The Important Of Fitness For A Young Athlete
There is no substitute for daily exercise in building a strong, healthy body. Locomotive sports and activities such as walking, running, climbing, rowing, swimming, wrestling, and bicycling are valuable in keeping fit, and most experts agree that normal people should participate in this kind of exercise an hour each day.
Before beginning a physical fitness program, boys should be examined by their doctors. They should receive a medical check-up once a Year and a dental check-up twice each year to detect defects or incipient diseases which may develop.
Exercises
There are many ways in which young athletes can keep physically fit the year round and thus improve their ability to play baseball and other athletic games. An excellent exercise is that of rope-jumping. Many athletic directors and basketball coaches use this exercise extensively for basketball players, and it is a favorite of professional and amateur boxers, wrestlers, and track athletes. Rope-jumping is highly recommended for developing agility, leg muscles, endurance, coordination, and rhythm, which are so important for baseball players.
Since research indicates that American boys are pathetically weak in the development of the upper shoulder girdle and since these muscles are so important in throwing and hitting, several exercises are recommended. One is rope-climbing, which helps to develop the upper shoulder as well as the biceps. To get the maximum benefit of this exercise, one should not slide down the rope, but lower himself hand-over-hand in the same manner as in climbing the rope.
Pull-ups also are very good for the development of the arms and shoulders. Young athletes should practice so that they can pull up their weight at least ten times.
Strong wrists have great value to any athlete, and one way to develop wrist strength is to use bar bells or rods and to move them up and down with the wrists.
Finger strength can be developed by doing push-ups on the tips of the fingers, but this exercise should not be used before participating in a game or practice drill. It should be done at the conclusion of a workout or practice session. Another method of strengthening the hands is to carry a sponge rubber ball and to squeeze it frequently.
Tumbling can be helpful in building coordination and balance. Individual gymnastic stunts such as forward and backward rolls, balancing on one leg and leaning as far forward as possible, doing a hand stand, and jumping in the air and spinning around to land facing in the opposite direction are helpful exercises.
Handball is an outstanding conditioner. Many of the arm movements are similar to throws in baseball, and both hands and arms are developed. You learn to stop and to go in a hurry, you make quick moves in all directions, gain strength and endurance, practice hand-eye coordination, learn to judge bounces off the wall as outfielders do and the hops of ground balls as infielders do.
Several college basketball coaches have discovered that the use of weights in an exercise can increase the leaping range of an athlete as much as three inches in a season. It doesn’t take much imagination to see that increasing the jumping range of a player will permit him to spear more batted and thrown balls just as it will help him to shoot more baskets and block more shots in basketball.
The drill is simple - place a barbell, which is about one-third the weight of the athlete (if the player weighs 120 pounds, the barbell should weigh 40 pounds) on the shoulders of the player. Then have the player, in an upright position, raise up on the balls of his feet. Repeating this exercise daily and increasing the length of the exercise as strength is gained will give more bounce to the ounce. If barbells are unavailable, tie bags of rock or sand on the ends of a pole and they will serve the same purpose.
Any of the above exercises will increase the fitness of the young athlete and will ultimately help him succeed in his chosen sport.
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