Speed and Agility-God given or taught?

[Coach JV]

I have had several opinions on whether a 12U girl can be taught thru
speed and agility exercises to increase her speed on the bases, or,
if she was born slow, she will always be slow. My DD is of average height and build
loves softball and is a decent player. She runs like a plowhorse, can this be overcome?

 

[jinjet95]

Training can improve her running mechanics and strength, which will impact speed. I've never seen it make the slowest kid on the team the fastest, but I have seen proper training improve a girls speed.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Agreed, we have a couple of plow horses too. Most of our girls I time running with a stop watch, these two I time with a calendar. So we work with them on base running reaction times. ( timing on a steal - stopping on a dime - sliding - dive back - maybe even an old fashion hook slide ) Anything to make up for their lack of speed. They are in good shape and will have the best time running the mile, but a 'speed racer' they are not.

 

[ToddTX]

My 12u DD is of above average height with long legs and still ran like a plowhorse. Other than putting one foot in front of the other, she did almost nothing right. The good news is you can improve their abilities. With some hard work on wind sprints and some other drills that work on running mechanics, we have been able to improve her running. As weird as it may sound, some people need to be taught HOW to run. Like so many other skills, using a video camera can be of great benefit also . Tape her running and have her watch it. Then compare it to sprinters on YouTube. See what works for elite runners. Than work on it when you are doing softball training. If you are at the park hitting or just throwing the ball around, take some time to work on just speed training and sprinting mechanics.

 

[sluggers]

Any physical skill can be improved through proper instruction and practice. In softball (a) no one teaches the kids how to run and (b) no one practices running.

If she runs for 45 minutes (3 to 4 miles) every day for a couple of months, she will get faster. Her body will adapt and she will learn how to run more efficiently. But, she *MUST* practice consistently and for a large amount of time.

 

[Cannonball]

My daughter's team has speed work every Wednesday evening. It is run by two trainers who both participated in high level D-I athletics (track) and then as trainers at high level D-I facilities. Their workouts are just over an hour. The do sprint work, cone agility sprint, slow or stop, then accelerate work, resistance running band work and finally long distance which typically is a mile. It is very intense.

I don't think that younger ages should do all of this but certainly learning the appropriate form is important and getting use to shorter doses of these activities is good.

Edited to add, my dd is a plow horse as well but is getting faster.