short stop

Question
A few years ago, I received an injury to my knee.  Ever since then, my lateral movement hasn't been as quick as it should be.  How can I improve and strengthen my movements in the infield?

Answer
Paige:  Thank you for the question.

If you are pain free, and the issue is strength, the starting point would be a weight training program to regain and increase your strength and stability.

If you are having pain associated with your knee, you should start with your physician, to locate the exact cause of the pain.

If you are in school, and have access to a weight training facility and athletic trainer, I would start there.  Stability and strength in the knee joint is accomplished by strengthening the muscles around it, leg extensions and curls, squats and leg press exercises, toe raises.  As you regain the strength, then you can begin to work on lateral movements and quickness.

Lateral shuffles, working to get low to the ground by bending your knees to get you there, as in fielding ground balls, half and full carioca's to help with agility and quickness are also good, power skips ~ working to achieve elevation, not forward distance,

Use of floor ladders and the multitude of agility drills you can use with them will be of great benefit.  You can also create a square using cones and a different agility exercise along each side of the square, all of which will increase strength, agility and quickness.

Jumping rope is another.

Build the strength through weight training, work on quickness and agility through specific drills, then go through your regular infield regimen of fielding all types of ground balls.  The combination of a consistent schedule which includes all of the above will help get you where you want to be.

Generally, the on your own workouts are the hardest to stay motivated for.  If you create some measurable goals for yourself, write them down and put it where you can look at them every day, write down the starting point for each one, then a set time for measurement, say every week, or two weeks.  Some will test more often than others. Build your goals from the ultimate one you are looking for, such as making a specific team and work down to the day to day immediates of number of repetitions, increase in time, increase in amount of weight, etc.

As you obtain a level, you can reset your goals and keep working.

It helps to go back and revisit your ultimate goal now and then, to help maintain your focus and motivation.  As I mentioned, this is the hardest part of athletics, the work on your own, with no games or competition looming on the immediate horizon; but these are the days and the workouts, that pay off big throughout your season, say when you are able to cut off that ground ball up the middle and throw the runner out at first, a ball that you weren't getting to before. Might even be the final game of the state championship, and the final out.  You never know when it will come up big.

What you do know is the work will help you improve.

LUCK IS WHEN PREPARATION MEETS OPPORTUNITY!

Good luck with your goals.

Yours in baseball/softball,

Rick