMonk]

Brazilian soccer teams do as a warm-up.

It makes some sense to do this rather than going straight into sprints.

On a field, I would have the team walk and then jog the warning track to warm up and then go into sprint work.

At least in organized basketball, when the game starts, warm ups are complete.