Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Playing Other Sports Can Be Truly Beneficial For Softball Players

 

Playing Other Sports Can Be Truly Beneficial For Softball Players

In the world of sports, getting better at what you do is vital – and this can be achieved through training. Most sports require athletes to have certain skill sets – balance, hand-eye coordination, speed, and whatnot – and with enough training focused on these, an athlete can become much better at each of them, and at her sport of choice as well. 

One of the many ways to achieve excellence in the playfield is probably not to focus on one sport – many of the greatest athletes in history were multi-sport. While nobody expects softball players to transition to other sports, they should at least give them a chance to improve some of their skills that they could put to good use in the field.

Sprinting

Sprinting is not about endurance – it is about expressing a burst of energy over a short distance in order to achieve maximum speed. "Running" is more complex than most would imagine – there are different systems that our bodies put to use when running slowly over a long distance and when running at our top speed over a short one. And, as you might expect, we need different types of training to improve each of them.  

Nobody expects a softball player to run a marathon but sprinting over a short distance is truly important here.

Tennis

What better way to train in a bat-and-ball sport than another bat-and-ball sport – one where you constantly have to keep an eye on the ball? Tennis is just what every softball player needs to improve that. In tennis, the ball is constantly moving and rebounding, it can have a normal trajectory or – in the case of a curveball – it can be pretty unpredictable, it can land closer or further away from the player, so quick reaction to it is mandatory. Plus, it is a great way to build endurance and it does make good use of your sprinting abilities as well (especially if you have a more experienced player with the habit to place the ball in the furthest corner of the field). 

Soccer

According to softball coach Brian Caron, soccer is a great way to improve your hand-eye coordination. Here, players learn a great deal of foot-eye coordination, which is basically the same thing. Aside from giving young athletes a "different perspective", it also involves a lot of running, which also does wonders for the physical condition, endurance, and sprinting abilities of players.

When the softball season is still too far away or you don't feel like pitching and hitting on your own, you will enjoy not only the variety of these other sports but their benefits as well.

One response to “Playing Other Sports Can Be Truly Beneficial For Softball Players”

  1. Mark Patterson says:

    Ping Pong will give you ridiculous hand-eye skills and reaction time if you play someone who is really good.

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