NEW SOUTH WALES JUNIOR BASEBALL LEAGUE For the advancement of Junior Baseball within the State of New South Wales
	Welcome to Coaches’ Corner 2. Fitness For Baseball: An Overview

In following weeks we will publish a group of articles which will concentrate on ......

FITNESS FOR BASEBALL

Why is fitness important?

A high level of fitness for each athlete is important because it:

• allows players to perform at their best
• assists in injury prevention

When do injuries occur?

Injuries can occur at any time. They are more likely to occur towards the end of a sporting activity because the ball player is:

• tired
• less able to cope with the physical demands
• less capable of performing skills to an adequate level due to fatigue.

How do we measure fitness?

Fitness for baseball is a combination of many factors. The most commonly developed components include:

ENDURANCE

• cardiovascular endurance - the ability of the body to deliver oxygen to the working muscles for an extended period of time.
• Muscular endurance - the ability of the muscle to continue to work over an extended period of time.

STRENGTH: The ability of the muscles to produce a force against resistance

SPEED: The ability to move as fast as possible

POWER: The ability to produce maximum force in the shortest time.

FLEXIBILITY: The range of movement around a joint

BASEBALL TRAINING will aim at specifically improving these components of fitness in the following ways:

• ENDURANCE will be improved by your running and throwing program together with cord work and thrower exercises as advised.
• STRENGTH is improved with resistance exercises
• SPEED is improved with sprint work and batting drills.
• POWER is improved with a combination of resisted exercises, medicine ball work, plyometric drills and speed work.
• FLEXIBILITY is improved with stretches.

H. Milewski, physiotherapist.

Keep watching ..... in coming articles in Coaches Corner we will include drills that you can incorporate in your training sessions.

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