Does anyone know what their son averaged at the 60 yard dash by year? My son is not fast by any means and I am just wondering what the odds are of how much faster he can get? I timed him tonight (stop watch on the phone) and he averaged around a 9.1. He is 12 turning 13 in April, 5'7" 136lbs. Is it possible to shave 2.5 seconds by senior year? He has never been fast but he does have fast hands and feet. He should have good speed genes but again, has never been a fast kid.
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Don’t worry he’s 12! Probably hasn’t even gone through puberty yet!
I believe it's possible to increase speed. My son did it by running sprints with his football team and joining track in 8th and 9th grade to learn more about running technique. Working in a high school I've seen fast track runners work with slower runners after school, giving them lessons and helping them practice and race with them. When he was younger, about 11, he looked like he was running in sand. When he was in 8th grade, about 13, he set the 800m record for his middle school and won district. He improved greatly. He's a catcher and he runs all the time. Gotta practice running just like anything he'd want to get better at. Racing someone faster helps. IMO.
Did you run a 6.6? Was his mother a girl’s high school track star? Just wondering where the speed genes are coming from.
RJM posted:Did you run a 6.6? Was his mother a girl’s high school track star? Just wondering where the speed genes are coming from.
Yes, I was 6.6, 6.7. I played 1 year of d3 soccer due to my speed, but quit afterwards because I wasn't having fun. Not sure about my wife but she did run track in hs. Maybe that doesn't mean anything, but my other 2 boys are fast??
It is extremely difficult to project what a 13 year old is going to top out at as far as speed.
in speaking with a D1 strength coach, he said he never saw a Baseball player who was great at doing Deadlifts and Squats who couldn't run at least 7.2-7.5 ... A lot of the rest from there is genetic.
It's tough to find comps in the 60 for the younger ages but as PG & others host more events for these ages it will come into play. The fact is that the younger guys who can really run usually end up as the older guys who can really run.
I read an article recently on Trea Turner. When he started HS he ran a 7.3. When he was a SR he ran a 6.3. He said he had speed & conditioning training throughout. Much improvement can be made in the start alone. Then you get into arm swing efficiency, body plane etc. & you can see gains for sure.
Kids are so different at 12 when considering puberty etc. Get him with someone who really understands the mechanics of sprinting & it will pay dividends if he is willing to put in the work.
One way you can get a feel for how his speed rates is to search Pitch Hit & Run results for his age group. They run 120' with a turn at the 3rd base bag. So it is not a straight sprint at 120' but a start by SS & then turn for home & finish at the plate. You can find tons of times for 12 YO at this distance.
Some useful information for you in this thread on the same topic:
perfect, I searched for something like that but didn't see this one.
How much does a sixty time for a preteen matter? You can visually see if he’s fast or not. He’s a long way from being done growing. He’s going to get a lot stronger naturally. Along the journey he can develop even more strength with training. I had no idea what my son’s sixty time was until he was timed as a high school freshman. In high school (now that we could see the future baseball potential) he had training specific to running the sixty.
