How to Time a 60-Yard Dash at Home

You don’t need a laser gate at a showcase to know if he can run. How to time a 60-yard dash at home is one of the more useful hours you’ll spend this month, because the number either matches the level he says he wants or it doesn’t, and you can find that out on a street with a tape measure and a phone.

Sixty yards is 180 feet. That is not “about a football field” and it is not hash mark to far sideline. Measure it, mark it, and do it on grass or a track if you can, because a slight downhill will lie to you and then you’ll show up at a camp wondering why the time got slower.

The start is the whole test

Start him like he is stealing a base. Crossover, then sprint the full 60, and start the stopwatch on his first movement — not on the word “go,” and not after he’s already moving. If you cheat the start at home, you are handing him a number he will not get in front of a college coach, and then the conversation later gets ugly for no good reason.

Warm him up first. Film one from the side so you can check the start later. Time two or three after he’s loose and keep the best honest one. Don’t keep running him until the watch says what you wanted. Fatigue is not a timing error. That’s the session telling you he’s done.

Scouts have said for a long time that speed is the tool you can write down in ten seconds with a watch, and that’s still true. The mistake is treating a home 60 like a video game score. Write down the number you actually got, not the one you hoped for.

What to do with the number

There are two kinds of speed, and families mix them up. Top-end speed is what shows up in a 60 because he has time to get moving. First-step speed is what shows up in a game — twenty to forty feet for an infielder, ninety feet for a runner. A kid can look fast from 20 to 60 yards and still not help you much on a steal or a ball in the hole. Train both. Short day for the first three steps, long day for top-end, and when the speed drops, he’s done.

The chart by position is in The 3 Measurable Tools, and what 60 time you need for D1 is the recruiting version of the same number. Put it in the Free Objective Evaluation, then go to the street and stack the speed work instead of waiting for the next showcase to tell you what you could have written down tonight.