By: Paul Jennings,
SPEED. Every team wants it! How can you help your players pick up a step or two? A see allot of kids playing not only baseball but other sports as well that don't know how to run correctly. Not all kids are born with speed but there are some adjustments you can make in a players running mechanics that will help them pick up a step or two. The number one problem I see is the use or lack of the use of the runners arms. Hers's some tips to improve a problem 1. Have all the players at home and have them run through first and time and record their times. Here's some tips for problem two. Allot of players don't use their legs properly when running. Examples are; feet barely coming off the ground, flat foot running and inward knee running. Like the first drill, have the players run to first using technique 1 and record their times. Here's some tips for "DWI" running. Have your players line up arm length apart using to lines (you can get your parents to help with this drill) on each side of the first or third base foul line with the players backs facing each other. Seperate the two lines with a 3 feet gap. Have a player run between the players and parents trying not to touch anyone (using technique 1 & 2). Have them u-turn at the end of the line and run back through. This player will take the spot of another player and repeat till all players have run. The final part of this drill will let you see the end results. Have parents and players line up along the baseline in tip 3 and time and record the players. This drill takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour accomplish. That might seem like a long time to some coaches however, if you can pick up the speed of half your players by 1 or 2 steps and beat out a few more close plays wouldn't it be worth 1/2 of your practice time a couple times a month? Once they get it down (usually 2-3 times) you can remove this drill from your practices. Good Luck,
Date: March 03, 2004 at 10:24
The second is the use of the legs or lack of the use of legs.
And third is nt running in a straight line.
Watch the players arms. Are they crossing his body, not being used much or are the wailing away on the outside of their body? If so, have them run using this simple technique.
Have the players act as if a telephone is on the outside of their hip and have them answer the phone. This causes the player to reach down with their hands to their hips and take the hands upward to their ear. This will increase momentum of the arms in the correct manner while increasing their speed. Have each player run until they have perfected the technique and then time and record their times. In most cases I get anywhere from 1/3 second (1 step) up to 2 second (4 steps ) better results.
Now, have the players in standing postion answer the phone with their hand and at the same time raise the opposite side knee to the same height as the hand answering the phone. Have them do this running in place slowly to begin with and as the player starts to master it have them do the drill at a faster pace.
Raising the knees will help keep a player from "drag running", running "flat foote
d" and keep them from running "pigeon toed".
I have taught this drill to players from 6-21. In every case at least half the team increased their speed by an average overall time of .7 seconds.
Coach "J"