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Finishing up a round of softball bp when some dads and kids show up. I told them I was finishing up and they said they were about to do a tryout for a kid. As I was picking up balls in the outfield, the kids were stretching and the dads were rolling out the tape measure to 60 yards. As I finished, they were about to run. Stop watch and clipboard ready, the three kids all took turns running.

I'm not sure what value there was, but it was interesting. Field had not been cut in a while, the grass was wet, and the field is uneven and the path was slightly uphill. Probably should have just raced the kids against each other. Not sure which kid was trying out and which ones were the coaches' kids. One was big and slow, one was tall and fairly fast, and the other was tiny but could move pretty well. 

Seemed odd to have kids that young run that far but I guess they were going to do the whole pro style workout.

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SanDiegoRealist posted:

60 time for a 9 year old is meaningless to everyone but the 9 year old and their parent. Don't dwell on it.

It's not the time that matters it's seeing the kid run. 

I've seen my fair share of kids who when they run....oh lord, it's a train wreck.  My own kid was one.  His gate was seriously around 6 inches, so while he moved his legs up and down as fast and often as anyone, he barely went anywhere.  That's something a coach is going to want to know up front.

I would agree that seeing the kid run is more important than the time. So, I can live with that as an assessment. The tall kid that was fairly fast had a long stride but his turnover could have been faster. The smallest kid had great turnover but no stride length, however, he got the most out of what he had. And their second runs looked identical to the first.

The main issue I saw was with the big, somewhat heavy kid. His first run looked ok, though not fast. His second timed run was dramatically slower, indicating he was out of shape. But, the eyeball test sort of showed that anyway. What that tells me is that if he hits a double, you need to call time and have a conference with your next batter to give him a rest. And it's going to take another double to get him home.

Stafford posted:

I would agree that seeing the kid run is more important than the time. So, I can live with that as an assessment. The tall kid that was fairly fast had a long stride but his turnover could have been faster. The smallest kid had great turnover but no stride length, however, he got the most out of what he had. And their second runs looked identical to the first.

The main issue I saw was with the big, somewhat heavy kid. His first run looked ok, though not fast. His second timed run was dramatically slower, indicating he was out of shape. But, the eyeball test sort of showed that anyway. What that tells me is that if he hits a double, you need to call time and have a conference with your next batter to give him a rest. And it's going to take another double to get him home.

We had bigger kids at that age who could hit, but not run — they needed a double to get to first, and oxygen if they hit a home run and had to circle ALL THOSE BASES at once!

I know of a big kid changing after hitting puberty that is a pretty dramatic example. This young man is a basketball player. I saw this kid right after birth and he was a huge baby with fat wrinkles everywhere. In elementary school, he remained very chunky and of average height. Both his parents and older brother were tall and thin. He looked to be short and heavy until middle school when he began to lose the fat and grow taller.

He's now a 6'4" rising senior. Probably 185lbs of lean running and dunking muscle. Currently has seven D1 offers from mid-majors. I'm sure he was probably the slowest runner on his 9u team and would have easily tired from running up and down the court.

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