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Oct 26, 2019
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Wherever that compairison for Usain Bolt came from is insainly wrong.
A little research and I came up with this. Bolt ran the first 20 meters of his world record 100m time in 2.87 seconds. 20 meters is roughly 65 feet. That should put him at about a 2.65 for 60 feet of my math is correct.

edited to add: apparently @Greatdaytobeawildcat already covered all this.
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
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All good points Rad but doesn't change the fact that these are very difficult things to objectively measure and a stopwatch makes the task impossible as its level of precision is not nearly enough for an activity measured in tenths and hundredths of seconds.

Another example of this, at D1 college camps my DD's times were all over the place from 2.58(laughable, she is not nearly the fastest softball player I have seen and certainly not faster than Usain Bolt) all the way up to 2.85. Any metric that can vary based on measurement between the fastest person ever to moderately fast softball player is a useless metric. It would be the equivalent of a pitcher being clocked in a range of 58-80mph
was offering up facts to those who want to
'objectivly measure'
Which think gets a little silly when we can use many timing resources now. And know with confidence~
Running speeds can be measured accurately.
 
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Jun 6, 2016
2,714
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Chicago
As a former sprinter, and from what I’ve seen when I watch sprinting events (55 meter, 100 meter dashes), you will see most runners stick with each other for the first several meters until you see the faster runners begin to pull away from the pack. My best, anecdotal guess would be that this tends to occur past the 20 meter mark. Sometimes it takes a good sprinter slightly longer to kick it into the next gear. Your best 55 meter sprinter might not be your best 100 meter sprinter, due to how long it takes them to be able to run at their best stride. Some are definitely just quicker out of the block, but then get overtaken near the finish line.

Again, just a guess.

ETA: This is just a response to how girls’ times can be similar to Bolt’s times over the same distance.

I'm steadfastly in the camp of "these kids aren't anywhere near as fast as people think they are," but this is a good point. Just look at it this way: If you have everybody race 15 feet, they're all going to be within a step of each other. The more distance you have, the more separation you'll see.

Also, for those doing the math: First base is not actually 60 feet from home plate. It's 60 feet from the apex of home plate to the back of the base. As RAD said, the lefty slapper is a few feet (at least 3, but probably more) closer to the base than that.

The actual distance run from point of contact to touching the base is ~55 feet, maybe a bit less.
 
May 27, 2013
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We also have to remember that some camps (NFCA, for one) do use laser timers for their 20-yard (60 feet) and 40-yard sprints. So I agree with RAD, for lefty slappers, you will likely see several sub 2.8 times with home to first. My dd ran a 2.954 (not bragging, just using this as an example as there were several faster times that day) for the 20-yard dash laser times from a stand-up start. Couple that with a moving head start and a couple of feet closer to 1B, you will see a home to 1B time lower than that. Also, my dd is pretty quick but not blazing fast.

It takes my dd slightly longer to get going out of the box due to her long legs. Once she’s moving though, she’s pretty fast.
 
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Jun 8, 2016
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Control what you can control. If somebody gave an answer and your kid was already that fast should she stop working on her speed? Also yes I realize OP was 5+ years ago..general comment only :p
 
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May 27, 2013
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Control what you can control. If somebody gave an answer and your kid was already that fast should she stop working on her speed? Also yes I realize OP was 5+ years ago..general comment only :p

Nope. Absolutely not. My dd kept working hard with a speed and agility coach (still does) as she was a second slower the year before. Haven’t been to an NFCA camp in over a year so no idea where she’s at now. Could be slower for all I know. 🤣
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
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It takes my dd slightly longer to get going out of the box due to her long legs. Once she’s moving though, she’s pretty fast.
If its ok @Vertigo :) going to use your example of dd getting out of the box.
( like how i see she worked extra on speed and agility...which goes nicely with my next point)

This element of 'Getting out of the box'
Is included in our 'running speed to first' can easily be tenths of a second.

*imagine if we all started working on swing sprint, swing Sprint that we could better our own speed to first base! * it's probably not something we do near enough or
'Define and do' near enough to really utilize its importance.
Lefties do this and in a lot of cases they're running speed may not be as effectively faster but they are using a quicker method of getting out of the box.
Shaving off tenths of a second.

Looking back
I do not think my running speed was anything out of the ordinary, but I do think my quickness out of the box, explosive reaction, added to help me get under 3.0 to first base from the right side box.
The quick sprinter.
Gets it going quickly.
Same with defense.
Zap.
 
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May 27, 2013
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Yes, and there can be a huge difference between someone taught how to run properly as opposed to someone who just runs. Certain body movements can greatly help with shaving down sprint times.

It‘s not much different than tweaking hitters’ or pitchers’ mechanics to increase velocity.
 
Dec 5, 2017
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Seems like these camp metrics are about as useful as guys at the NFL combine bouncing 225 off their chest 30 times.
 
May 27, 2013
2,353
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Seems like these camp metrics are about as useful as guys at the NFL combine bouncing 225 off their chest 30 times.

Eh, possibly, but coaches like to see measurables at times, especially early in the recruiting process. Kind of like pitch velocity. Speed means nothing if they can’t throw the ball for a strike, but coaches will definitely show that player interest if they can hit a certain number on a radar gun.
 

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