Speed

I speak about speed (or lack of)
lots. For position players,
it's the make / break of most, unless
the kid is LH, a Catcher, or Pitcher.

I time everybody. I keep the watch
in the pocket.....even at the beach.

If a kid loafs down to first. I time him
and record it. It's may be all I get.

My speech to the kids is:
Run Hard All the Time:
You never know whose watching.

An ol' Irish / Greek friend used
to say:

Boy, if you can hit and you run good
Your Good.

But, if a you can hit and can run fast.
gall darn, your good.

For those not blessed:
Either Pitch &
teach yourself to become a
good baserunner. or just pitch.

For those blessed: Use it.

Now some quantitative stuff:
a) Run 100 yard dashes all the time.
It works.
b) Work on maximizing your best stride length.
c) Work on improving stride rate.

It's simple really: Max Stride Rate
(times) Max Stride Length = Max Potential.

d) 6.8 seconds in 60 yards is 'great'

e) If you plod at 7.5 seconds, you
may need to hit the ball 500 feet,
and play a corner.

cheers
Bear

ps. Just remember, no one ever stole 1b.