Traverse City West Senior High Varsity Softball

by Lauren Bilinski   |  in Softball   |  2009-12-01

Alma College

by Jenny Hill   |  in Softball   |  2009-02-02

Heather is a 17 year old senior at St. Francis High School. She is a member of the National Honors Society as well as a Grand Traverse Area Conservation District volunteer. She works as a camp counselor at Arbutus Hayowentha and is also a key player on the Varsity Softball Team at St. Francis.

Heather started coming to FAST in the winter of 2008 to help improve her base running and speed as well as her power while swinging the bat. Her and her trainer, Annemarie, worked her goals by first looking at her body as a whole and where her deficits were.

During her time at FAST she combined strength training with, core, agility, speed, and plyometric training.

Heather made in through a successful 2009 softball season without any injuries and an improved stolen base percentage.

She did so well last season she will be playing softball in 2010 at Denison University and majoring in Sports Psychology.

Lauren has been a VIP at FAST since she started training in Summer 2006 when she was going to be in 8th grader. The staff at FAST got to know Lauren quickly with her bubbly personality, her giant will to succeed, and her love for softball.

Lauren grew up very quickly causing some unwanted joint pain and soft tissue pain. With each growth spurt FAST has been there with Lauren to get her through to help her with both physical therapy as well as FAST Athlete training. She recently was having some knee pain and wanted to get it taken care of before she started training for this upcoming softball season. Especially since she is a pitcher on the Varsity team she has to put in a lot of long hours to get where she needs to prior to season. During therapy she and her clinician worked on addressing the abnormalities in her body posture that were causing the pain. They also worked the muscles that assist her in her pitching motion so that she would become more efficient while pitching. She also worked on learning how to breathe properly specifically while playing softball so that she can utilize her core muscles better.

Currently Lauren is a member of the TC West Varsity Softball Team, National Honors Society Member, Key Club Member, Spanish Club Member and is in the Youth Group at St. Francis Church. She plans to play softball at the college or university level and would like to major in nursing and become nurse practitioner.

Lauren likes FAST because “They are really nice, helpful, and knowledgeable. They always help me when I need them. I am much stronger and faster each time I am here. They have equipment and techniques that I cannot get anywhere else.”