foot work --- how do you teach your girls to lead off?

[DanMaz]

i have seen basically 2 ways most girls lead off.

#1 - left foot on side against the bag / right foot all the way back in an open type of stance. then during the wind up the right leg starts swinging to launch off at ball release. The idea is to get extra momentum to help take off faster and timing the pitchers release

#2 - left or right foot on the bag more like a sprinters stance / feet similar to coming out of a sprinters block

when my teams were young... i taught #1 --- but as they got older, a few super fast girls changed to the sprinter lead off. I let them do whatever feels best. but make sure you still teach proper techniques at the start for both #1 and #2

good luck! Speed KILLS!

 

[DynastyFastpitch]

I like #2. The "rocker" stance(#1) creates pre-pitch movement and I have seen umpires call leaving the base early even though she didn't. The Umps catch that movement out of the corner of their eyes. Often the other dugout would also yell out that she left early. When we went to sprinter stance (#2), it never happened again.

 

[DanMaz]

I like #2. The "rocker" stance(#1) creates pre-pitch movement and I have seen umpires call leaving the base early even though she didn't. The Umps catch that movement out of the corner of their eyes. Often the other dugout would also yell out that she left early. When we went to sprinter stance (#2), it never happened again.

Thanks coach! what age group are you currently coaching? does age have anything to do with the style your teaching?

 

[Passion4theGame]

#2.
Fire off the block hard! I try to focus and teach the timing and a lot of times if you are firing off the bag on the release to the naked eye or opposing team it looks like you are leaving early. Speed kills!!

If you are not getting the umpire to watch you fire off the bag then your not being aggressive enough. I want my athletes to be quick and aggressive off the bag and get the attention of the players, coaches, and umpires. I want them to fire so hard and quick off the bag that it looks like they are leaving early. You might get called here and there for leaving early but if your not aggressive it will never get called.

I agree it’s important for the left foot to be on the back corner of the bag and right foot to be back and down in a sprinters stance.

 

[yocoach]

I've always taught #2 and the same things as Jeff. If your team isn't aggressive on the bases, your leaving runs on the field that should have scored. Also, a lot of times aggressive base running will take advantage of teams with poor discipline and/or coaching and force errors on which you can score extra runs; especially at the younger age groups.

 

[DanMaz]

gotta teach "every pitch, every play." We had this printed on our team banner in 11U. You cannot take off any play. bobbled ball, steal. change up, steal. passed ball steal, lazy catcher or pitch delay steal. ball gets loose on a bad throw, steal. I do not like lazy lead offs! my daughter loves it when she is on base because almost every time she leads off the other team is always yelling "she's going!" because every lead off looks the same! looks like she is stealing every pitch! You got to be ready. Every pitch Every play!