The decline in strength and athleticism that we’ve seen in young ball players coming in for their initial evaluation in the facility in the past 10 years is alarming. These young athletes come in all shapes, sizes but most usually struggle to perform elementary movements like squats, push-ups and performing a correct hip-hinge. They also generally happen to be the same athletes that have experienced more extensive injuries such as Little League shoulder and bicep tendinitis early on, in their athletic career.

The Youth Development Program is designed for 10-12 year old baseball players to help improve their overall athleticism by introducing proper movement patterns both inside and outside the nets. As a participant you can take part in either of the two following programs:

- Hitting Program and Youth Workouts
- Pitching Program and Youth Workouts

Here is a brief summary of each segment:

Hitting Program – The goal of the hitting program is to expose young athletes to the proper movements of hitting. Players will have the ability to not only learn how to move more efficiently, but also build a solid foundation of proper hitting mechanics to enable them to transfer energy more efficiently. Each session will include the following:

- - - Warm-up and mobility work
    - Dry drills
    - Front toss/BP
    - Video analysis
    - Building baseball IQ

The segment is instilled to create a general understanding of different aspects of the game, including reviewing movements of their favorite pro ball players and situational aspects of the game to create young “students of the game”.

Pitching Program – The pitching portion of the program is also focused on helping build and improve movement patterns specific to the pitching motion. This includes drill and mound work to help instill proper mechanics from an early age. The program will also cover:

- - - Proper warm-up
    - Plyo drills
    - Skill work games
    - Long toss
    - Mound work

Youth Workouts – Please note that due to growth plate issues at this age there is no weight lifting in this program. All workouts are based on utilizing the athlete’s own body weight and learning correct movement patterns that will enable them to load the body with more weight later in their athletic career.

All workouts are done in the weight room and are designed for young athletes to help teach proper movement patterns while at the same time improving overall strength, mobility and athleticism through band resisted and body weight movements.

Mechanics of Speed and Conditioning – Getting fast is first about getting strong and getting into good landing positions. Due to strength challenges that all youth athletes face during puberty, the priority in the youth speed program is building that strength as well as learning how to get into successful positions in order to efficiently stop (decelerate). Ladders, cone drills and sprint finishers will be included for conditioning only. The bottom line is, we cannot increase speed in an athlete who cannot efficiently put on the brakes. Purpose / focal points include:

- - - Performing a Proper Warm Up/Mobility Protocol
    - Bodyweight strength circuits to safely increase lower half strength
    - Proper jumping and Landing Mechanics
    - Linear and Lateral deceleration
    - Directional Step (intro duction to base stealing)
    - Conditioning / Finishers