High School level S&C programs

Schillingt,

At the high school I volunteer at, we have a philosophy of developing our athletes to be strong and fundamentally sound.

To answer your questions,

1) the focus with my guys is quality movement and athleticism. We start by building a strong foundation of strength and build upon that base. I emphasize mobility, flexibility, and stability first, then strength, then power.

2) training should never take away from the field, so the focus is different depending on the phase. More baseball, less weightroom time; less baseball, more weightroom time. Off season I focus on building these guys, in season I focus on keeping these guys tissues mobile, their joints stabile, and that they the peak at the right time(end of the season, postseason)

3) I will never be "good enough" I will always be open minded and constantly evolving, I believe that's how you become a great coach and I'm always looking to do whatever I can to help my athletes become successful.

4) most injuries that occur in baseball are due to the fact that players play all year round. Overtime your body develops adaptations that have to occur to allow those demands of year round baseball to occur. If not addressed with a quality strength and conditioning program, injuries such as labrum and tommy John can occur.

Hope this answers everything for you. Take care

I'm interested in your protocol, if you'd care to elaborate.  Son's school doesn't have an in season program and I can see he's already lost some conditioning.  As a pitcher, this will eventually become problematic.  We squeeze in workouts where we can (plyos, bands, hills, deadlifts, foam rolling, and lots of stretching), but it's a crapshoot because he doesn't know when he'll pitch until he's handed the ball.

 

Maybe intensity is the issue and I should just scale all workouts to light to ensure reasonably peak fitness in the event he's called upon?

With our high school S&C program our HC found the easiest way was just not to have one.That way you don't have to worry about off season and if someone turns up hurt/lame he has got nothing to do with it. 

Marklaker,

Tell your son to make sure he stays loose throughout the game and if he starts a game make sure he does a good warm-up (dynamic warmup, band work, rotator cuff activation, stretching)

He can perform basic movements that will keep him strong and healthy
- farmers carries, sled drags, upper back work, strength movements like deadlifts and squats, soft tissue work on a lax ball and foam roller, and some overhead work like wall slides and dead hangs.

After he throws or pitches make sure he gets in some sprints and heavy farmers carries  , then make sure he stretches out his hips, shoulder external and internal rotation because these areas loose range of motion throughout the year.

Pitching is a power movement so in season you want to maintain and even try to safely build his strength base, because the power component is being accomplished. Maintaining that strength base will help him stay healthy, keep his velocity up, and when a player feels strong and feels good, he will possess more confidence.

Also make sure he's getting sleep,around 7-10 hours, I prefer 8hours but everybody is different. Make sure he is eating alot. He needs to give his body what it needs to rebuild the damaged tissues and help him recover.

On another note, if your son is a reader I highly recommend you buy him Mind Gym. Great resource for him to excel between the ears. If you have any questions about the exercises listed above, let me know.