Sliding head first vs feet first

[obbay]

Has anyone ever studied which one works better?
Is the idea that the BR gets an extra step in if they dive rather than slide feet first? That seems to make sense, ntuitivly but I don't see the proof anywhere.

Watching college softball on TV and the slo-mo replays of BR diving into base don't look like they are arriving any quicker than if feet first.

I know HS coach expects players to slide head first, but all players are coming up from leagues where head first was not allowed and he offers no instruction.

 

[Eric F]

I wonder how Josh Hamilton feels about this question.

 

[humpty]

Hamiltons a dork. Who slides into first

 

[riseball]

Primarily dorks.

 

[SBFAMILY]

If he has a stud pitcher I wonder if he want her to slide head first? I have seen two break fingers sliding that ended pitching for that year!

 

[Eric F]

Hamiltons a dork. Who slides into first

Yasiel Puig. He almost did a Hamilton.

 

[Ken B]

Blake Griffin prefers head first:

 

[obbay]

If he has a stud pitcher I wonder if he want her to slide head first? I have seen two break fingers sliding that ended pitching for that year!

thats part of the reason why i was questioning it.

 

[coachbob]

We coach a single crossover dive back (12U), but not a full-on head first slide. However, several of our girls think it looks friggin cool to slide head first, so they use it. I don't have a rule against it, but it does make me nervous. And yes, the girls get a lot of looks and impress coaches with it.

 

[Ken B]

Physicists Say Headfirst Slide to Base Faster, Maybe | Science | WIRED
High-speed video analysis of head-first and... [Clin J Sport Med. 2003] - PubMed - NCBI
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Engineer: Head-first slide is quicker | Newsroom | Washington University in St. Louis