Practice For SPARQ Test

sounds about right, the shuttle run varies from sport to sport. If you loook on utube there are lots of examples. Good luck!

The rotational power ball throw is very much subject to technique so it is important to practice that one. It is pretty much useless as a valid measurement due to the importance of technique but of course that helps people sell SPARQ training.

It is pretty funny when you think about it. One one hand they sell SPARQ as a measure of raw athletic ability and on the other hand they sell training for it.

Son recently did the SPARQ testing for baseball and I thought it was a pretty good overall test. The powerball throw was definately interesting and could see how a little practice on technique could easily double ones distance thrown. The shuttle was the same way- a little practice on footwork technique and one could easily knock valuable time off for a much higher score.

Can they hit a baseball?

Can they track a fly ball?

Do they have baseball instincts?

To me this test means squat---it does not show if the atlete can play baseball !!!!@

If I am not mistaken, Perfect Game stopped doing SPARQ at their PG Nationals a few years back after some of the top prospects hurt themselves.

I think SPARQ for baseball was one of those flash in the pan things that has just about died out (thank goodness).

Looks to me like they tried to market a football test to other sports in order to expand it's importance and it didn't work. I haven't seen anything baseball related to SPARQ in a couple of years.

Baseball is a sometimes strange sport in which the greatest athletes don't necessarily have success(Jim Thorpe, Michael Jordan, Danny Ainge, even Bo Jackson for all his gifts was not the second coming of Mickey Mantle like some people seemed to think)and some very good baseball players are not great athletes in the track and field sense of the word. Major League baseball players have almost otherwordly hand to eye coordination. In most other major sports you have to be an exceptional physical specimen but for some reason this is just not true in baseball. The steroid era was taking away this diversity of body types away from baseball and if it had continued then baseball would have evolved into a sport of nothing but slow 6ft 3inch 225 LB muscle bound homerun hitters and the game would have just been boring station to station baseball. The stolen base, the hit and run, great defense and many of the subtle nuances of the sport would have disappeared. This year as we go back to a more normal hitting phase, the defensive specialist, the daring runner, the crafty velocity pitcher and all the sub types of specialists are taking a more prominant role instead of HRs one through nine in the lineup. So my whole point is,we don't need tests for athletes, we need tests for baseball players.

Oops I meant low velocity pitcher in my last posting--sorry.

Whereas the SPARQ testing for baseball doesn't measure "talent" it does measure athletic ability. I think one would match athletic ability with the talent for the overall skill of a player. The shuttle measures athletic speed side to side, while the verticle jump measures jumping ability while the sprints measure speed to first base, second and speed in general. The powerball measures core strength potential. So, no, the SPARQ testing alone doesn't tell how good or bad a baseball player is, it only tells of their athletic ability. There are still many unknowns left. For instance- my son scored low on the verticle jump but then again he is solid and stocky at 180 pounds as an incoming freshman at 5'10"- of course he isn't going to have a high verticle jump- he hasn't filled into his frame yet on the muscular level.

quote:

Originally posted by 1baseballdad:
I haven't seen anything baseball related to SPARQ in a couple of years.

They will have this testing at the Area Code Games this year.

GBM,
It measures athletic ability for two people with equal training. It doesn't measure relative athletic ability between a person who has trained for it and a person who hasn't. Several of the tests are technique dependent so in general the person who is new to SPARQ testing is going to test low relative to their athletic ability.

It can be useful and it can be very misleading.

In the past they did it at the area code tryout here in Illinois.

it maybe a halfway decent initial diagnostic tool, but really we all know that there are intangibles that make the player. Hit with power, hit for average, and smart situational play that really seperate the boys from the men. Nike (and trainers) can make a lot if $ off of it, and people can feel good about the results. But that won't make much difference once you get to a certain level of decision making. On a scale of 1-10 a 1-2 for importance in the big picture.

Okay, I understand the debate as to the validity of the test. However, my son has to do it in four weeks.

Does this look like the right list of events?

20-yard Shuttle
Vertical Jump
30-yard Dash
Rotational PowerBall Throw

Is there a site somewhere that details these events, especially the Rotational PowerBall Throw?

Yes papi looks like the right list to me. Just google sparg baseball and you should find many pieces of info to help your son.

Best of Luck

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
GBM,
It measures athletic ability for two people with equal training. It doesn't measure relative athletic ability between a person who has trained for it and a person who hasn't. Several of the tests are technique dependent so in general the person who is new to SPARQ testing is going to test low relative to their athletic ability.

It can be useful and it can be very misleading.

I will agree with you on that. In ways I was a little disappointed with the testing because it was "new" and some kids just didn't have very good technique on some of the tests whereas others performed well with good technique learning from watching others go before them. I like it because my son views it as a personal test to see how he can improve over the next few years. He is looking forward to coming back next year at the same time and doing it again to see where and how much he has improved. It was truly the first time my son got into the competetive spirit athletically speaking. On the diamond he has always performed well, but this is like a competition where he sees only himself as the one to beat. For that factor it is pretty cool.

SPARQ sounds like a bunch of garbage and nothing more than a moneymaker for somebody to measure a baseball player. Like trhit says, can they hit a baseball, track a fly and have baseball instincts.

How many times have you seen the baseball player outshine the athlete who can score high as a physical specimen.

When my kid played, he beat out players who were probably better athletes but he was a "baseball player" who can hit, run, track down a fly ball and had excellent baseball instincts who hustled on every play. While at first sight, the physical specimen looks better, once you peel the layers back, it becomes clear on what makes a ballplayer.

While being an athlete with baseball all the baseball tools has it's obvious advantages, some athletes you could train until they're blue in the face and they'll just never get baseball.

If you got a HS pitcher who throws in the 90s, tell me a low sparq test is gonna make D1 scouts shy away from this pitcher.

I think that SPARQ may not asses the most important facets of of a player (i.e the five tools), however there are some coaches that hold the results in high regards so the player should do everything they can to prepare for it.

quote:

Is there a site somewhere that details these events, especially the Rotational PowerBall Throw?

This is why I didn't like the whole SPARQ testing to begin with. The only time my son was involved in an event that used SPARQ, this was the one test that really discredited it as far as I was concerned. This one is all about technique. I get the idea behind it but as I watched 100+ kids roll through and do this portion, the results were all over the board.

FYI...this might help. Also, you might want to find out if there is a facility close by that trains for SPARQ. Velocity Sports trains specifically for SPARQ. http://www.velocitysp.com/


http://www.topendsports.com/te...rotational-throw.htm

I've honestly never hear a college coach or scout even mention the $PARQ test, much less the results.