Of all speed tests this one most correlates to a softball players athletic speed ability. We know that this test measures a player's agility, explosiveness, and ability to change direction. The test incorporates the ability to accelerate, decelerate, stop, and re-accelerate without losing balance.
We can use the shuttle time and the forty time to better define an athlete’s ability to play the game “fast”! A lack of great straight speed can easily be offset by the ability to explode out of a stance, change direction in five yards, explode again for five yards and the change direction again, all while keeping your weight down.
You can compare the athletes forty time to the shuttle to determine this:
Speed Differential: difference in time between the 40 Yard Dash (speed) and the Agility Shuttle (quickness & change of direction)
Expected differential: 0.500 seconds
- Greater than 0.500: Better Quickness & Agility than Speed
- Less than 0.500: Better Straight-line “Track Speed” than Quickness & Agility
This is why we see so many high-level players who demonstrate that they are quicker than they are fast and overcome their "slow" 40 times with a test that means a lot more to college coaches.
Do you "run fast" or "play the game fast?".
