Overworking the kids?

[StacieM]

obbay - good point about learning HOW to run! Often overlooked by softball coaches. You can do warm-up & technique at the same time or speed work and technique at the same time.

I don't care so much for using the mile during workouts...unless we're sprinting straights and walking/jogging turns. 13-15s high intensity, then break to recover.

 

[NVfishing]

DD's first coach in TB was a firm believer in plyometrics. His running techniques improved the speed of all the girls. DD will be working with him this year in HS. I can't wait to see the improved running mechanics.

 

[callaforniashunshine]

I agree with the Mile running; in college, though.. it will happen. During youth and high school softball, it's good to incorporate running, but have some fun with it. If you want to condition and work on quick feet, do the ladder drill - the improvements you will see will go beyond what you could imagine. And if you do want girls to run on a track, do 50 meter sprints, but that's about it. You're right, in softball we don't run long distances, we need to work fast-twitch muscles!

 

[amanda_cake]

We run a lot during the first week of tryouts/practice. It's simply to see how bad you want it. Our baseball program is HUGE. When they have over 100 boys trying out for the 30 Varsity/JV spots, running them for two hours will eliminate a handful that you didn't really want anyway.

 

[amanda_cake]

If that homerun hitter doesn't want to play badly enough to struggle through the running, that isn't someone they want playing there.

Not saying that I agree with this strategy, just saying how it is done.

 

[Lozza]

amanda_cake I agree with that 100%.

I think you need to work your girls hard, but not to the point they're throwing up. My rep girls do a lot of quick running, but not long distance running. They don't need it for softball.

 

[playball13]

We did a little conditioning drill at 12/14U with a few practices and the girls really liked it. We created a quick obstacle course made of equipment we had handy that incorporated softball skills.
Started by laying out 6 equipment bags about a foot apart this was the high knees ladder part of the course or you can make it the 2 foot bunny hop over each bag. Then sprint about 30 feet after the bags are 2 ball buckets about 5 foot apart with a hitting stick over the top of them the player runs full speed and slides under the stick, variations were head first slides or slides with a glove and you catch a ball as you are sliding under the bar. Next sprint 30 feet to a station with 5 balls you have to throw the balls 20 feet at a bat standing on its end. Once the bat is knocked down you can continue. Next is a 60 foot sprint with a coach throwing 3 softballs pop-ups girl has to catch them on run. Coach has to be good at leading them. Or you do the quarterback drill where they catch a ball over their shoulder as they sprint away from you catch it and turn and run back catching a soft pop-up as close to the ground as possible. Last stop is Dizzy Lizzy. Stand a bat on its end and have the girl puts their forehead on a bat, spin around it 5 times then run 20 feet to the start/finish line. We tried timing them and adding seconds for missing obstacles but the girls really didn't care about the times and just wanted to keep doing it.

 

[amanda_cake]

Lozza--they run us, and they run us long distances. Half a mile twice a week right now, which is nothing... we'll sometimes run two miles before we even touch a softball at tryouts.

 

[obbay]

This makes no sense to me (sorry amanda- I don't remember what age group you are in) for most kids. A sprinter and a distance runner are anatomically different. there are lots of skinny kids that can run forever but can't hit a ball thru a paper bag. and lots of bigger kids who die running any kind of distance but can always beat the ball to 1B or beat a throwdown to 2B.

I'm not judging, just saying I wouldn't do it. Time is limited and I want to work on creating better ballplayers, not better runners.

 

[amanda_cake]

obbay--I'm referring to HS softball in my posts.