Sport Speed and Agility Training by John M. Cissik & Michael Barnes

Author:John M. Cissik & Michael Barnes [Cissik, John M. & Barnes, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Coaches Choice
Published: 2011-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

8

Baseball/Softball

Baseball and softball are sports of sudden starts, stops, and changes of direction. Therefore speed and agility are critical components to success. According to Szymanski and Fredrick (2001), speed gives teams an advantage in both offensive and defensive play. For the offense, speed is an advantage because the defense must get the ball to the base faster than the speed of the player in the batter’s box or base paths. From a defense standpoint, a fast team is able to cover more ground and even to make up for mistakes.

Batters and runners need the ability to accelerate and stop suddenly; defensive players need quickness and lateral speed. Defensively, those players in the middle of the field (second base, shortstop, and center field) tend to be fastest, the players on the corners (first base, third base, right/left fields) tend to be the next fastest, and the pitchers and catchers tend to be the slowest players. These differences should be kept in mind as they indicate that different positions have slightly different conditioning needs.

While baseball and softball are usually played over nine and seven innings, respectively, the bulk of the energy for these sports is provided by the phosphagen energy system. The majority of speed and agility work should take place over short distances and emphasize complete recovery.

In general, a speed and agility program for baseball or softball should target the following:

Acceleration: helps the athlete cover the distances between bases quickly.

Ability to stop suddenly: an important skill for both base running and defensive play.

Ability to change directions quickly: an important skill for base stealing and defensive play.

Lateral speed: an important skill for base stealing and defensive play.

Anaerobic conditioning: enables athletes to maintain their speed during a nine-inning game.

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