Consider this situation: A baseball player dives head-first into second base and slows down while sliding on the infield
dirt. Of the forces listed, identify which act upon the player.

Of the forces listed I think the force of him diving and sliding across the infield acted on the player.

I think so because the slowing down was a result of an action, and I don’t think that should count as An action when it is the result of an action. However, the act of diving head-first into second base and sliding across the infield are independent actions and will cause friction, which will act upon the player.

Is a  vector quantity  that refers to "the rate at which an object changes its position." imagine a person moving rapidly - one step forward and one step back - always returning to the original starting position. while this might result in a frenzy of activity, it would result in a zero velocity. because the person always returns to the original position, the motion would never result in a change in position. since velocity is defined as the rate at which the position changes, this motion results in zero velocity. if a person in motion wishes to maximize their velocity, then that person must make every effort to maximize the amount that they are displaced from their original position. every step must go into moving that person further from where he or she started. for certain, the person should never change directions and begin to return to the starting position.