Fit2Play

Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?

Jeff — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:32:00 +0000

Before you test, train, drill and practice, ask yourself — will it make the boat go faster?

In his TED Talk, Olympic Rower, Ben Hunt talks about only doing things that will make the boat go faster. You can see a three minute excerpt here.

We often see athletes preparing in ways that have no carry-over whatsoever to their sport or development and may even produce negative results. Don’t get caught up doing what everyone else is doing which may or may not be appropriate for you or your team.

Ask These 3 Questions

Are we good at the fundamentals?
Are you trying to get game fit in a month? It never works and often ends up contributing to overuse injuries.
Are we recovered to do the next thing?

Whether you’re planning for today, the week or the season, ask yourself — Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?

Have A Great Week!

Weak And Fragile Or Strong And Durable — You Choose

Jeff — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 01:31:23 +0000

After assessing a 15 year old, I asked her what her goal was. she said, “to be pain free.” It’s sad a 15 year old has been in pain for over a year.

Weekly I’m in front of coaches, parents and athletes. As we’re talking about training and programming, they’re nodding their heads like, “I knew there was a better way.” They often ask why isn’t everyone doing this stuff?

It’s sad how little has made its way to youth sports in the past 20 years regarding the physical preparation of our student athletes, especially with all the knowledge that’s out there. As coaches connect the dots and more programs like the ones below gain traction, things will change.

THE SHIFT

At some point, coaches will focus more on the fundamentals of moving better and less on developing 12 year old superstars. When they do, they’ll see kids get better…naturally. Coaches will see fewer injuries and a more durable athlete. They’ll also see less burnout and continued participation.

There are some coaches and organizations that have been training like this for years, but they’re the minority. Coaches I know personally that have made the shift have experienced what some would call amazing results year in year out.

HERE’S A FEW SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS:

Soccer

Football / Stanford

Golf / TPI

As parents and coaches we have a choice — athletes, not so much because they do what coaches tell ’em to do. Let’s make sure we’re telling them to do the right stuff in the right amount at the right time so we can get (and keep) our athletes Strong and Durable.

Have A Great Week!

Athletic Development

Jeff — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 02:39:59 +0000

At 5 years old she was hanging out with mom (a lacrosse coach) and running around the fields. She was exposed to martial arts, a few different sports, and even aerial acrobatics…all by age 10.

Now 15, this kid climbs, crawls, runs and jumps better than most kids at any age. It’s not like she won the genetic lottery, although mom moves well. Her athleticism is more of a “natural development” thing — it was nurtured.

Good stuff happens when kids are exposed and play multiple sports, we’ve known this for years. When we let ’em explore and play they develop naturally and are more likely to have a positive outlook toward physical activity.

MOVE BETTER, PLAY BETTER

When kids move better they’ll play better. When they learn how to move with efficiency and control their bodies they reduce the risk of injury and increase athletic potential regardless of age or skill level.

Your position and alignment will determine your performance.

DEVELOPING ATHLETICISM

Let’s get kids good at running, jumping, crawling, climbing, throwing and catching. Let’s get ’em to lift and carry, push and press stuff too. This has nothing to do with age appropriate, but with physical literacy. Strength and conditioning comes after physical competency — skip that step and start seeing injuries, under performance, and burnout.

When we get kids good at the fundamentals, they get more enjoyment out of everything because they can do everything better.

Have A Great Week!

Tryouts — We Should Be Looking At More

Jeff — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 00:47:04 +0000

During tryouts coaches are looking for skilled, athletic and aggressive kids. When they do not present with speed, agility and quickness they’re often labeled as uncoordinated, un-athletic and slow. They’re told to work on speed and be more aggressive, but rarely are they presented with a plan — the “how-to.”

EVERY KID CAN GET BETTER.

If coaches would put more value in the way kids moved instead of how fast they move, the landscape of youth sports would look a whole lot different. We’d see fewer injuries, better performance, less burnout and more kids having fun playing the sports they love.

In the past, not much has been done to provide coaches with the knowledge to teach and develop proper movement. Many athletes that suffer from overuse injuries were caused by inappropriate and inefficient training which could have been prevented if they knew there were underlying problems.

THEY SHOULD SHOW COMPETENCY AT:

Decelerating / accelerating.
Planting, cutting, and changing direction.
Jumping / more importantly, proper landing technique.

CONFIDENCE

When you learn something and can repeatedly do it well, it feels good, doesn’t it? How about when you were told how to do something and you never really “got it?” Kind of ate at you a bit, chipped away at your confidence, right? Same thing with our kids. In our haste to make 13 year old superstars, we let too many fall through the cracks when all we have to do is slow down, see who needs to work on what, and do it. Takes more time, but the payoff is BIG.

My youngest daughter played soccer from 8-12, she was okay. She had some good games, but wasn’t consistent enough to make to the best team. Coaches said she had decent skills, good vision of the field, a smart player, but needed to be more aggressive.

When she was 12 she picked up a lacrosse stick. Johnny, a friend (and coach) showed her how to throw and catch, made her commit to thinking of the stick as an extension of her body. Johnny helped her with the basics and told her to get good with both hands, she listened. When she started to play club later that year, her coach had the same plan — get good at the basics. Johnny and Wendy helped set the foundation at the very beginning.

As her skills continued to improve, so did her confidence. As her confidence grew, so did her aggression on the field. In fact, she played “fearless” — she wasn’t the same kid that had the occasional excellent game — they were all played at a high level. This didn’t come from luck or good genes. It came from learning and getting good at the fundamentals, messing up, and getting coached by coaches that knew how to catch and correct inefficiencies.

Let kids mess up without the fear of punishment. Way too many kids “play scared.” They’re afraid to make a mistake in fear of losing playing time or upsetting the coach. When they do mess up, chunk the drills down — get ’em good at the pieces, then put it back together — that’s how to develop a team (club) of athletes.

DEVELOPING ATHLETES . . . AND COACHES

In the past I’ve heard coaches say movement, strength and conditioning is not their job, their job is to coach the game. What if coaches could learn just enough to get and keep our kids safe (er), and improve each week, month and year? Imagine if coaches could catch and correct inefficiencies as they presented? Man, what a game changer!

SOME OF THE TOP INEFFICIENCIES WE SEE:

Lack of body awareness.
Poor posture and breathing — your positioning will determine your ability and performance.
Poor mechanics (running, jumping, landing, stopping, planting, cutting, and changing direction).
Weak core (crunches are not the answer) — lack of trunk stability (control).

When athletes show competence in these basic and fundamental movements they minimize injury and increase performance…naturally. When they move better they release the parking brake (poor movement) which will allow them to reach their potential.

Many professional sports teams will screen and test players prior to the tryout. Their thinking is, why commit a big dollar contract if the athlete is at risk for injury. With the information we have, why wouldn’t we screen and test our young athletes (as part of the tryout process) before putting them on the field? I know teams that added a dynamic warm-up as a injury prevention tool which is a great idea, but what I witnessed on the field was not how it was drawn up. A good program done poorly will not yield the desired outcome.

LOOKING THROUGH A DIFFERENT LENS

Look beyond how fast they move — work on how they move. Pre-season and tryouts would be a great place to start.

Look at:

How they control their body.
How they run / jump & land.
How they plant, cut and change direction.

The Status-Quo isn’t working. It’s time change the way we do things — and change is always hard to do. But it’s a must do!

Have A Great Week!

Give ’em A Little Homework

Jeff — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 01:12:37 +0000

We assess, analyze and program. There’s one more step that’s vital to success, “consistency.”

It’s more than just doing work 2-3 times per week. I give my Academy athletes homework, not much, just enough to reinforce the patterns we’ve been working on. It’s not homework for the sake of doing extra work, but more of a purposeful or “deep”practice thing. It may be something as simple as a breathing technique, or learning how to shift their body weight prior to decelerating, planting and cutting.

The athlete featured here has a specific list of movements she does throughout the week that align with her schedule. We assessed and determined what she needed and gave her some homework. The changes she made between her first and third session (four weeks later) were fantastic. She got the result because she listened, made the adjustments and did the work.

We’ve added crawling and climbing to her (almost) daily practice which will act as a foundation for strength training.

Do These 3 Things:

Help your athletes become competent at the basic fundamentals — it will serve a lifetime of physical activity.
Don’t be in a rush — they’re at different stages of development, coach to it.
Give ’em a little homework.

Have A Great Week!