Youth-Athlete's Sport Blog

In baseball and softball, all nine fielders have defined responsibilities and need to move on every play.

Outfield fly to center with runner on first, the play is to make the catch and throw to second. More...

In modern day sports, we keep track of every stat, no matter how small.  But until the SPARQ training and rating system was created in 2004, there was never a way to measure a main component in a competitive athlete's success ... their pure athletic ability.  The goal of the SPARQ system is to boil down a player's athleticism into one number that represents the player’s overall athletic skill—pinpointing what areas he or she is good at, and which areas they need to improve. More...

In baseball and softball, all nine fielders have defined responsibilities and need to move on every play.

Outfield fly to left with runner on first, the play is to make the catch and throw to second. More...

In baseball and softball, all nine fielders have defined responsibilities and need to move on every play.

Outfield fly to right with bases empty, the play is to make the catch and hold the runners. More...

In baseball and softball, all nine fielders have defined responsibilities and need to move on every play.

Outfield fly to center with bases empty, the play is to make the catch and hold the runners. More...

Nike is making a push in the athletic training equipment business with the 2008 winter launch of their SPARQ training equipment line.  The initial product launch featured San Diego Charger running back Ladainian Tomlinson hosting a press conference about "his better."  If you watched any sporting event during the March to June 2008 timeframe, you will recognize the commercial.  But all this hype begs the questions: what is SPARQ training, why should you care, and what does it test?  Let's dig in and see if we can find some answers.  More...

In baseball and softball, all nine fielders have defined responsibilities and need to move on every play.

Outfield fly to left with bases empty, the play is to make the catch and hold the runners. More...

In baseball and softball, all nine fielders have defined responsibilities and need to move on every play.

Infield fly to the right side with bases empty or runners on base, the play is to make the catch and hold the runners. More...

In baseball and softball, all nine fielders have defined responsibilities and need to move on every play.

Infield fly to the middle of the infield with bases empty or runners on base, the play is to make the catch and hold the runners. More...

In baseball and softball, all nine fielders have defined responsibilities and need to move on every play.

Infield fly to the left side with bases empty or runners on base, the play is to make the catch and hold the runners. More...