Speed

Softball speed is the first three steps

Nothing in softball is a long race. It's sixty feet to first, a steal, two strides to a ball in the gap — short bursts, decided at the start.

Most people think speed means a stopwatch total

One long sprint, timed once, fresh. Softball never asks that question.

It asks: can you be at full speed by your third step — out of the box after a swing, off the bag on a steal, laterally to a ball you read off the bat? That's a different quality. It's built from strength, starting mechanics, and reading the play early.

A softball athlete driving sideways out of a low athletic stance on the turf — Softball starts are sideways: the lead-off, the crossover, the jump on a ball off the bat.

The part parents can see

Watch the close plays at first base. Over a season, the same players keep beating them out — and it's rarely about who looks fastest at full stride.

It's the one who's already moving when others are still deciding — sixty feet decides the game — and whose first steps drive low and forward instead of standing up tall.

The framework: build the burst, then keep it late. Strength gives the first steps their push. Sound starts point that push down the line. Conditioning makes the whole thing available in game five on Sunday.

What to do with this

Stop asking how fast your athlete is. Ask how fast she is for the first three steps — that's the number close plays are decided on.

On Evaluation Day we measure acceleration and change of direction alongside strength, so the whole engine shows up in one picture.

See what Evaluation Day measures

See it

Coach Aaron demonstrating a kettlebell swing in the gym — **Kettlebell swing: the unlock to lower-body power** Power starts at the hips. Used correctly the swing teaches a player to produce force fast — the quality behind a first step, a steal, and bat speed alike.

Questions parents ask

My player times well in the sixty. Isn’t that enough?

A timed sixty is useful, but games rarely grant a clean sixty from a sprinter’s stance. Game speed starts from a swing follow-through, a lateral lead-off, or a read off the bat. Acceleration and the quality of the first three steps are the trainable parts that show up on the field.

Can acceleration be trained, or is it just genetics?

The starting point is inherited; the improvement almost never is. First-step quickness responds to strength work and to practicing starts from game positions — the box, the bag, a fielding stance. Most young players have never trained either deliberately.

Why isn’t my player getting faster?

Check what the speed sessions actually contain. If the sprints happen on tired legs at the end of practice, every rep teaches the body to run slow — that is conditioning, not speed work. Getting faster requires short, maximum-effort sprints taken fresh, genuine rest between them, and strength work underneath.

Does speed matter if she’s a power hitter?

Yes, twice over. The same hip and leg power that drives a first step drives bat speed — they are one quality expressed two ways. And every extra close play she beats out is an on-base percentage her swing never had to earn.

How long does speed development take, and how is it measured?

The honest timeline is a season of consistent work, not a holiday camp. We time first steps and short accelerations at baseline, then re-test them at Evaluation Day™ — so progress arrives as tenths of a second your family can point to, not a hunch from the bleachers.