Running Times for a Young Team

[fastpitch]

speed isnt a fundamental skill?

I would think speed is a fundamental skill. maybe its not softball specific skill; but when you talk about a five tool player they have

hitting for power
hitting for average
throwing
defense
baserunning skills and speed

Speed is a big part of softball. IMHO encouraging good base running and speed development at an early age is something that will only help your girls in the future.

 

[Ivy's Dad]

I would think speed is a fundamental skill. maybe its not softball specific skill; but when you talk about a five tool player they have

hitting for power
hitting for average
throwing
defense
baserunning skills and speed

Speed is a big part of softball. IMHO encouraging good base running and speed development at an early age is something that will only help your girls in the future.

My 12 YOA DD is a contact hitter, and probably 25% of her hits are due to her speed. Slower girls would have been thrown out at first. She typically takes at least one day per week to work on her sprinting. She was able to significantly drop her 20 yard sprinting time by focusing on her running.

For a player who is a contact hitter, speed is important. For a player who is a power hitter, not so much. Also, speed is very important for outfielders. For infielders, not so much. That's one of the reasons why my DD is transitioning to the outfield. Focusing on running now and then is not a bad thing, and it allows the coach to get a better idea of the strengths and weaknesses of each player.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Speed is important but so is quickness. The fastest players on a team play CF and SS. So at the older ages if you don't have a fast SS you are going to get killed when you start playing teams with slappers. You can teach quickness. Many good drills have been posted on this site and getting a good jump is very important. I have been thru many college camps , since my dd is a slapper and with a nick name of Swifty( Given to her by hitter-Howard), Colleges teach many different ways to measure speed and improve it. A goal of around 3.0 is a good goal, but at the college D1 level you are looking at 2.8 or better to be considered fast. At 12 the dd was better than 3.0 and it has improved with work. Many girls tend to slow down as they get older, this is something male coaches need to understand.

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

Thanks for all the supportive comments everyone. I hope that some of you weren't thinking I was this kind of coach.

YouTube - Chinese Torture Training



I just wanted to develop better running habits and being a little faster on there feet. I don't think there is anything wrong with a "hustle" Especially nowadays with child obesity and stuff

 

[xplosion]

Dont worry about a reasonable time. Use it to see if each individual is improving. Baserunning skills/infield defense are the 2 things IMO that win games at this age. So you should not overlook it. Just dont get too caught up in beating certain times. Improvement is all you need.

 

[mrslug01]

I was not disputing speed is a very important part of the game (but not at EIGHT). My oldest Daughter is a CF and a freshman scholarship player at a very good DII program. That said, hitting a softball is what got her recruited not the fact she's fast. I've been to a bunch of recruiting showcases. There are tons of kids that can run 2.9-3.0 to first. The kids under 2.9 are special and often time slappers in which case the speed helps. No coach cares if you run a 2.9 or over and can't hit because you're not getting many extra hits against good teams becuase you hit a gounder and outran the throw. My daughter wasn't even fast at EIGHT. She was average. Kids change. How fast a kid is at EIGHT has little to do with where they will be at 14 or 16 or 18. So my answer for EIGHT year olds it that I would teach them to throw, catch, hit, field, run the bases properly, etc...

 

[mrslug01]

Baserunning has nothing to do with speed. Entirely different. Speed really isn't a big part softball; quickness is. The field is small, the ball is coming at you or to one side or the other pretty quickly. Yes there are some really fast players that steal a bunch of bases but that is a specialty. The game is fast but the palyers themselves don't have to be (with the exception of a few positions). If you can hit for average and power, the coach will find a place for you. If your just fast with no sofftball skills, you'll pinch run

I would think speed is a fundamental skill. maybe its not softball specific skill; but when you talk about a five tool player they have

hitting for power
hitting for average
throwing
defense
baserunning skills and speed

Speed is a big part of softball. IMHO encouraging good base running and speed development at an early age is something that will only help your girls in the future.

 

[shockcoach]

The challenge with 7-8-9yos is to get all of them to give 100% effort on every play.

That's a challenge for any age all the way up through elite. 100% effort on every play is unrealistic.

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

So my answer for EIGHT year olds it that I would teach them to throw, catch, hit, field, run the bases properly, etc...

SOOOOOOOOOO help me out here again. I guess I'm not the smartest person in the world here, but did you say RUN the base properly. Like RUN as fast as you can. Like RUN to first. RUN to second and RUN to third as fast as you can. So if there a little faster at getting to first, is that part of proper base RUNNING?

 

[Lozza]

Running the bases properly is running as fast as they can. It's running through first and home. It's stopping at second and third and rounding the bases properly.

Now you can time this if that's how you wish to judge them, but a lot of us feel it's overkill. You can tell a kid who is running as hard as they can and who's not. At that age, timing them won't make a difference as one day they're going to be focussed, the next week they're not. Telling them 'YOU RAN .6 SECONDS SLOWER THIS WEEK' will mean nothing to them and won't make them improve.