Speed and Agility Training

...if she had been wearing the mouthpiece that was bought, then those braces would have been $6500, and not $9500.
And DDs got a "beauty mark" lip scar that she's proud of but I'm still making payments on. Andit was the 2B covering the bag.
Speed and agility/performance training is gonna be damn near a requirement in the near future.
Nice thread.

 

Strength and Conditioning

I dont know what other schools do, but we started strength and conditioning the second week of school, as I post before, we only condition four days a week with two of those days being used for softball drills.
All drill will stop the week that winter sports start tryouts. and pick up again in the alloted time frame.
Once cold arrives we will start weight training two days a week with softball drills included four days a week. Remember you can only have eight there when you are conducting softball drills....

 

Just make sure you really work those quads and hamstrings to help protect the knee's. Helps prevent ACL tears. If you don't know how to do it you really put the girls at risk, and a good trainer or physical therapist can show you. See my post under "knee injuries." Hope this helps.

 

This is the main reason that we never let our girls lift unsupervisored, weight lifting done wrong, can really cause injuries.

 

I read in an article the other day where this Olympic weightlifting trainer said that if you can't do bodyweight exercises you aren't ready for weight training.

The specific thing he mentioned was that bench presses should not be attempted if you can't do 20 proper pushups. He said the most common injury with bench presses is to the rotator cuff.

And incorrectly performed squats and deadlifts are really risky to back injury.

Weights shouldn't be taken lightly! (pun intended)

 

About 4 years ago I heard a young man by the name of Brandon Marsalis speak about Speed and Agility. He said he was getting great results with the Baylor Softball team. Hince the word Fastpitch and how fast the game truly was. He had gotten positive results form the slowest kids to the fastest. Being someone who has been interested in this I have continued to learn more about each year. It just doesn't help you in the Short Game but every phase of the game( defense, pitching, catching , and many other phases ) Talking to the folks of velocity, Track folks ( been to many of these clinics as well), and in our case the Nike Sparq folks it has helped us tremendously. We all have kids who are blessed by the Good Lord but what about the others. It's more than the bat,ball, and glove.
Examples: 4 weeks ago we had freshman who had never done our sprint program or footwork. They were very awkward but now with the help of our players they now are getting it. Just as most of them were taught game skills they must be taught proper running mechanics. A lot of our kids have also joined other places such as velocity and that helps us learn as well. How many times have you seen a game determined by a split second to win or lose? To me when you teach or work on this you bring in something special. Because many times you have heard this coment " She's just to slow. Well when she can't hit we work on hitting mechanics. Or she can't catch we roll her more ground balls or pop flies . This doesn't mean she'll be a rocket but it will help her. Even if it's part of a split second.So why not work on speed and agilty mechanics? They will definitely do this at the next level. It has greatly helped us.

 

If you have a BFS program at your school

It covers all aspect of running, with special attention being given to teaching running form. and yes there is a correct way to do it.
I attended our workouts today, our softball team was working out with the baseball team, and I must say there were player from both team looking for the waste baskets....

One of the amusing aspects of conditioning is watching the fresh's take part in the first couple weeks, believe me, they have never been involved in anything as demanding physical as our conditioning program....

 

Amazing results

IMHO
Speed and agility training is paramount to success in any sport. In softball I have seen players get so involved in working on specific aspects of their game (hitting, pitching, etc) when, if they worked on their conditioning and speed / strength / athleticism - alot of that will come as the result of overall training.

the EPICENTER - part of ORTHO CAROLINA - in Ballantyne is an awsome program. they work on specific muscle groups through specialized training.

Helped my son greatly in his overall coordination / speed. Dropped 5 tenths of a second on his 40!!! At 16 years old at the time, that was amazing. Will be enrolling my DD this winter.

The Epicenter works with all athletes and specializes their training to the sport they are playing - with thier particular sport specific goals in mind.

Definately worth looking into. A 10 week program will cost less than a weekend at the ballfields......

 

With Alan Tyson leaving the Epicenter, I wonder how it has affected the business. Alan designed and implemented all of the programs there. Since he hired everyone connected to physical therapy and the speed and agility training, I wonder if he took valuable personnel with him.

 

Luis Velez-Assistant Athletic Trainer Lenoir-Ryhne

If you are in the Hickory area, this is your man. Professional, personable, and pedigreed. He can also do everything he asks the athlete to do. I took my DD to him last winter for one on one training. She really benefited from his expertise. Attend his camp, or hire him for one on one or team training. Luis, designed a program for and trained the Florida Tech Softball team. He understands the needs of our sport. Luis is a real quality guy. Here is his Bio from the LR web site.

http://www.lrbears.com/Staff/Bio/Velez.htm


Luis Velez is beginning his third year as an Assistant Athletic Trainer for Lenoir-Rhyne College.

Velez, a 2001 graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College with an undergraduate degree in sports medicine/athletic training, is responsible for men’s soccer in 2007-08 as well as baseball.Velez comes back to Lenoir-Rhyne after working as an Assistant Athletic Trainer for Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fla., (2003-05).
Velez received his master’s degree in health and exercise science from Furman University in May of 2003. At the Greenville, S.C., school, Velez served as a graduate assistant trainer and is the Head Athletic Trainer for Doug Allison’s Soccer Academy every summer. He also directs a Speed and Conditioning Academy at Lenoir-Rhyne every summer along with assisting speed and conditioning programs for Lenoir-Rhyne's baseball and men's soccer teams.
Velez is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and First Aid/CPR/AED Instructor and belongs to numerous organizations including the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.
He is currently working on a Doctor of Education degree in Exercise and Sport Science at UNC-Greensboro.