Tips to become a good Boxer

Boxing athletes need a schedule for their needs. It must be intense without tearing muscles and joints, improve overall body strength, are exciting and vigorous, burn calories, help create mental toughness, and improve the body's stamina to boot.

Concentration is the hallmark of any good boxing workout. Drills should primarily consist of 2-3 minute rounds, with 60-second revival periods. Over time such a system will improve your physical threshold, consistently working you at 85-90% of your maximum heart rate. The one minute rest periods will help you learn how to efficiently recover your breath as you stretch and analysis proper technique.

Strength gain is a normal byproduct of a well-kept boxing regimen. Boxers use a combination of weights, specialized boxing equipment and plyometric devices in their workouts to maximize calorie burn and increase that lean muscle mass so essential in 'the sweet science'. These physical developments will improve explosiveness, speed, power, and bodily endurance and also keep at minimal levels that body fat no one wants.

The heavy bag is one of the most time-worn pieces of training equipment around, and almost certainly the most effective boxing exercise tool available. Hitting the heavy bag is the best method to study to punch with swiftness and force.

To increase speed and strength, one must hit the bag hard. Routine drills are required to increase efficiency of movement when punching. Sadly, fighters all too often try to coast during a heavy bag session.

One can improve stamina through short, yet enormously intense punch-out drills. Generally referred to as the 'Olympic Drill', this activity simply consists of a series of all-out punches thrown in quick order without rest. Intermittent pauses usually range from 15 to 60 seconds.

Boxing gyms and many health clubs offer proper boxing classes about 60 minutes in length. A normal session will regularly be divided into five segments designed to guarantee a successful workout:

Warm-up - A 5-to-10 minute warm-up safely prepare you for your exercises.

Conditioning - A 10-minute progression from the warm-up into basic struggle training emphasizes your strength, speed and endurance.

Technique - A 5-minute drill moving you from fundamental punches to multiple combinations and suspicious work.

Hitting Drills - A 35-minute string of timed rounds in the circuit training style, employing all from heavy bags to focus mitts to target shields and more.

Cool Down - A 5-minute stretch-period to healthier your flexibility. You may also ask your trainer for advice and guidelines during this time.

Boxing employs the majority of a person's physical abilities. Your musculoskeletal system grows tougher through repeated confrontation drills and boxing-specific equipment exercises. In time the cardio-respiratory and vascular systems become much stronger during concentrated, high-impact and high-energy workouts. Your central nervous system is trained to react faster, and responds much better in punching combination sessions.

Who Is at Greatest Risk for Sports Injuries?

If a specialized athlete dislocates a joint or tears a ligament, it makes the news. But a person who plays sports can be injured. Three groups-children and adolescents, middle­aged athletes, and women-are particularly at risk.

Children and Adolescents

While playing sports can develop children's fitness, self-esteem, coordination, and self-discipline, it can also put them at risk for sports injuries: some minor, some serious, and still others that may result in lifelong medical problems.

Young athletes are not small adults. Their bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments are still growing and that makes them new prone to injury. Growth plates-the areas of rising cartilage where bone growth occurs in growing children are weaker than the nearby ligaments and tendons. As a result, what is often a contusion or sprain in an adult can be a potentially serious growth-plate injury in a child. Also, a shock that would tear a muscle or ligament in an adult would be far more likely to break a child's bone.

Because young athletes of the same age can differ significantly in size and physical maturity, some may try to perform at levels beyond their ability in order to keep up with their peers.

Contact sports have inherent dangers that put young athletes at particular risk for severe injuries. Even with thorough training and proper safety equipment, youngsters are still at risk for severe injuries to the neck, spinal cord, and growth plates. Evaluating potential sports injuries on the field in very young children can engage its own special issues for concerned parents and coaches.

What is a Little League Baseball Team?

Little League is a United States based nonprofit organization created by Carl Stoltz in the year 1930s. At first, Stoltz organized a very small group in Pennsylvania, with three baseball teams for kids that competed against each other. From this early start; Little League has grown to a huge size, with over 2 million players participating every year. Baseball programs for kids and teens can choose to affiliate with Little League, which widens opportunities for kids to participate with lots of other kids, and if their team is successful, may allow them to move on to games with teams in other divisions of the country. The association has affiliates in the US, Europe, Latin America, Canada, Asia and Australia.

United States Little League teams are controlled by region, and each region also organizes its teams by age and experience. In large towns there may be some Little League affiliates, organized by school district or area. Normally, to belong to a certain group, you have to live within the geographical boundaries for that group.

Depending upon the size of each program, teams are controlled based on ages. The youngest players, from the ages of 5-8 play Tee ball, where no pitching occurs, and scoring may be relatively insignificant. Kids from the ages of 7-12 may be placed in one of two groups, Minors, for kids with a small amount of experience, and Majors, for kids with more physical skill. Minors may be more divided for younger ages by using pitching machines. It's quite a jump for kids to move into pitched games, because pitches are often wild, and more walks than actual hits occur.

Little League also has Junior and Senior Leagues, and Big Leagues, and age necessities may be flexible. However juniors are typically for 13-14 year olds, an experienced child in majors might play on junior's team. 14-16 year olds might play on Senior teams, but a 16 year old might play on a Big Team too. Some groups may also offer softball teams, while many groups allow both boys and girls to play on baseball teams. A few large groups include Challenger Division teams for children who have disabilities.

Participating in Little League can be a satisfying experience for children, or it can be difficult. Although the organization has standards emphasizing fair play, and good behavior of parents and kids at games, not all leagues are created equal.

Some groups are disreputably competitive, and children may feel extraordinary pressure to compete. Others are much more laid back and are just about having fun together and learning how to play baseball or softball. Senior or Big teams tend to be the most demanding, because children who play on these teams may be considering professional or at least college participation in baseball teams.



There can be two different prices for participation, a parent volunteer price and a parent non-volunteer price. If you are not willing to commit time and effort into helping with your child or children's team/s, then you may have to pay more. You should provide most equipment, like bats, gloves, pants, socks, and shoes. A few groups have funds to help out kids with few resources and may also waive fees for participation and/or help pay for needed supplies.

For many, involvement in Little League is simply about playing baseball or softball locally for a few years. Others thrive on competition and the best teams will participate with other districts, and can even move up to competition in the Little League Baseball World Series, held every August in Pennsylvania. Kids who get this distant compete with both American teams and teams from other countries.

How is Baseball Teams Ranked?

Baseball rankings for teams are compiled in different ways by various authorities. Depending on which publication or source you read, you can find different ways of comparing the efficiency and success of various teams. With the overwhelming evidence of statistics, however, baseball rankings, in most cases, are compiled according to the same numbers.

During the baseball season, the main way that baseball rankings are displayed is by the teams' win-loss record. Because only the top four teams in each of the two leagues advance to the fall playoffs, baseball rankings reflect mostly how many games each team wins and loses as compared to the other teams in their divisions. Baseball has two leagues, the American and the National, and both leagues have three divisions. For both leagues, the winner of each division and the team with the next-best record overall make it to the playoffs. Baseball rankings show which teams have the best win-loss records all over the season, so it is not a surprise which teams make it to the playoffs.

Baseball rankings also include the different statistics that make the sport so detail-oriented. One of the statistics is the batting average. A batter's average is how many times he gets a hit in the entire number of at-bats he has.

The batter's standard is a strict percentage. For instance, if a batter gets three hits in ten at-bats, his batting average is .333. Baseball ranking list teams by batting average. It is not always the case that the teams with the highest team batting average advance to the playoffs, but this is a general occurrence.

On the pitching side of the equation is the Earned Run Average (ERA), the number of runs not caused by error that a pitcher allows for the innings he pitches. The key word in there is an error. If a run scores since of an error, the pitcher is not "charged" for that run. In nearly every case, the lower a pitcher's ERA, the more successful he is.

ERA is calculated in a different way than batting average. The standard is nine innings, which is how long a baseball game generally lasts. If a pitcher gives up single earned run every inning for nine innings, his ERA is 9.00. If he gives up only three runs in nine innings, then his ERA are 3.00. Teams combine their pitchers' ERA for a team ERA, and the team with the lowest group ERA is at the top of the list. As with batting average, it is usually the case that the teams with the lowest ERA are those at or near the top of their division.

Almost every other statistic in baseball lends itself to rankings, both for the individual and for the team. Baseball rankings consist of categories like hits, runs, doubles, triples, home runs, errors, on-base percentage and defensive fielding percentage. In all of these categories, baseball rankings list teams from best to worst. About the single category that a team doesn't want to lead is errors.

Fastpitch Softball Pitching Fundamentals

Different types of Baseball Bats

At one time, baseball bats were all manufactured out of some kind of hard wood. Today, there are really several different types of baseball bats in common use. The types of baseball bats often differ based on division and league specifications that govern the equipment that is considered the standard for all teams associated with a given league and the divisions that make up the league. This means that different types of baseball bats will be in general use in a minor or amateur league that would not be present in a major league.

In spite of the proliferation of differences in the bats used today, the old fashioned wooden baseball bat still tends to be the most general of all types. At one time, hickory bats were the most general type of baseball bat. While providing a great deal of toughness, hickory bats are also among the heaviest bats ever produced.

Currently, white ash is often the wood of choice for these types of baseball bats, because the wood is sturdy and resists cracking under pressure. White ash also produces a bat that is light enough to allow the batter to get a swing of adequate speed and force, but not so light that it makes hitting a baseball out of the park a task of no real import. Along with white ash bats, maple are also a popular option, though the maple bat tends to cost a little more than bats manufactured of white ash.


The aluminum baseball bat is of more recent period than wooden bats. First produced in the 1970's, aluminum bats rapidly gained supporters. This was mostly due to the fact that these types of baseball bats are lightweight, but also extremely durable. In the early years, it soon became obvious that the aluminum bat made it very easy to hit the ball great distances. The major leagues discontinued the use of the aluminum bat, mainly in order to avoid rendering previous records set with the heavier wooden bats irrelevant. However, some amateur and minor leagues allow the aluminum bat, even though the usage is not universal by any means.

New designs for types of baseball bats have appeared over the years. The so-called Baum Bat of the early 1990's attempted to make a transition bat that would help a minor league player who is picked for a major league team to make the transition from lighter bats to a heavier wooden bat. A few companies have created and attempted to market a bat made from billets of bamboo. Though, bats composed of several of hardwoods continue to be the types of baseball bats favored by the majority of players across the board.

What are the Differences between the American and National Leagues?

Major league baseball is a popular game played in thirty host cities all over the United States. Out of the 30 teams, 14 compete in the American League (AL) and 16 compete in the National League (NL). Further than the number of teams in each league, there are a few other minor differences between the leagues and one major difference.

In the first World Series, played in 1903, the Boston Pilgrims (AL) beaten the Pittsburgh Pirates (NL). In World Series play, the AL holds a determined advantage, having won 58 championships to the NL's 41. The first All-Star game was held in Chicago's Comiskey Park in 1933 as a means for baseball to platform its star players. Over the years, the NL has won 49 All-Star games and the AL has won 31. Unluckily, the 2002 game ended in a tie, the lone time that has happened in All-Star history.

The NL was the first league to combine as Jackie Robinson was the first African-American player to play major league baseball. He broke the color fence in 1947 as a second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The AL followed suit a few months later as Cleveland's Larry Doby became the initial black player in that league.

The main difference between the AL and NL lies in the fact that the American League allows a designated hitter while the NL does not. A designated hitter (DH) is a player permitted to bat in place of the pitcher. As a effect of using the DH, AL teams tend to average more runs than do NL teams as they have an additional solid batter in their lineup. AL pitchers not at all bat. The DH was introduced around the year 1973 season. On April 6, 1973, to be correct, New York Yankee player Ron Blomberg became the first DH to ever bat in a major league game. In the NL, pitchers still bat and while they may not be good hitters, they are expected to be able to make an efficient bunt when called upon.


During World Series play and inter-league play, where AL and NL teams play each other, the regulations of the home team apply. For example, if a game is held in an AL city like Boston, the DH rule is in effect and both teams are allowed to use a designated hitter. When games are held in NL stadiums, neither team is permitted a DH. Baseball purists would like to see the DH position done away with, but it is now well-established in the AL and is unlikely to be pushed aside.

Different Varities of Baseball

On the market, there are several different types of baseballs made from different "centre" material such as cork, rubber and polyurethane. The most important feature of these types of baseballs is that it offers cheaper alternatives to the traditional yarn wound baseballs. Though they are generally considered of lower quality and are not used in major leagues.

In a baseball, there is a pill, which is a small sphere of cork and rubber enclosed in a rubber shell. The pill is strongly wounded with three different layers of yarn and finished with a winding of cotton or polyester yarn. It forms the core. A final yarn is then applied to keep the ball tight and "together".

The ball is then dipped in a latex cement to give tacky surface to aid in adhering the cover to the core, as having this surface allows the cover to stay in contact with the core during the sewing process. Generally, the highest quality leather (alum-tanned leather) is used as cover material. It provides a soft supple feel, while providing good sewing uniqueness and good impact durability. Split leather from cowhide is also used to make cheap cost leather ball. Various synthetic covers are used to reduce the cost of ball production.

The ball is then hand-stitched with a red cotton thread in a 104-stitch pattern.

According to Major League Baseball's authorized rules for baseball

"The ball shall be a sphere formed by yarn wound around a small core of cork, rubber or related material, covered with two stripes of white horsehide or cowhide, tightly stitched together. It shall weigh not less than five or more than 5 1/4 ounces avoirdupois and measure not less than nine nor more than 9 1/4 inches in circumference." The manufacture of a baseball varies. Generally a baseball has a circumference of approximately 9 inches (23cm) and a mass of approximately 5 ounces (132g).

Curveball

As the ball spins, its top surface moves in the similar direction in which the air moves. However at the base of the ball, the ball's surface and the air move in opposite directions. As a effect, the velocity of the air relative to that of the ball's surface is larger on the bottom of the ball. The high velocity puts stress on the air flowing around the bottom of the ball and this makes air flowing around the ball "break away" from the ball's surface. The air at the top of the spinning ball is subjected to not as much of stress due to the lower velocity difference and hence can "hang onto" the ball's surface longer before it breaks away. The air flowing over the top of the ball will leave it in a direction pointing a little downwards relatively the usual straight back. According to Newton's 3rd law, the spinning ball throws the air down and the air pushes the ball up in reaction. The faster the rate of spin, the further the ball's path curves.

Knuckleball

Some people consider that when a baseball is thrown without a spin, it would dance through the air in an unpredictable manner due to any passing breeze. However this might not be the actual reason why the ball appears to "dance". Researchers have found out small changes to the orientation of the ball with respect to the flow of air result in dramatic changes in the forces acting on the baseball. Both the magnitude and the direction of the forces acting on the baseball change, thus the baseball appears to "dance" due to it having a slow spin. But the mechanism by which the forces change magnitude and direction has not been determined. It was clear that the stitch on the baseball is the reason behind it. The stitches on the baseball will most likely cause the boundary layer to trip to a confused state. Once the boundary layer becomes confused, a separated flow tends to reattach. This reattachment will significantly alter the forces acting on the ball. Similarly as the baseball rotates, due to the position of the stitches, a region that was confused might become laminar. The laminar flow will separate from the turbulent flow and cause the forces on the baseball to swing.

Most frequent injuries while playing a Baseball

Baseball stretching exercises Baseball players are susceptible to a range of acute injuries, a few (such as being struck in the chest with the ball) occasionally fatal. Crash with the ball or another player can cause contusions or fractures in the face, upper or lower body.

Acute injuries in the subordinate body include:
* Twisting the knee through running with injury to the anterior cruciate ligament or ACL .
* Tearing of knee cartilage and meniscus.
* Spraining the ankle during running.

More usually, baseball players suffer from a range of overuse injuries, including:

* Rotator cuff tendonitis, an acute annoyance of the tendons and muscles of the shoulder. The injury is most general in pitchers.
* Knee tendonitis, an impatience of the tendons and muscles of the knee. The frequent stops and starts involved in the game are mainly stressful.

Overuse injuries tend to produce sore or aching distress which worsens with continuation of the activity. Pain is due to irritation and swelling. Rotator cuff tendonitis is one of the most general injuries in both baseball and softball. Elbow injuries on the other hand are mainly restricted to baseball, due to the different nature of the pitch. Leg and ankle sprains and various contusions are quite general but often - unlike overuse injuries - do not require any important time off the field.

Diagnosis of injuries may primarily be based on the nature of pain involved. When upper body pain is wounding or acute (rather than a dull ache), a mechanical problem is often to blame. Such pain is often the result of tearing injuries, including the labrum of the shoulder, the later capsule, or the ulnar collateral ligament of the elbow.

Mild overuse injury may be treated with anti-inflammatory medication, rest and analgesics, as well as with irregular ice and heat on the affected area. Chronic overuse injuries may require prevention of stressful activity in the injuries region and in some cases, surgical intervention. Fractures and more severe sprains similarly necessitate medical care.

What are the procedures to start a Softball Team?

1. Find a league. Contact the local recreation association to see what leagues your work softball team might be eligible to participate in. Leagues often start in the spring, so contact the association in the winter so you'll have sufficient time to plan.

2. Obtain a rulebook for the league. Before selecting players for the team, you should find out what the rule book says about the number of players you need and what the rules say about the gender of the players. Even some co-ed leagues order one gender cannot makeup more than a certain percentage of a team.

3. Look at the program of games for the upcoming season. Pay interest to the number of games to determine what the time commitment for each player might be. Aspect in any practices and team meetings you might need to have, and come up with an average weekly commitment.

4. Determine the total of interest at work for a softball team. Place a sign-up sheet in an available area and provide some basic information about the team. You'll want to make sure you have enough players to field a team plus some extra players because not every player can play every game.

5. Hold a team meeting to provide more information to the possible players. Go over the fundamental league rules and benefits to having a team. Be sure to mention any costs linked with joining the team. Ask for firm commitments once the meeting to see how many players you can count on.

6. Group some information from the players. Find out how much softball experience the players have to see how much practice you'll need. Ask which positions players have experience playing so you can figure out how you will field the team and if you might need to select more players to fill all the positions. And, see what softball equipment members of the team have so you know what you will need to buy.

7. Ask the place where you work if they will supporter your softball team. Determine whether they will offer uniforms and some money for any equipment the players on the team cannot provide.

Super Fast Baseball Player

What is a Baseline in a Baseball?

Baseball fields have several unique markings to indicate what is in play and what is out of play. The most important of these markings is the foul line, which runs from home plate to the outfield fence in a straight line on both the right side of the field and on the left. The infield portion of this line - running from home plate to first base, and another from home plate to third base - is called the baseline and it indicates whether the runner must run in order to reach base. There is an imaginary baseline between first base and second base, and one more between second base and third base. If a runner runs outside of the baseline - generally within three feet of center - he is called out by the umpire.

Foul lines are generally chalk markings, but many ballparks now use white spray paint to lay the lines. Because dimensions of the field differ depending on the size of the ballpark, the foul lines vary in length. Although they always begin at the corner of the batter’s box and run all the way to the outfield fence. The foul line - which includes the first baseline and third baseline - indicates whether a ball is in play otherwise out of play. If the ball lands in foul territory, it is departed and play stops. Often a batted ball rolls along the baseline, and a fielder must stop to see if the ball stays fair or rolls foul. In order for the ball to be fair, it must pass any first or third base in fair territory.

Runners are susceptible to running out of the baseline while avoiding a tag from an infielder. Because there is no authorized marking aside from the baseline on the first base side and the one on the third base side, an umpire must then make a judgment call as to whether a runner has gone too far outside of the baseline. This is particularly difficult when a runner is running between first and second base, or second and third base, as there are no chalk markings by which an umpire may gauge a runner's distance from the baseline. The umpire may consider a runner's avoidance of a tag within reasonable distance of the baseline (usually within three feet), or he may call the runner out for being too far from the baseline when attempting to avoid a tag.

Baseball Seen as the Game of Innocence and Growth

Baseball, football and basketball, the three most popular American games, are uniquely reflective of the American character - American dreams, ambitions, achievements and defeats - and Americans often watch them as morality plays about their own conflicting natures, argues American writer and professor Roger Rosenblatt.

Of the three principal games, baseball is both the most elegantly designed and the easiest to account for in terms of its appeal. It is a game played within strict borders, and of strict dimensions - a distance so many feet from here to there, a pitcher's mound so many inches high, the weight of the ball, the weight of the bat, the poles that determine in or out, what counts and does not, and so forth. The rules are unbending; indeed, with a very few exceptions, the game's rules have not changed in a hundred years.

This is because, unlike basketball, baseball does not depend on the size of the players, but rather on a view of human evolution that says that people do not change that much - certainly not in a hundred years - and therefore they should do what they can within the limits they are given. As the poet Richard Wilbur wrote: "The strength of the genie comes from being in a bottle."

And still, functioning within its limits, first and last, baseball is about the individual. In other sports, the ball does the scoring. In baseball, the person scores. The game was designed to center on Americans in our individual strivings. The runner on first base has a notion to steal second. The first baseman has a notion to slip behind him. The pitcher has a notion to pick him off, but he delivers to the plate where the batter swings to protect the runner who decides to go now, and the second baseman braces himself to make the tag if only the catcher can rise to the occasion and put a low, hard peg on the inside of the bag. One doesn't need to know what these things mean to recognize that they all test everyone's ability to do a specific job, to make a personal decision, and to improvise.

Fans cling to the glory moments of the game's history, especially the heroic names and heroic deeds (records and statistics). America holds dear all its sports heroes because the country does not have the long histories of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Lacking an Alexander the Great or a Charlemagne, it draws its heroic mythology from sports.

We also cherish the game's sublime moments because such memories preserve everybody's youth as part of America's continuing, if a bit strained, need to remain in a perpetual summer. The illusion of the game is that it will go on forever. (Baseball is the only sport in which a team, down by a huge deficit, with but one hitter left, can still win.)

In the 1950s, one of the game's greatest players, Willie Mays of the New York Giants, made a legendary catch of a ball hit to the deepest part of one of the largest stadiums, going away from home plate, over his shoulder. It was not only that Willie turned his back and took off, it was the green continent of grass on which he ran and the waiting to see if he would catch up with the ball and the reek of your sweat and of everyone else's who sat like Seurat's pointillist dots in the stadium, in the carved-out bowl of a planet that shines pale in daylight, bright purple and emerald at night.

Still, the youth and hope of the game constitute but one half of baseball, and thus one half of its meaning to us. It is the second summer of the baseball season that reveals the game's complete nature. The second summer does not have the blithe optimism of the first half of the season. Each year, from August to the World Series in October, a sense of mortality begins to lower over the game - a suspicion that will deepen by late September to a certain knowledge that something that was bright, lusty, and overflowing with possibility can come to an end.

The beauty of the game is that it traces the arc of American life, of American innocence eliding into experience. Until mid-August, baseball is a boy in shorts whooping it up on the fat grass, afterwards it becomes a leery veteran with a sun-baked neck, whose main concern is to protect the plate. In its second summer, baseball is about fouling off death. Sadaharu Oh, the Babe Ruth of Japanese baseball, wrote an ode to his sport in which he praised the warmth of the sun and foresaw the approaching change to "the light of winter coming."

Small wonder that baseball produces more fine literature than any other sport. American writers - novelists Ernest Hemingway, John Updike, Bernard Malamud, and poet Marianne Moore - have seen the nation of dreams in the game. The country's violation of its dreams lies here too. Like America itself, baseball fought against integration until Jackie Robinson, the first Major League African American, stood up for all that the country wanted to believe. America, too, resisted its own self-proclaimed destiny to be the country of all the people and then, when it did strive to become the country of all the people - black, Asian, Latino, everyone - the place improved. Baseball also improved.

On mute display in baseball is the design of the U.S. Constitution itself. The basic text of the Constitution is the main building, a symmetrical 18th-century structure grounded in the Enlightenment's principles of reason, optimism, order, and a wariness of emotion and passion. The Constitution's architects, all fundamentally British Enlightenment minds, sought to build a house that Americans could live in without toppling it by placing their impulses above their rationality.

But the trouble with that original body of laws was that it was too stable, too rigid. Thus, the Founders came up with the Bill of Rights, which in baseball's terms may be seen as the encouragement of individual freedom within hard and fast laws. Baseball is at once classic and romantic. So is America. And both the country and the sport survive by keeping the two impulses in balance.

ATEC Casey Pro 3G Pitching Machine: AT0601 Baseball

What is a Pitching Machine?

A pitching machine throws baseballs to a batter so he can work on becoming a improved hitter. Baseball players from the high school ranks on up to the pros use pitching machines for batting perform. Batting cages are also available at many recreational facilities all over the United States. After a batter deposits a token, the machine will toss a pitch about every 10 seconds. These cages are designated with speeds equipped for everyone from slow, medium, fast, to major league--where the pitching machine delivers a ball at approximately 90 miles per hour (40 meters per second).

During live batting practice, a pitcher or coach will throw baseballs to hitters who swing their bats at the thrown balls. Live batting practices is used to addition the use of the pitching machine and give hitters the feel for live pitching. Pitching machines have higher to the point where they can throw not only fastballs, but curveballs, sliders and screwballs as well.

Pitching machines appear in a variety of styles. Though, the two most popular machines are an arm action machine and a circular wheel machine. The arm action machine simulates the delivery of a pitcher and carries a ball at the end of a bracket, much similar to a hand would. The arm action machine then delivers the ball in an overhand action. The circular wheel machine contains one or two wheels that roll much like a bike tire. The wheels on these machines are typically set in either a horizontal or vertical fashion. With a circular machine, a ball shoots out towards the hitter once it is fed into the wheel or wheels.

The use of pitching machines allows baseball players the chance to get batting practice on their own. Most batting machines are set up in a batting cage, a netted area that will control the balls after they are hit. The cost of pitching machines varies significantly.

Top ten baseball players

Baseball Pitching Techniques

Applying proper baseball pitching techniques is a key to pitching injury free, improving velocity and increasing control. Baseball pitching techniques can be trained. But it's main to practice the right technique the right way to get the most out of your body. Here are examples of good techniques for the various phases of the pitching motion.

Example for Cocked Position

Head in the top middle of the body, chest thrust out and shoulders pulled back for torque and a full range of motion.

Lead elbow-shoulder and shoulder-throwing elbow level and allied to the plate. Both elbows are comparatively the same height horizontally.

Front shoulder closed to the plate; eyes, shoulders, and hips level and ready to turn to square off to the plate.

Hand high in the cocked position, fingers on top of the baseball, wrist extended back, and forearm beyond a 90-degree angle from upper arm.

Stride foot confidently planted and stable, toes pointed in slightly.

Stride leg flexed, pivot leg (foot) start to roll over off the mound to release the hips.


Jon Leiber




Beltran Perez




Roy Oswalt

Baseball Playground

Risk factors for shoulder and elbow injuries in adolescent baseball pitchers.

There is little evidence supporting current safety recommendations for adolescent pitchers. HYPOTHESIS: Pitching practices of adolescent pitchers without history of arm injury will be significantly different from those of adolescent pitchers who required shoulder or elbow surgery. STUDY DESIGN: Case control study; Level of evidence, 3. METHODS: Ninety-five adolescent pitchers who had shoulder or elbow surgery and 45 adolescent pitchers who never had a significant pitching-related injury completed a survey. Responses were compared between the 2 groups using t tests and chi(2) analyses. Multivariable logistic regression models were developed to identify the risk factors.

RESULTS: The injured group pitched significantly more months per year, games per year, innings per game, pitches per game, pitches per year, and warm-up pitches before a game. These pitchers were more frequently starting pitchers, pitched in more showcases, pitched with higher velocity, and pitched more often with arm pain and fatigue. They also used anti-inflammatory drugs and ice more frequently to prevent an injury. Although the groups were age matched, the injured group was taller and heavier. There were no significant differences regarding private pitching instruction, coach's chief concern, pitcher's self-rating, exercise programs, stretching practices, relieving frequency, pitch type frequency, or age at which pitch types were first thrown.

CONCLUSION: Pitching practices were significantly different between the groups. The factors with the strongest associations with injury were overuse and fatigue. High pitch velocity and participation in showcases were also associated with increased risk for injury.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: New recommendations were made based on these results. Adherence to the recommendations may reduce the incidence of significant injury to adolescent pitchers.

Difference between Softball and Baseball

Softball

1. In Softball, the ball is larger, but less dense.
2. The pitching rubber is 43 feet away from Home Plate.
3. The bats used in Softball are smaller.
4. The bases are 60 feet apart from each other.
5. You cannot take a lead before the ball is released by the pitcher.
6. The infield consists only of dirt.
7. The Corners play up by the pitcher.
8. Softball consists of running slaps from the left side.
9. The fence is 200 feet from Home Plate.
10.Softball uses an underhand pitching method called a 'Windmill'.
11.A softball pitcher can start and finish a game, or even pitch a double header because the pitching technique is more of a natural motion than in Baseball.

Baseball

1. In Baseball, the ball is smaller, more dense.
2. The pitching mound is 60 ft and 6 inches from Home Plate.
3. The bats are bigger than in Softball.
4. It's 90 feet to each base.
5. You can lead off the bag before the ball is pitched.
6. There is grass in the infield and dirt in the infield.
7. The fence is classically 300 feet from Home Plate.
8. Baseball uses an overhand pitching motion.
9. A baseball pitcher generally does not finish a game and is relieved by another pitcher, and requires rest after a game since the pitching motion is not as natural as the pitching technique in softball.

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What do you mean by Baseball and Softball Pitching?

Baseball is a physically demanding sport comprised of several specializes requiring different skills and types of fitness. Running between bases requires good anaerobic fitness, speed, agility, and the force to stop suddenly after sprinting. Feet-first slides build the ankle, knee, and thigh susceptible to injury; head-first slides may injure the hand, wrist and fingers. Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things to do in sport. It involves excellent eye-to-hand coordination, instantaneous reflexes, and the coordinated movements of the hips, shoulders, arms, and wrists. These actions put a lot of strain on the neck, shoulders, and upper back. Batters thus require good upper body strength and flexibility. Fielding requires good all-round fitness: fielders have to be able to run quickly and catch a ball (usually with the non-dominant gloved hand) and then throw it correctly. All baseball players have to throw the ball at one time or another, but it is the main function of pitchers.

By coordinating the movements of all the strength of the upper body, a pitcher can release the ball at speeds in excess of 160 km per hour. This imposes great forces on the throwing arm, shoulders, upper chest and abdominal region. Therefore, pitchers must be very well conditioned to avoid injury and must be skilled at minimizing the forces on any one part of the body. Pitchers are often required to throw the ball frequently, making them susceptible to overuse injuries. This is particularly true for young pitchers whose tissues are still growing. Sports medicine experts suggest that a growing child who plays baseball should not perform overhand pitching more than 50 times daily or 350 times per week.

Softball can be played in a smaller area than baseball; however it is a faster game. It can be played indoors as well as outdoors. The name is a little improper because it is played with a ball which is actually larger and harder than that used in baseball. In the 1950s softball became one of the biggest sharing sports in the United States and it is now played in many different countries. One of its attractions is that it can be played by mixed teams of men and women. There are two versions of the game: slow pitch in which the ball is delivered in an arc from pitcher to batter and not unfairly fast, and fast pitch in which the delivery is as fast as the pitcher likes.

All pitches are underarm and the pitch distance is shorter than in baseball. Though the slow pitch game is played at a relatively leisurely pace, the fast pitch is action-packed and faster than baseball. The skills and physical demands of softball are related to those of baseball, and the injuries associated with the game are also similar. It was once thought that the underhand throw of fast-pitch softball cause less injury than the overhand throw of baseball, but injury statistics are similar for both. Throwing injuries can be minimized by learning sound technique; strengthening the upper body, specially the anterior shoulder, the biceps, and flexor muscles of the throwing arm; and by beginning and ending all activity with appropriate warm-up and cool-down exercises.

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Confidence and procedure are the keys to success at pitching. One with out the new just doesn't work.



There is something called attention focus that directly relates to each person's ability to concentrate. Subsequently, there are a number of internal distracters which can deter focus, and one of these distracters is attending to past events. When a player gets pre-occupied with past performances (or mechanics) it can cause performance to bear.

Ideal attention focus is shown at the top. But if a player is thinking about too many things - like the crowd, past performance, mechanics, etc. - then his focus is too broad (middle). Conversely, his focus may be too narrow (bottom) if he doesn't consider critical information about his situation (ie. read the scouting report).

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