I'm glad you mentioned this as my DD works out with some weights. I guess there's a line between the extra strength enabling her to run faster and the extra weight slowing her down. My DD also ran the 100m and 200m last year in middle school. Same thing, gets off the line very quickly, but then lags at the end. 200m is a lot of bases in softball!
Slapping! Advantages vs Disadvantages
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I'm glad you mentioned this as my DD works out with some weights. I guess there's a line between the extra strength enabling her to run faster and the extra weight slowing her down. My DD also ran the 100m and 200m last year in middle school. Same thing, gets off the line very quickly, but then lags at the end. 200m is a lot of bases in softball!
FPMark. I agree with your post. The NFCA ( which is what the college coaches are using) is not contact to contact times. Plus Ken is correct, it is who is reading the stop watches. The NFCA camps do not use a stop watch. DD is 5' 4" and 107 lbs. I was proud of her testing second in the Nation in body fat index at the NFCA camps. Playing soccer 6 days a week, along with softball keeps her in shape. I think she is quicker this year , after she got some great tips from Marc Dangenais at a clinic.
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- Oct 25, 2009
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One program I sort of tried with our girls a couple years ago was called 5x5's I believe. The goal was to gain strength without gaining weight. That seems to make sense for softball. After all, we're not interested in bulking up.
How does NFCA time the girls? Do they just line them up even with home plate and time to 1st, or use a 60' measured distance, or something else? And no stop watch? I'll assume it must be something a little more accurate than a stopwatch, or the alternative... (one thousand one, one thousand two...
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jinjet95, this kid lifted for strength and bulk. She got thick! Lifting with lots of reps, say 30 builds endurance. But doing 6-8 reps bulks them up. She was an attractive girl before this. I mean that in the most respectful way, but after she just looked like a body-building freak! I would not take my advice on details, but instead consult a trainer, and at a Univ Athletics dept if possible concerning reps. I think plyometrics can do a softball player more good!
FPMark: NFCA and the Queen of Diamonds use a 20 yard dash time, so you have no advantage being a lefty. Queen has two or three college coaches with stop a watch and you run twice. NFCA uses a beam system, so the human factor is not used. This has been our experience at these two college camps. We have been to many college slapping camps that all use a 20 yard dash, none use at contact. I have been told by the college coaches , this makes everyone the same and they are just looking at speed in general. I kind of understand , when you are looking at speed to steal a base, not just home to first.
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I wonder why the 30 yd dash and not 20?
My type o that should be 20. Fixed above.
Then I'm totally at a loss as to why the times are so slow. If they're using the laser lights, they're very accurate.
Maybe the same reason pitching speeds, when measured accurately, are always way slower than expected? THEIR radar only showed 56 mph, but I've clocked her at 63 mph...
I like the use of the beam system, takes all of the human error out of the equation. I would tend to trust those numbers.
