College Softball Player Summer Workouts

[catcherdad]

It is our first summer after playing college softball. We know 8 players who are home for the summer from many different D1 programs. The coaches take varying approaches to what their players should do for the summer. Some are strict and others are more casual. Most have some form of test that each player must meet when they come back to the team -- often involving running. But, I have noticed, the commitment of the individual players to any form of workout and practice also varies significantly. I know a pitcher who spend much of the summer developing a new pitch with a new coach. Some players clearly committed themselves to workouts that would significantly improve their fitness and readiness for the game. Others simply went through the motions. Or worse, some decided, I will catch up at school. It will be interesting to see what happens sophomore year and how the summer workouts translate to success on the field.

[Daddylawman]

Thanks for the topic. I'm interested to hear perspectives on Summer conditioning. My DD will be a freshman and her coach gave the recruits the Summer workout with the understanding that since most were playing travel ball they could modify it to suit their schedule.

My DD has worked out harder than ever. Basically she told me she will not let the coach see her "gas out". She wants to play and believes her condition when she shows up on campus will matter.

I have no idea so I'd like to know what experienced parents or players think.

[Sftbll4ever]

My DD decided to do crossfit. It was close to her workout at school just more. She is going 4 days a week. She is seeing a sprint coach for the next 5 weeks to work on her speed (lefty that wants to get faster), and is hitting.

She loves the crossfit and she wishes she could do it while she was at school, but there is just not time with the workouts, practice and school.

[DonnieS]

My dds are insane, both go above whatever the coaches request, one goes way above, but then she has since she was around 6 years old.

The older one, the summer before her freshman year, received the exercise packet and gave it to me. I made an outline of what she was supposed to do, and accidently extended everything about 15-20%, including marking what 50 meters was at the park, somehow I accidently marked 62 meters as 50 meters, which she had to use to run timed gassers through out the summer. Except for the place where she threw up everyday, it went pretty much ok. When she got to school and workouts started, she told me that Coach was so happy because she could complete the entire gasser drill and lead the team at it. I think I told her around Christmas break what I did - since then, I have never seen workout packet from the schools my girls attend.

[V'sDad]

My DD just graduated from college. It was always amazing to me just how many new recruits could not make it through fall weights and conditioning. Just not prepared for the intensity and duration of the workouts. So they spent "x" number of years playing and hoping to play in college and after 4 to 6 weeks just quit. They were never pushed by their travel coaches to do do the necessary conditioning. Sad to see, and some of them were clearly talented players.
Like Donnie said, whatever plan your coach gives you, increase it by 30%.

[catcherdad]

My dd prepared last summer, but did not know what college workouts would consist of during the school year and season. The HS and select coaches did more practice on the field than conditioning. In college, the conditioning is very important and many kids simply cannot keep up. This summer, she joined a baseball fitness trainer, and worked out about 15 hours a week with a group of bb players. Added to that was a lot of hitting drills and throwing. She tailored her training to what is done in school, but usually added a lot to it. I can tell a big difference in confidence and skill going into the second season and she had a very solid season freshman year.

[hit4power]

DD was given given a summer weight schedule that rolls into the fall program, basically an olympic lifting routine 3x per week. Along with that came 2 days of running and agility also structured to carry into the fall program. She knows she will be tested by the strength coach first day back, and the softball coaches will test running and agility using her spring times as the baseline. Not matching or bettering your spring times results in extra work in the fall. As DD said, failure is not an option.

Last year as an incoming frosh, she thought she had been working hard all summer, but was not as prepared as she would have liked to have been for the running and agility work. She put in extra running/agility work last fall which she hated but which paid off during the season with a noticeable gain in speed.

One thing I would hasten add is that no one should be lifting w/o qualified supervision and training - showing up to school hurt is not a good way to start.

[jonriv]

Most freshmen are not prepared physically or mentally for the workouts that lay ahead. They are longer and harder than most are used too. This piled on top of a new environment, being away from home, heavy course load, etc............ As Donnie said- run more, work harder, and figure it will be worse than than

I am still amazed at the shape my daughter is in(going into JR year) She runs, works out at the company gym where she is an intern, plays on the office softball team, doe the insanity workout(or something like that) I get tired just talking about it!

[Blind Squirrel]

The first couple summers my kid did some running and weight lifting. Showed up in decent shape. Could have done more/better. She did insanity all summer before her junior year with a couple of other athletes. Probably 5 days a week. She showed up in the fall in literally the best shape of her life. The coaches didn't seem to mind.

Some kids had a real problem passing the conditioning test they all had to pass. Not a good way for any kid to start the season. A lot of kids hate cardio. Thats no excuse for not doing it if you REALLY want to prepare to PLAY college ball rather than doing what you did all summer - sitting on your butt.

Slackerlicious Squirrel

[fasterpitch92701]

Crossfit 4 days a week. Runs 5 days a week, typically in the hills behind Stanford. Just spent some time on a road trip and climbing Lassen (about 10.5k feet) and Cinder Cone (damn sandy pumice up a 40 degree hill) will... give you a severe workout. Hiking around Truckee at 7200-9500 feet is "exhilarating". The CrossFit is proving to be a great add to her workouts. Well worth looking into if you are not familiar with it.