This article originally appeared in Skills & Drills Newsletter, November 1996.

The Forgotten Skill: Teaching Team Speed

By Susan Craig & Ken Johnson, Head Coaches, University of New Mexico

There seems to be a helpless feeling among coaches that speed is just in the genes and not something that can be trained. The attitude seems to be that speed is something that only happens when a coach inherits players with natural speed. It is also true, generally speaking, that unless an athlete possesses great natural speed she usually feels inadequate in that department and is, therefore, of the opinion that she is slow.

The truth of the matter is that coaches should treat speed as just another skill to teach. I think everyone will agree that women athletes, in general, have poor running technique. So one of the obvious keys to teaching team speed is to break down the skill just as you would any other and find ways to drill it until old habits are broken and new ones are adopted.

When selling your players on the importance of speed, remember that it not only improves the ability to steal or cover ground in the outfield, but in fact it is a skill that affects every position and every aspect of baserunning. The key is to educate your players on the role of speed and how important it is to maximize their ability in that area. Naturally, speed is relative and you do not expect everyone to run the 60 in 2.7 seconds, but you can realistically aim for a team goal of 3.0 seconds for everyone. You Don't expect your players to master track techniques but they will learn enough to make them efficient runners and much faster.

Once the physical problems are addressed, the negative attitude towards running will start to disappear. Because athletes know so little about how to run, they place limitations on themselves on how fast they feel they can run. Running is often thought of simply as punishment and pain, instead of a skill that can help them be the best they can be. You, as the coach, have to develop a philosophy of running with a purpose. It is important that your athletes are well conditioned because speed is never a negative talent.

TEACHING SPRINTING

The best way to teach proper sprinting technique is to ask a certified track coach to introduce the fundamentals so you can be trained along with your athletes. Even though consistent training will still be up to you, it is always best to start with a professional who can correctly demonstrate the skill and give proper evaluations and instruction.

Fundamentals And Common Mistakes From Head To Toe

1. Keep the head relaxed and never run with the head tilted back.
2. Relax the shoulders so the arms extend down naturally. Don't run with a stiff motion.
3. The arms should drive down hard by the side with the hands brushing by the hips. Never allow the arms to swing across the body from side to side.
4. Run with a relaxed hand with a full range of motion, so the arms are moving in front of the body and driving back past the hip. Remember to run with opposite hand and leg action so that as the right knee goes up, the left hand comes up.
5. Run on the toes and run with high knee action bringing the heel up to the butt area.
6. Concentrate on explosiveness with quickness in the leg action and power in the arm action.

Drills

1. Pumping action. Have the runners sit on the ground with their legs straight out in front of them. Have them bend their arms and mimic a running action pumping the hand down and through as fast as they can. If done correctly they will bounce off the ground.
2. March. Line up your runners on the foul line. Start with marching in slow motion. Emphasize opposite hand and leg action and the high knee action, lifting the heel to the butt. The arm should drive down by the hips, the head relaxed.
3. Skip. Line up your runners on the foul line, but this time skip in place, working on quickness, bouncing the feet off the ground as if they were running on hot coals. Work arms as quickly as the feet. Gradually start to move the line of runners maintaining a quick action of the foot coming off the ground and not forward. Restrict the forward speed by walking in front of the line and not allowing anyone to pass you.
4. Falling. Have your runners stand along the foul line. On command they start to fall forward. At the last possible second they catch themselves by dropping their hips, and starting both the leg and arm action rapidly, falling right into a sprinting action.
5. Hurdles. Set up a series of wooden blocks six inches high and three feet long. Space them about four feet apart or equal to about one running stride. Your runners must run down a line of these hurdles, about 60 feet, working on picking up their feet quickly and high knee action. Make sure their arms are moving rapidly also so the entire body is in rhythm.
6. Harness. One of the best tools to teach sprinting is a harness used by track coaches. It is simply a strong elastic tubing with a harness at one end to tie around the runners hips and a smaller tie at the other end to attach to a post. The runner starts at the post and runs away from it in a direct line, building resistance from the tubing to a point about 60 feet. At that point the runner turns around, turning the line of the tube to the front so they can run in a direct line back towards the post. When the runner takes off the tubing will actually pull the runner to force them to run faster. This tool works on the same principle as running up and down hills, but is safer.

EXPLOSIVENESS

At New Mexico we talk about explosiveness all the time and we believe very strongly in the importance of plyometrics to build quickness. Plyometrics are drills or exercises aimed at linking sheer strength and speed of movement to produce an explosive reaction type of movement. The term often refers to jumping drills and in-depth jumping, but they can include any drill or exercise utilizing the stretch reflex to produce explosive reaction. Preaching speed and explosiveness carries over into everything you do on the field and the benefits are great.

There are several books on the market that describe drills, and it is important to understand that these exercises put a lot of stress on the body and cannot be overdone. We try to keep all our plyometric drills down to only twice a week. Some of the drills we do involve skipping, bounding both for distance and height, jumping off a box and quick knee raises where the athlete must bring both knees up off the ground as high as their waist as fast as they can. All these require rest between sets and are usually done with three sets of ten.

Offensive Applications -- The Steal

The steal is made in the first four steps and the slide at the end. At first we start with our runner facing home plate, with the left foot touching the inside of the bag. The first step involves a short rhythm step with the right foot or a cross-over step with the back foot turning towards second. With either move, the next critical area involves the arm action. It must be fast and powerful enough to get the body lined up with second base. As the steal motion is started, the right elbow is driven back bringing the body around and immediately upon facing second base, the arm and leg action begins.

We want our runners to be at full speed within four steps.

1. Work on the initial step or pivot, the arm drive and the first four steps.
2. Set a cone down the line from first base and time each runner to that point.
3. Have two players race to that cone to emphasize competition. The final note concerns timing. Too many coaches take it for granted that runners can easily determine when to start the steal motion. Actually it takes a great deal of practice. We have a line of runners at first, a pitcher throwing to the player and a coach standing at the best angle to watch both the runner and the Pitcher's release. The coach lets the runner know if she's gotten a good jump or was too quick or too slow. This can only be done once the runner is consistent with her stealing motion.

Getting Out Of The Box

Our athletes are told every day that once they hit the ball, they immediately become a baserunner, and they need to concentrate on these skills right away. The minute a hitter swings and releases the bat, she must drop her hips and start the arm and leg action as quickly as possible. She should run down the line at full speed, picking up first base or the

coach. She never watched the flight of the ball. Our team rule is that if the ball is hit to the outfield (except the line drive or hard grounder to rightfield that may result in a quick throw to first base), the runner automatically starts to belly out two slides from home plate and begins an arc so she can cut first base at full speed, slowing down only after crossing the base and seeing that she cannot advance to second. The best drill for this involves a line of hitters at home plate, a batting machine on the field and a coach. Each hitter understands it is a hit and run situation so every pitch must be swung at. After making contact the hitter reacts, either running straight down the line on an infield hit or by making an arc on a fly ball. The coach is encouraging them to make quick decisions and to run at full speed as soon as possible.

Tagging Up To Score

This area, like getting out of the box, is almost never practiced. Again this is a time when quick reactions and explosiveness are crucial. We practice this at third base and out in the field when we do other offensive drills. At third we take a line of runners. When the coach at home plate hits the fly they take their normal lead. The runner then rushes back to the bag, takes a sprinting position and waits for the command to "go." This drill can make a big difference because not only does it teach the athletes to explode, but the coach can also note the timing of each player and find who reacts quickly and slowly to the command.

Application To Defense

A creative coach can make up a thousand ways to show how speed affects the defensive game. Infielders never drift to cover their bag, but should always run to it at full speed and drop down to the correct position to receive the throw. Those same fielders should never drift over or back to catch a pop-up. Obviously outfielders never drift after fly balls, pitchers never drift to cover home plate on a passed ball, and catchers should never drift back to retrieve that passed ball. The fact that many athletes fail to run at full speed either means they don't realize what they are doing, or they do not feel under control when they do run as hard as they can.

That means that coaches who teach team speed must also be prepared to teach young athletes body control and awareness. By using agility drills a coach can give a player a variety of experiences dealing with controlling a body in motion. A coach cannot stop with teaching a player to run at full speed, but must follow through by teaching her to stop within a short distance. The main point involves teaching the athlete how to drop her hips to lower her center of gravity and spread her feet for a better base of support so she can stop and change directions easily.

The best drill for this involves a box drill which starts at home plate and has the runner go through a pattern at each bag, starting with first. The runner runs at full speed to first. About 10 or 12 feet from the bag, she starts breaking down with a jump step movement which allows her to drop her hips to lower the center of gravity and throws out her legs to give her a good base. As she hits in this position, she pivots on the inside leg rotating around to face second and takes off at full speed for the next base. She repeats this until she reaches home. You can do the same drill starting at third so they will learn to pivot off both feet. Karioka drills, drop step drills, and a variety of line drills can all be used to teach body awareness.

THE SOFTBALL ATHLETE:

THE RIGHT ATTITUDE

Anyone can improve their running technique. It just takes knowledge, instruction, and practice. But the trick is to motivate someone to want to run faster by showing them that this skill can affect all aspects of their game. That isn't to say that there are not limitations as to how much improvement anyone can make, but we have had players go from a 3.2 to a 2.9 from home to first from the first day of practice in the fall to a time trial in the spring. Working hard on running technique is easier when players see improvement. You have to make believers out of them.

The other two goals are to develop a team attitude to hustle and to incorporate the team speed in your total game philosophy.

If you let an athlete decide when they want to run hard, they will never reach their potential as a baserunner, and your opportunity to force mistakes will be lost. Players who pop-up or hit routine fly balls and jog down the line hurt themselves and the team. Athletes who hit a single and are satisfied with that will never be able to take advantage of a mistake and stretch that into a double. it's a point you have to make early and you must demand that kind of attitude all the time from every player, or your team will not respond. Naturally this kind of attitude requires that your team is in excellent condition, or they won't be able to maintain that level of intensity. Also, remember that being aggressive is just as important as being fast. Some of our best baserunners are not our fastest runners, but they have great awareness and are always ready to take advantage of the situation.

The other part of training is making a coaching decision to use the speed and aggressive attitude that you have trained. Athletes don't mind working hard on things when they see the benefits in games, so that may mean making some adjustments in your approach. You have to think more about steals, hit and runs, bunt and runs, etc., to allow the training to work. Also you need to be aware of defensive movement and demand the same work ethic there. For instance, if your first baseman drifts over for a pop-up and drops it by the fence because she was afraid of hitting the fence, you should correct her for that just as well as not running hard down the line. Remind her to bust hard to the fence and make that an easy play instead of an error.

Remember that coaching is knowledge, learning to communicate that knowledge, training and then using the tools in games. it's a complete package and you must be ready to pay attention to all four parts to gain the benefits. The drills on steals and sprinting, etc., should all be a normal part of your conditioning program. The aggressive, go-at-full-speed attitude is something that should be coached and expected all the time.