Should physical strength be measured

[4Martini]

14u "B" level travel ball? Surely at High School teams are dedicating practice time to weight lifting yeah?

My daughter played 14c and 14b the past two years. Both did winter strength training. The majority of high schools here have summer strength training for softball (we play in fall). We have C, JV and V teams - summer strength is for everyone.

She’s playing 16a this year and will add an extra day a week of lifting with the team and her pitching coach will ramp up strength in the off season.

She only played rec before 14s and they did not do strength - but by 14u comp our experience is even at c everyone is doing some strength training. The kids level of participation is pretty predictive of their path forward too.

 

[chinamigarden]

I’ll tell you how exercise benefits your ball players. My dd was a HS 3 sport starter. Played softball in travel and basketball and volleyball school only. But about 5 days a week in the summer she was working on one or 2 sports a day. Practices, camps, workouts… she is now 27 and her competitive playing is behind her. (Although she has won a couple of plastic trophies in pickleball)

So she developed an affinity for working out during her HS training. She worked out all through college (played club ball) she continues to run, bike, and she lifts. She is the same size she was in HS just stronger. She has a lifelong commitment to her personal fitness. Something I wish I had developed as a young person. So is strength training important for softball? I think it is. But even if it isn’t, I believe it’s good for them as individuals.

 

[RADcatchers]

Also fantastic about player athlete development
it has opened up more jobs and employment in the sports arena including with travel ball programs that utilize sport facilities and colleges!!!

Three particular athletes I'm really looking forward to what's going to happen after their senior college year as they may be stepping into Player Development roles at their colleges.
3 prominent hitters! Looking forward to seeing what they can do with what they have learned with their conditioning and strengthening programs producing their own results to making impacts with teams!

 

[Rolling Hard]

Chicks did the long ball. Coaches like exit velo, even in softball. I think I remember someone said it takes 64 mph exit velo and 23 degree launch to hit over a 6 foot high fence at 200 feet. Numbers might be a little off. But the idea is, most P4 college players will have exit velos capable of producing HRs which requires a certain amount of strength.

 

[JayW]

I think she was great at every age and lifting weights had nothing to do with it.

Now we're all the way down to 0%?

 

[Rolling Hard]

Ok, let's put it this way. You could be the world's strongest woman BUT not be able to hit a home run. 10 and 12 year old girls can hit a ball 200 feet with little to no weight training.
Also players that can hit 7 out of 10 coach pitch balls over the fence BUT can't hit a center cut 63 mph fastball.
In the video RAD posted I saw a lot of medicine balls and core work. That seems right to me. Much more important than maxing out your dead lift for one rep.

 

[CoachBNC]

Here is more detailed information about torso/trunk muscles in regards with hitting.

Relationships between Bat Swing Speed and Muscle Thickness and Asymmetry in Collegiate Baseball Players

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships between bat swing speed (BSS), muscle thickness, and muscle thickness asymmetry in collegiate baseball players. Twenty-four collegiate baseball players participated in this study. Maximum ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I am somewhat bothered that all the medicine ball references in the literature go back to this single Szymanski study. What about [1], which saw no difference in bat speed when adding med ball programming to 8-13 year-old softball players?

I say this as someone who is actually a big fan of strength and power training. I'm just cautious about how much I want to map big improvements on softball-specific outcomes onto non-sport-specific training movements . . .

[quick edit for clarification - the Szymanski study is referenced as [14] in the study above that shows a correlation between bat speed and muscle thickness]

[1]https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2176&context=ijes#:~:text=Additionally, medicine ball training also,a bat with greater velocity.