Speed training advice for HS freshman?

My daughter (softball) was awkward running after growing from 5’2” to 5’10” from one season to the next. She went to Speed Camp at a college track powerhouse. Getting her running straightened out drastically improved her speed.

My son was always one of the fastest kids. After freshman year of high school I sent him to a training facility with focus on how to run a timed sixty properly.

The first thing to do is get strong in the legs. While it won’t change speed learn how to read pitchers for jump. Don’t compare your son to his teammates. Compare him to kids with college potential.

I said this on another post today, but the single most important thing we did for my son (hes a 2029) is find a 1x1 speed and agility coach he sees at LEAST once a week. He has been seeing him for about 13-14 months now. Game changer for my son. I just wish we would have started a little sooner. Hes also a great mentor to my son, and he loves going to that workout.

We found him by recommendation locally at the end of his 7th grade football season. He played starting DB on defense and 2-3 string WR in 7th grade football. He played primarily 2nd base and outfield up to that point.

Fast forward to his 8th grade season, starting QB in football and starting SS on his travel team. He was never really a bag stealer before, but he racks them up now.

It worked wonders for us.

I think you are on the right track with focus. Speed kills as they say. I once read that a kid will typically gain 0.3 per year upto age 16. Then it's harder to make gains: like another 0.1 per year upto age 18. So your son will likely naturally be sub 7. 

That said, I have a 2023 MIF who is a good fielder but undersized and runs 6.85-7.0. If he was a little faster, maybe it would have made a little difference. We know kids who are 6.5-6.7 and they get a lot of attention just from speed. My 2025 is a portly 6ft, 200lb pitcher and runs 7.0-7.2. But how he does it is he stands back from the laser start around 6-12 inches. Thus he trips it after he is already going a step. I've also used the app "seconds count" to exactly time them on a football field and slow down views of their foot strike, cycling, arm motion. I had them do a lot of A skips, B skips. But really you should have a professional help you.

just a reminder to also concentrate on quickness, as they are totally different things.

In baseball you obviously need to get to top speed quickly.

Youngest son did all the perfect game stuff for many years.  Top 10% in 60 speed, bottom 25% in 10 yard split.

By working on his quickness (he worked with a group called Parisi)  we moved into top 5% of 60 speed, just by lowering his 10 yard split slightly.

He's still better 1st to 3rd/home and patrolling CF than he is stealing bases though (and as a 60 year old former base stealer, I get so frustrated, but I digress..........)

Good luck.

My son had a speed and agility trainer he loved, went once a week.  The guy told him he would be sub-7.0 by senior year.  He was an older guy and didn't seem to realize it would have been useful (for recruiting) to get there earlier.

The travel coach kept saying "get his 60 down".  I read advice on here and elsewhere.  Summer before senior year, we worked really hard on it, especially his start.  Videoed him running it (on a football field) and looked at technique.  I think I actually looked at PG videos of kids running sub-7.0 and counted their strides, compared them to his (I was kind of crazed).  He studied Usain Bolt videos.  Finally one day he saw someone instructing another kid at the track, and tried something they said.  Suddenly at an August showcase he was running 6.55.

It may have been mental.  But some of it is just up to your build and growth. Honestly, I'm not sure whether he could have done it before then. But probably we should have found a track coach sooner.

Ironically, in college he was recruited as a two-way (D3), but became a pitcher-only.

@greenjb - You are spot on to be asking this question.   Speed is just as important as strength training especially if he is playing up the middle.  There are a number of folks that specialize in speed training, and I've found they typically come from track backgrounds.   My oldest son had a number of travel teammates who worked out off- season with some of these specialists.  Each one of them improved tremendously in terms of times and explosiveness.   There are tips, and tricks that will shave off tenths of seconds with lots of practice.   I'd start with your high schools indoor or outdoor track coaches to see who they know and what they recommend.

JMO, and good luck!

@russinfortworth posted:

just a reminder to also concentrate on quickness, as they are totally different things.

In baseball you obviously need to get to top speed quickly.

Youngest son did all the perfect game stuff for many years.  Top 10% in 60 speed, bottom 25% in 10 yard split.

By working on his quickness (he worked with a group called Parisi)  we moved into top 5% of 60 speed, just by lowering his 10 yard split slightly.

He's still better 1st to 3rd/home and patrolling CF than he is stealing bases though (and as a 60 year old former base stealer, I get so frustrated, but I digress..........)

Good luck.

Good call on Parisi. I forgot we were doing that until they closed up in our town.  Search for that.

@fenwaysouth posted:

@greenjb - You are spot on to be asking this question.   Speed is just as important as strength training especially if he is playing up the middle.  There are a number of folks that specialize in speed training, and I've found they typically come from track backgrounds.   My oldest son had a number of travel teammates who worked out off- season with some of these specialists.  Each one of them improved tremendously in terms of times and explosiveness.   There are tips, and tricks that will shave off tenths of seconds with lots of practice.   I'd start with your high schools indoor or outdoor track coaches to see who they know and what they recommend.

JMO, and good luck!

Thanks to everyone for the helpful replies -- my son was actually going to do indoor track over the winter, but it conflicted with baseball winter workouts and as a freshman he didn't want to miss them.

Question: how does one find a good track/football speed training coach? Nobody I know in our baseball orbit has one or has recommendations. Every coach we've ever used has come via word of mouth, so I'm a bit stumped.

@RJM posted:

My daughter (softball) was awkward running after growing from 5’2” to 5’10” from one season to the next. She went to Speed Camp at a college track powerhouse. Getting her running straightened out drastically improved her speed.

My son was always one of the fastest kids. After freshman year of high school I sent him to a training facility with focus on how to run a timed sixty properly.

The first thing to do is get strong in the legs. While it won’t change speed learn how to read pitchers for jump. Don’t compare your son to his teammates. Compare him to kids with college potential.

Thanks, my son is definitely in the latter category. How did you find the training facility, if you don't mind me asking?

The ones Google pulls up near me are just a couple ordinary gyms (One Life Fitness) that don't really seem geared to this kind of specialized training, and also a website called CoachUp that looks like it matches you with people who've signed up to be coaches.

@greenjb posted:

Thanks, my son is definitely in the latter category. How did you find the training facility, if you don't mind me asking?

The ones Google pulls up near me are just a couple ordinary gyms (One Life Fitness) that don't really seem geared to this kind of specialized training, and also a website called CoachUp that looks like it matches you with people who've signed up to be coaches.

There are a ton of speed and agility facilities in our area, we tried a few. We lucked out and found our trainer by word of mouth, he didnt really advertise much. He doesnt really need to, he has athletes of all levels, sports and ages. Even pro NFL guys that he got through the combine with high marks, who still come back and work with him in the offseasons.

Did you try searching something like "speed and agility coach near me"?

I would ask around.

@PDR58 posted:

There are a ton of speed and agility facilities in our area, we tried a few. We lucked out and found our trainer by word of mouth, he didnt really advertise much. He doesnt really need to, he has athletes of all levels, sports and ages. Even pro NFL guys that he got through the combine with high marks, who still come back and work with him in the offseasons.

Did you try searching something like "speed and agility coach near me"?

I would ask around.

I just searched that in my area and saw the coachup. I have never seen that before, but seems maybe something to explore. I would ask for references of current and previous athletes if possible.

There is a similar website in our area (maybe in others to) that I think is new for baseball privates. High level players (college, current pro ball, former pro ball players) sign up to offer lessons and you connect through the app. I have had some friends use it and were happy.

@PDR58 posted:

There are a ton of speed and agility facilities in our area, we tried a few. We lucked out and found our trainer by word of mouth, he didnt really advertise much. He doesnt really need to, he has athletes of all levels, sports and ages. Even pro NFL guys that he got through the combine with high marks, who still come back and work with him in the offseasons.

Did you try searching something like "speed and agility coach near me"?

I would ask around.

That's exactly what I did. It didn't produce anything that looked too promising (I have no idea the quality of CoachUp). But I'll play around with search terms.

greenjb

Talk with the HS or College Track Coach.

Bob

Way back in the day, I had a "speed guy" come in and work with my HS team.  What I mostly remember besides really encouraging dynamic stretches before running was that he was a huge proponent of running up hills and then running down hills.  Fortunately, we had both at our field.  I understand that many are no longer encouraging that type of workout.  Therefore, keep in mind that this training is constantly changing. 

I'd touch base with a locally owned running shoe store. They primarily know about distance runners, but they can probably point you in the direction of someone who can get you on the right path to sprint training.

Others have said the similar things that I skimmed through.  Find a sprint coach that understands that the focus is baseball too.  We saw a few coaches but eventually landed with a coach that tailored the training for explosiveness plus base stealing and baseball in general, including nuances to running 60yds for tryouts, etc.  There are differences that I would not have considered.  I just thought that you needed to try to run faster 😁.  

My son was not fast and bottom 10% in the speed category before HS.  He’s above average on speed after getting some things worked out in his mechanics and approach to distance.  

Yes good points. While the other indoor track guys were working out of blocks, my son was working from a stance for those 60s and also for base stealing.

There was an interesting article you can search on Jackson Holliday and his speed training this past offseason. Obviously he has access to elite training in every way but he was already fast and his goal is to be freaky fast (my choice of words).

My son worked with a couple of track people for a couple of different running warm up and speed drills over the years. Basic things like high knees/butt kickers into sprints, flyers, overspeed drills etc. He was intentional on working on his speed. Weight lifting along with going to run at the turf football field when he could all helped. My son ran a 7.5 fall of sophomore year in HS (a lanky 6'3"/170) and improved to 7.03 senior year (6'4"/190). Last measurement was fall of sophomore year college, he ran a 6.62 (6'4"/210).

@used2lurk posted:

There was an interesting article you can search on Jackson Holliday and his speed training this past offseason. Obviously he has access to elite training in every way but he was already fast and his goal is to be freaky fast (my choice of words).

My son worked with a couple of track people for a couple of different running warm up and speed drills over the years. Basic things like high knees/butt kickers into sprints, flyers, overspeed drills etc. He was intentional on working on his speed. Weight lifting along with going to run at the turf football field when he could all helped. My son ran a 7.5 fall of sophomore year in HS (a lanky 6'3"/170) and improved to 7.03 senior year (6'4"/190). Last measurement was fall of sophomore year college, he ran a 6.62 (6'4"/210).

Thanks, my son loved that Jackson Holliday article  - it even had videos. Link here for anyone else interested: https://www.thebaltimorebanner...CRRECVBWSAW4ST4XWXA/