Baseball Northwest Continues SPARQ Testing, Begins SPARQ Training

Over the past 6 years, Baseball Northwest has teamed up with SPARQ and used the SPARQ Rating to assess the athletic abilities of baseball players at the Northwest Baseball Championships. Last year, Baseball Northwest provided SPARQ Testing at all State Prospect Games and will continue to do the same this year. In addition, Baseball Northwest has partnered with Trice Athletics to provide SPARQ “Training” at all State Prospect Games this year and to begin offering fall and winter SPARQ Training camps across the Northwest.

SPARQ & The SPARQ Rating

Many of you know what it means to SPARQ Test and SPARQ Train. For those of you that don’t, here is a quick overview. The SPARQ Rating, developed by SPARQ, Inc. of Portland, Ore., is a scientific and comprehensive measure of athleticism. It tests the Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, and Quickness (hence the name “SPARQ”) of baseball players, then takes the tests results and formulates one number that represents the players’ overall athletic ability. The SPARQ Rating helps pinpoint players’ athletic strengths and weaknesses.

The Baseball SPARQ Rating is acquired from combining the results of the following four tests:
 

  • Tests Measurement In Game Attribute
  • 20-yd Shuttle Agility & Quickness Ability to Change Directions
  • Vertical Jump Explosive Power Dynamic Speed & Reaction
  • 30-yd Dash Speed Basepath Speed (Home to 1st)
  • Rotational PowerBall Throw Core Strength/Power Bat Speed & Rotational Power
  1. The 20-Yard Shuttle: measures lateral mobility and agility, as well as body control during changes of direction.
  2. The Vertical Jump: measures elastic strength and leg explosiveness.
  3. The 30-Yard Dash: measures pure speed and acceleration. This is also a reliable indicator of explosiveness.
  4. The Rotational PowerBall Throw: measures core power through the hitting zone, as well as total body strength.

Most all athletes score between 1 and 100 on the Baseball SPARQ Rating. According to the SPARQ Baseball Performance Guide (see below), the average score of high school baseball players on the Baseball SPARQ Rating is 50.80. At this point, only one athlete has scored higher than 100, and this athlete is a Baseball Northwest alumni. Boston Red Sox centerfielder, Jacoby Ellsbury’s Baseball SPARQ Rating of 102.31 is the highest Baseball SPARQ Rating achieved by a baseball athlete. Jacoby’s performance on the Baseball SPARQ Rating puts him in an athletic class of his own. You can view Jacoby’s incredible 102.31 SPARQ testing performance at: www.sparqtraining.com/trainers/matt_james. This score is incredibly impressive considering SPARQ has tested over 25,000 players at the high school, college and professional levels.

Let's see how Baseball Northwest athletes stack up against Jacoby on the SPARQ Baseball Rating.

SPARQ has published the following Performance Guide to help baseball players evaluate their results on the Baseball SPARQ Test. The guide was developed by analyzing past high school baseball players’ performances on the Baseball SPARQ Tests. High school baseball players can now compare their athletic abilities to other high school players.

SPARQ Training

Once athletes SPARQ Test to assess their athletic strengths and weaknesses, then it’s time to train in these areas of athletic weakness or deficiency. SPARQ Training is type of training that focuses on movements specific to individual sports, and mimicking these natural movements to engage all muscle groups responsible for the movements. SPARQ Training is the scientifically proven way to become a faster, stronger, and more explosive player. SPARQ in conjunction with leading experts in the sports industry have developed training equipment and products that are geared towards training athletic movements specific to baseball.

SPARQ has a network of hundreds of trainers located across the country who are ready to help you SPARQ Train and become a better athlete.

Visit www.sparqtraining.com for more information about buying SPARQ Training product and finding a Certified SPARQ trainer in your area.

Trice Athletics

Baseball Northwest and Trice Athletics will provide SPARQ Training for each and every athlete that attends the Baseball Northwest State Prospect games. Eric Trice, owner of Trice Athletics and former SPARQ Baseball Director, will lead the SPARQ Testing and Training sessions at the State Prospect games. These SPARQ Training sessions will be followed-up by more comprehensive baseball specific SPARQ Training camps, beginning in September.

Trice Athletics is a Portland, OR, based athletic training company committed to helping baseball players improve their athletic abilities, which is the necessary base level of the Baseball Development Pyramid. To get to the next level, baseball players must develop all levels of the pyramid, including: (1) athletic abilities (speed, power, agility, etc), (2) technical and specific skills (throwing, catching, etc); (3) tactical and decision-making skills (what to do in 1st & 3rd situations, cutting the throw to home, etc); and (4) intangibles (confidence, good attitude, being a clutch player, etc).

Science has proven that all baseball players can improve their athletic abilities with the proper coaching and training. In sports, even the slightest increases in power or speed can change the outcome in a game.

With a sports background in baseball and track, Trice uses his unique set of skills and experience to provide effective coaching/training to help athletes develop speed, quickness, agility, strength, and power. Trice says, “the highlights of my sports career include running track for the University of Oregon, and being drafted twice, once by the Cleveland Indians out of high school and once by the New York Yankees while in college. I’ve played (as an athlete) and worked in the sports industry for over 20 years. I would like to use my knowledge and experience to train athletes, and give them the necessary competitive advantage to achieve their athletic goals. I’m just as passionate about helping athletes make it to the pros, as I am about helping an individual athlete make it onto the varsity squad.”

Please visit www.TriceAthletics.com or Baseball Northwest for more information about SPARQ Training and the upcoming SPARQ Training camps.