Jump Training For Volleyball and Basketball Players: Part 2

This article will describe a basic jump training program with an emphasis on the sport of basketball and volleyball to help those that are coaches and players improve in the area of jumping higher. Even though it is designed specifically for those athletes that play sports such as basketball and volleyball, coaches of other sports that require jumping can also use the information as well.

Very few athletic measurements evoke awe-inspiring glances as a forty-inch vertical jump. While incredibly important when dunking a basketball or spiking a volleyball, the vertical jump test is a standard measurement of one's explosive power; that is, the amount of force one is able to generate in a specific, in this case immediate, amount of time. A high vertical jump requires the athlete to coordinate a whole body movement to drive a downward force onto the ground sufficient to propel the body against the force of gravity and into the air.

Many athletes attempt to improve their vertical jump through gimmicks such as the strength shoes that are marketed on the Internet or in catalog magazines; however, the only true way to increase one’s vertical is through the traditional strength training that is done in the gym through Olympic lifts and jump training exercises.

Jump training is very individual and must be tailored to the specific athlete it is intended for. Every athlete has different concerns and needs. Additionally, injury can result from the incorrect use of it.

Jumping is a complex multi-joint movement that requires muscle coordination best improved by specific skill development. Traditional strength training, explosive types of weight training, jump training and Olympic lifting can be effective for increasing the vertical jump. Before embarking in a jump training regiment, athletes and coaches must consider the athlete’s goal. In addition, they must determine the relative strength and weakness the athlete has at the start of designing a program.


Some program considerations.

As discussed in previous articles, the principle of specificity must govern the training regimen. What this means is the exercises selected for the program must simulate basketball movements in speed, biomechanics and resistance. Train athletes so that they are able to transfer what is being taught into their sport. (This is the reason for them coming to me in the first place.)

Safety and proper progression must be at the forefront of the program. It is better to under-prescribe then to over-prescribe.

Advanced exercises must be reserved for only advanced athletes.

Beginners always want to progress faster than they are capable of. It is the coach’s job to explain, and insist on, proper progression.

Although beginning jump training programs may be performed by most people, to participate safely in an aggressive jump training program many authors suggest that the athlete should be able to squat 1.5 times body weight. Therefore, a considerable strength base becomes imperative when embarking on a challenging jump training program. For most athletes, 8-12 weeks of periodized, resistance training should be sufficient to bring strength levels to adequate levels.

A proper warm up and cool down can not be emphasized enough. The warm-up must proceed from general (e.g. jogging or skipping rope) to specific preparatory exercises (e.g. dynamic stretches similar to exercises being performed). The cool down should focus on flexibility via static stretches and allow the gradual return to a pre-exercises state.

The correct amount of jump training must be provided. High intensity must govern the jump training training session. Quality, not quantity, is the cornerstone of jump training training – all exercises are to be performed at maximal effort. When training, emphasis should be on the athlete training in game time speed so that the muscles train in the manner needed when they are actually in the competition.

However, there must be a balanced relationship between stress and rest. Insufficient rest is the most common cause of injury in jump trainings.

Let me repeat that statement again. Insufficient rest is the most common case of injury in jump training. Too much, too soon.

Athletes should rest 1-3 minutes between sets and 3-5 minutes between exercises within a single training session. Recovery between sessions becomes more complex due to the many variables to consider (e.g. practice schedules, strength training volume, level of athletic development, etc.). It is here where the experience of a trained professional becomes paramount.

Finally, individual program design must be part of the final process. Although a general program can be designed for a team. The coach must “tweak” each program to deal with the specifics of the individual athlete. Adjustments to fit the athlete’s characteristics are always made. Because of individual variations, cookie-cutter jump training programs are a sure way to hurt athletes. Medical history, training age, muscle imbalances, sport and position played are some of the variables that will dictate the specific design of the program. For the sake for simplicity there are three basic categories of jump training exercises.

Jumps, hops and bounds.

Jumps are exercises where you land with both feet (e.g. long jump). The take off can be performed with one foot or two feet. Jumps can be done in place (e.g. jumping jacks) or for distance (e.g. multiple long jumps).

Hops are exercises where you take off one foot and land on the same foot (e.g. single leg hopping). Hops can also be done in place (e.g. stationary single leg ankle hops) or for distance (e.g. multiple single leg hops). Since hops are a single leg exercise, they require much more strength than jumps.

Bounding exercises are exercises where one takes off on one foot and lands on the other foot (e.g. alternate leg bounding). Bounds are usually done for distance. Bounds can be the most challenging of the jump training exercises. However, there is over lap between the categories. For example, a very advance jump exercise can be more demanding than a beginning bound exercise.

Athletes should make sure they seek the advice of a professional who is trained and experienced in this method of training before you embark on a serious jump training routine. A good program put together by a professional strength coach can aid an athlete and improve the athlete's speed, quickness and jumping ability, and these gains may transform the player's playing career.


Charlotte Strength and Speed Coach

The Importance of Reaction Training and Speed

Sports are made up of many different components as it relates to speed and quickness. One must not only be able to initiate enough power and strength to start and stop their bodies against momentum, but they also must be able to maintain their speed during the designated time they are in play. In addition to these concepts, many people forget that there is one more skill that needs to be addressed that could improve one’s speed in sports. Miss this one and even a player whose considered fast can be considered slow.

Reaction Time.

Reaction time is paramount when one looks at speed training.

Reaction is defined as the interval time between a stimulus and muscle contraction. In layman terms how long it takes the body to respond to a particular cue i.e. gun blast in track and field, the signal to hike the ball and start of the play in football, the reaction to jump after a rebound in basketball, or the cue to run after the ball is hit in softball or baseball. Overall reaction ability is something that be trained over time with practice like all the other components of speed and agility. As with all the rest of the speed components, coaches and athletes need to analyze what type of reaction is needed for their sport in order train and improve their reaction.

Coaches need to consider these concepts when addressing reaction:

• Detecting the cue - in a sprint start, focusing on the starter's voice and the sound of the gun and separating this from background crowd noise and negative thoughts
• Detecting relevant cues - a goalkeeper learning to analyze body language at penalties
• Decision making - working on set pieces and game situations
• Change in attention focus - being able to switch quickly from concentration on the opponent to concentration on the field of play in invasion games
• Controlling anxiety - which slows reaction times by adding conflicting information
• Creating optimum levels of motivation - 'psyching up'
• Warm up - to ensure the sense organs and nervous system are ready to transmit information and the muscles to act upon it

When I train my athletes, I tell them to always anticipate the cue that is being used to start and engage them in their exercise or drill i.e. the whistle being blown or me giving them a cadence. Anticipation is a strategy used by athletes to reduce the time they take to respond to a stimulus i.e. the defensive lineman that anticipates the center snapping the ball, or the receiver that anticipates the snap by looking at the ball instead of paying attention to the snap count at the start of the play has a better chance of getting off the ball and making their opponent react to them as oppose to starting at the same time as everyone else. In these scenarios, the player has learned to detect certain cues early in the play and has predicted when the start of the play will begin. I teach all my athletes to respond to the cues. What I mean by this is they are able to anticipate and react to the early sound which gives them a greater lead and advantage over their opponents.

I am not only an advocate of reaction but I have my own experiences as to how reaction has helped open up opportunities for me as well. In college, reaction time was the factor that helped me get on the travel squad my freshman year for special teams (punt team) because in practice time and time again I would beat my opponents off the edge and block the punts. What distinguish me from my teammates was that I didn’t concentrate on the snap count; I was more focused on when the center moved the ball. Every time I lined down I would look directly at the ball and when the center moved the ball slightly, I would take off putting the offensive guy on defense because now he had to react to my momentum instead of vice versa.

Finally, as mentioned previously, the objective of reaction speed drills is to improve your reaction time to a stimulus. The drills can include the control of an object (e.g. football or hockey puck). The cue for the reaction to take place can be visual (movement of an object) or a specific command (voice) or sound (starter's gun). The cue should be appropriate to your event or sport - starter's gun for a sprinter. Take these suggestions and work on them so that it improves not only your speed but also can improve your overall athleticism.


Charlotte Speed Coach

Jump Training: What is it, When and Who Should Use It?

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I have found myself running into parents that are interested and are requesting that their athletes get involved in some type of jump training program designed to increase their jumping capability and prepare them for the sport that they are to participate in. As a performance enhancement consultant, it has been my experience that “jump” training better known by some as plyometric training or plyos, is one of the most requested forms of training by athletes.

Majority of the readers reading this article has heard a little about jump training and some benefits of its use in training. If you haven’t you wouldn’t be reading this or it wouldn’t have sparked any interest to you to read this article.

Plyometrics is the formal word that we in my industry use to describe jump training. It originated as a training method in the secretive eastern block countries where its common name that you are familiar with originated. As the eastern block countries rose to become powerhouses in sports, plyometric training was credited for much of their success. In the 1920s, the sport of track and field was the first to employ a systematic method of using plyometric-training methods. By the 1970s this methods of power development was being used by other sports that required explosive power for successful competition.

Plyometrics can best be described as “explosive-reactive” power training. This type of training involves powerful muscular contractions in response to a rapid stretching of the involved musculature. These powerful contractions are not a pure muscular event; however, they are a series of events put together. They have an extremely high degree of central nervous system involvement. It is a combination of an involuntary reflex (i.e. a neural event), which is then followed by a fast muscular contraction (i.e. voluntary muscular event). Sound complicated? Well it’s not. Let me break it down with some illustration to help you understand what was just wrote.

Every person that has been to a physician has experienced a plyometric event. When the doctor tapped under your kneecap, causing your leg to jerk, what do you think he/she was checking? The tapped caused a sudden stretch of the tendon that connects to all of the quadriceps (i.e. the muscle involved in extending the knee). Small receptors within the quadriceps create a stretch reflex, which makes the quadriceps responded by contracting explosively. The stretch reflex that caused the leg to extend is called the “myotatic reflex” and is the basis of plyometric physiology. A great illustration that I use with my youth athletes is to visualize a bed box spring coil. When someone pushed down on the coil the energy is stored in the coils ready to be released. When that person, releases their hand off the box spring, it explodes and pops up. It is that stored energy in the box spring coil that produces the force that causes it to spring up the way it does. The same occurs during plyometric training.

The most common human movement, running, is completely a plyometric event. Other common plyometric events include throwing, swinging a golf club/bat, jumping and skipping!

This stretching of the muscles, prior to the explosive contraction that follows, is often called “loading”. In our box spring illustration this would be equivalent to the person pushing down on the spring and the energy being stored inside the springs. The faster and greater the load, the more powerful the reflex and subsequent contraction. In our box spring illustration, the more the person pushes down on that spring, the more height the spring will pop up when it is released from under the person’s hand.

Another good example of this is watching any basketball player jump. They jump higher when they take a drop step. The reason for this is that the few steps create momentum. This momentum is used to create a bigger and faster “load” on the leg plant prior to jumping. The response to this greater load is a greater contraction by the legs and a higher jump height. The same phenomenon exists with all explosive actions.

Many times people confuse some forms of power training for plyometrics. Plyometric training is only one form of power training. A true plyometric exercise must contain a very fast loading phase. That is, for the stretch reflex (i.e. myotatic reflex) to invoke a powerful contraction, it must occur extremely fast.

Going back to our doctor analogy, if the doctor pushed on the tendon below the kneecap, instead of quickly tapping it, would the knee involuntarily jerk up? Of course not, no matter how fast the doctor pushed on that tendon. Therefore, a jump (i.e. from an athletic position) onto a 24-inch box is a power exercise, but not a plyometric exercise. To make it a plyometric exercise one can jump off a 6-12-inch box, hit the ground and immediately jump onto the 24-inch box. Remember our box spring, the energy has to be stored in the coil in order to generate power for the pop. The landing from smaller box loads the legs quick enough to create the stretch reflex needed in plyometric training. This is very demanding – don’t try it without consulting a professional!

By now you should have a better understanding of what constitutes a plyometric exercise. Hopefully, they are not as mysterious as you once thought they were. You should realize that everything we do fast has some plyometric component in it. That’s how come we can do it fast! This is why you parents are looking for it to be implemented into your child’s training regiment.

So, who can participate in plyometric training? The answer is everyone! With proper supervision and progression, everyone can partake in plyometric training, from children to the senior population. If you want to see the real kings of plyometric training, go to any playground and watch children play. Some of the athletes I train have performed many exercise “stolen” from six-year olds. Does the games hopscotch or hopping on one leg ring a bell?

Since I’ve harped on proper progression, let’s define it as it pertains to plyometrics. First and most important, the proper strength base must be developed to support the increased force production that results from the stretch reflex. Remember that the reflex involved in plyometric training allows you to contract your muscles with greater force then you could through a voluntary contraction. Therefore, we must make sure that the musculature can support this increased force production. Secondly, a higher degree of balance and stability are also needed for the quick loading phase. Although a specific body part may seem exclusively involved, the percussive shocks that bring about the myotatic reflex are felt throughout the entire body – all structures must have good integrity to support this training. Third and last, simpler skills must be mastered before progressing to more difficult exercises.

Jump training has received some bad press. Inappropriate use of plyometric training has been associated with various forms of “over-use” injuries, especially in the lower extremities (e.g. patellar and Achilles tendinitis and plantar faciitis). This type of training, especially when done at a very high intensity, is a high-risk endeavor (i.e. high returns but at high risk). Like any other high-risk maneuver, high intensity plyometrics should not designed or performed without the supervision of a professional overseeing the training, and response, to the exercise protocol.

Finally, everyone should understand that like speed training, plyometric training is a continuum. We are all involved in plyometric events everyday. Regardless of the level of intensity, the key to safe participation in plyometrics is proper progression.


Charlotte, NC Performance Enhancement Consultant

“KNOT” being the Best Athlete that You can be?

Here are a couple of things to help you improve and enhance your athletic performance…

Did you know that by receiving Sports Massage Therapy and stretching can prevent sports injuries and enhance your performance no matter what sport you participate in? Let’s first begin by explaining what Sports Massage Therapy is and then why stretching is so important.

What is Sports Massage Therapy?

Sports Massage Therapy (SMT) is a type of massage that uses specific massage techniques that enhance or relax the muscles for your specific sport or event. Sports massage therapy is essential for optimum treatment of certain injuries and becomes part of an athlete’s conditioning. This applies to Olympic athletes, professional athletes, and college athletes. They incorporate this into their athletic regimens; so why shouldn’t you do the same?

What are the benefits of SMT?

Several benefits to receiving Sports Massage Therapy

1. Improves flexibility and elasticity of muscles
2. Reduces the tightness and/or soreness
3. Boosts power and performance
4. Decreases the chance of injury
5. Speeds up recovery time
6. Improves range of motion (ROM)
7. Restores mobility to injured muscle tissue
8. Increases the flow of blood and nutrients
9. Helps eliminate muscle cramps and/or muscle spasms

How can SMT specifically help you as an athlete?

Between practicing, working out, training and then playing a sport, your body is put under a lot of strain as you push your muscles to their limit. When muscles become overwhelmed they can cramp up or spasm and if left untreated you could end up with a sport injury. Then something even worse may happen, you get injured and you’re on the bench or worse yet, out for the season. Massage therapy helps break up the “knots” and/or scar tissue as well as releases the toxins within the muscles. Once the muscle releases and become loose, there is an improved range of motion (ROM), flexibility and the chance of injury has decreased. The best part of receiving a sports massage, as you begin to run, cycle, play football, basketball, soccer, baseball, tennis, swimming, hockey etc. is your improved and enhanced performance, which allows you to be the best athlete you can be. When receiving a sports massage it can even lengthen your gait. Because your muscles now have the capability to extend further you are able to have a bigger gait allowing you to run faster. Examples: if you are a football receiver, you can run down the field faster; if you are a baseball player you can run to home plate faster; if you are a soccer player you can out run your opponent to score a goal; if you are a basketball player you can run faster to make that layup shot; if you are a runner, you can decrease your finish time. I think you get the picture. The benefits for each sport and muscle group just go on and on…

Why is stretching so important?

Now that you know the importance of receiving a sports massage, it is also and just as important to stretch. Stretching is something that is easy that you can do on your own once the correct stretches are shown for each muscle groups. Keeping your muscles flexible and mobile is the key in reducing the chance of injury. Stretching should be a part of your athletic regimen every day just as you are on a specific nutritional diet, exercise, strength training, receiving sports massage therapy treatments and meet with a trainer or coach. You do all of these things to help you achieve your athletic goal. Why not add stretching as another tool to help you? Olympians, professional athletes, and collegiate athletes all stretch every time they practice, hit the field, court, pavement etc. and most of them receive a sports massage therapy. Why? Because it helps to improve and enhance their performance and helps prevent sports injuries.

Sports Massage Therapy and stretching can improve and enhance your performance, decrease recovery time and keep you at your peak allowing you to achieve maximum results time and time again. So get the “knots” out and be the best athlete you can be! Receive a Sports Massage today and feel the benefits and let us help you become a better athlete.

You can learn more about Sports Massage Therapy and about the massage therapist by checking out this website www.thesportsmassage.com or by calling 704-277-4169.

Jessica L. Marriott, NCTMB, LMBT



Jessica L. Marriott, NCTMB, LMBT is a nationally certified and licensed by North Carolina. She has been a therapist for over 12 years. She loves to watch and play sports. She has always been an athlete and has played some type of sport most of her life. She love helping people especially athletes. She has worked on professional athletes such as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Cobras as well as the "every day athlete". She helped athletes in a variety of sports ranging from hockey, football, soccer, basketball, baseball, golf and tennis as well as dancers, gymnast, runners, cyclist, and tri-athletes. As your sports massage therapist she strives to help you become a better athlete by helping you achieve your goals and help improve and enhance your performance.


Charlotte Licensed Sports Massage Therapist

Charlotte Leading Strength/ Speed Coach Expert and Personal Trainer

Stretching Can Hurt Speed Training

Here are some of the dynamic exercises in the video (lunge walk, high knee, Frankenstein, lateral lunge walk, leg swings forward and side to side, butt kicks, and curtsy walk).

Flexibility training is perhaps the most undervalued component of speed training. While recent and ongoing debates question its role in injury prevention, athletes can still gain much from a stretching regime. Flexibility is defined as the range of motion about joint surrounding muscles during a passive movement. Passive movement refers to gravity or partner assisting the movement instead of actual muscle contraction to activate the stretch. This article is dedicated to explaining why flexibility is important in developing speed. In addition, we will look at the difference types of stretching and when to use them, when they are beneficial, and when they are detrimental in an athlete’s speed workout. We also will discuss how to stretch and develop a stretching program for a speed workout.

Flexibility may reduce injury and increase range of motion ROM. There are factors that also affect flexibility:

Age: flexibility particularly extensibility decreases with age
Gender: Females exhibit greater ROM
Activity: those that are active are more flexible
Internal tissue temperature: temperature influences ROM which is why it is important to warm up before stretching. Athletes should take 10-15 minutes after their workout for static stretching and should concentrate at least 30 seconds per muscle group.
Injury: scar tissue from previous injury affects ROM in a joint

A more flexible athlete equals a more mobile athlete. A good flexibility regiment enhances movement on the court and field and causes athletes to have a greater ease of movement as well as increases the body’s awareness and promote relaxation. For instance, take the hip flexor muscles which are one of the most important muscle groups for running. The hip flexor is located above the thigh and affects the stride length and stride frequency (which is the most important) of athletes. Increasing flexibility in the hip flexor results in an increase in stride length. Athletes in different sports have varying flexibility needs in order to avoid injuries. For example, sprinter type athletes (soccer players, football players, rugby players, basketball players, and baseball players) have a much larger movement and ROM requirement for their sport in comparison to an endurance/ distance runner. As a result, the sprinters would need more of a flexibility regiment than the distance runners. In addition, even though flexibility is important, it can vary between individuals.


Static stretching is the most common form of stretching and is a more traditional way to improve flexibility. Static stretching just prior to an event may be detrimental to actual performance due to the nature of the stretch and hold component. It is performed with no bouncing during the stretch and there is no emphasis on speed. The athlete holds the stretch for at least 30 seconds. It should be incorporated into the cool-down phase of a training session. Static stretches are often simple to learn and perform and require little effort.

However, dynamic stretching is more beneficial because it mimics the actual movements that will be engaged in the events and activities. It should be done after a proper warm up prior to training. Dynamic flexibility is performing stretches or movements that would simulate the actual movement required of the activity. These movements are performed at similar speed to the movement and differ from ballistic stretches in that they do not involve any bouncing or jerky movements.

Sample stretching workout

Dynamic stretching
Lunge walk
Butt kicks
Frankenstein
Lateral Lunge walk
One sided carioca
Curtsy walk
High knees
Skipping
Figure 4
Spiderman
Backward runs
Leg Swing (Forward/ Lateral)

Static Stretches
Hamstring Stretch
Sit on the ground with both legs straight out in front of you.
Bend the left leg and place the sole of the left foot alongside the knee of the right leg.
Allow the left leg to lie relaxed on the ground.
Bend forward keeping the back straight.
You will feel the stretch in the hamstring of the right leg.
Repeat with the other leg.

Calf Stretch
Stand tall with one leg in front of the other, hands flat and at shoulder height against a wall.
Ease your back leg further away from the wall, keeping it straight and press the heel firmly into the floor.
Keep your hips facing the wall and the rear leg and spine in a straight line.
You will feel the stretch in the calf of the rear leg.
Repeat with the other leg.

Hip and Thigh Stretch
Stand tall with you feet approximately two shoulder widths apart.
Turn the feet and face to the right.
Bend the right leg so that the right thigh is parallel with the ground and the right lower leg is vertical.
Gradually lower the body.
Keep you back straight and use the arms to balance.
You will feel the stretch along the front of the left thigh and along the hamstrings of the right leg.
Repeat by turning and facing to the left.

Adductor Stretch
Stand tall with you feet approximately two shoulder widths apart.
Bend the right leg and lower the body.
Keep you back straight and use the arms to balance.
You will feel the stretch in the left leg adductor.
Repeat with the left leg.

Groin Stretch
Sit with tall posture.
Ease both of your feet up towards your body and place the soles of your feet together, allowing your knees to come up and out to the side.


Charlotte Leading Speed and Strength Coach

The Need For Quickness Training

As a speed coach, I get asked by parents and coaches if speed and quickness are different, or the same, or if one is more important than the other. Every coach and parent wants the same result, for their athlete(s) to be faster and quicker. I always say that usually athletes need to be quicker to get to one point before their opponent does and then speed to finish off the play. In most sports the average time of a play is a couple of seconds. For example, in football the average play takes about 3-5 seconds. In addition, athletes are required to cover a small amount of distance in a short amount of time. You seldom see athletes that are required to run for a long distance or for a long period of time.

So to answer the question they both speed and quickness are important in order for the athlete to be successful in whatever sport they are participating in.

Quickness training is one of the most overlooked areas in speed training - and sometimes seldom addressed or forgotten.

Just as the myth that some think that athletes are born with speed, the same applies with the concept of quickness. Quickness too can be taught and learned over a period of time if taught properly.

Quickness is how fast someone responds to a stimulus; whereas, reaction time is a part of someone's quickness and can be trained. Quickness training drills can be implemented in an athlete's agility training so that they can also train for speed and quickness during the same session.

Here are some training drills you can use for quickness development:

-Ball Drop
Your partner holds a tennis ball out in one hand. You start in an athletic stance and when the tennis ball is released/dropped, you sprint to the ball and snatch it before it bounces more than once. This is a great drill for first step quickness training.

You can change the distance that you partner stands away from you.

-Partner Mirror Drill
This is like the shadow game that you use to play as kids. This drill is performed between partners. One partner starts moving and the other partner follows and doesn't allowed to be juked. You need to try and mirror the movement and match each reaction.

-Fox and Hound
One person will be designated as the fox (leader). The other will be designated as the hound (chaser). The leader’s/ fox job is to try to elude the chaser/ hound as much as possible without the hound touching him/her. Place four cones in a square and designate the distance between the four cones, with a fifth one in the middle. The fox can run around the cones in any order or direction trying not to get touched. Remember the hound has to follow the same pattern as the fox. Note: have the fox run out about five yards or 5-6 seconds before releasing the hound to make the drill harder for the hound if the goal is to work on reaction for the defensive player. For offensive player, have the hound released earlier to have the fox work harder to elude and cut harder.

Variation(s): Have a third person (coach) with a watch or a whistle to time the two for a designate amount of time during the drill. At the beginning, the coach yells “Go!” and the drills begin for the amount of 20 -30 seconds. Then the coach yells “Stops!” The roles are switch. Points are awarded to each player. If the hound is able to catch and touch the person he/she is awarded one (1) point. If the fox is unable to get caught, he/she is able are awarded two (2) points. Penalties: (1) one point is taken away from the fox if he/she runs outside the designate boundaries. Also if the hound dives, then one (1) point is taken away. Have the loser perform a designated amount of push ups or some other form of punishment in order to make the game or drill better. For a more reaction and situational setting have the coach blow the whistle at unexpected times to change the role from the fox to hound and vice versa.

These quickness training drills with help your athletes become faster and should be added to every sports speed training program.

Speed and Performance Coach in Charlotte, NC

Top Speed Training Myths Revealed

As a speed coach, I receive questions about training speed. So I've taken those questions that I hear the most and answered them in a slightly different format.

1. Static stretching prepares you to compete/practice

Static stretching actually reduces power output. The best type of stretching that an athlete should utilize before practice is dynamic stretching which warms up the body and prepares and mimics the movement that the athlete’s body will be engaged in doing. The progression of movement should start off from basic, low intensity movements to faster, more explosive movements as the muscles loosen up.

2. Stretch and then do a warm up

You should never stretch a cold muscle because you can cause more harm than good to the muscle belly while the muscle is cold. Instead, athletes should do some small warm up to increase the body temperature so that the muscle is warm and plausible to stretch. Think of the muscle as a rubber band. Would you stretch a cold rubber band that has been in the freezer for days?

3. Strength training makes females too bulky

This is a popular mindset with many female athletes that we have worked with. However, this as far fetched of a myth than any of the ones that I have to debunk. Strength training not only is of injury prevention because it assists with building the muscles, tendons, and ligaments to withstand the stress of the sports. In addition, we know that the female population is more susceptible to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries than their male counterparts. Fatigued lower limb muscles can inhibit the ability to control dynamic sports landing movements, increasing the risk of non-contact injury to the knee’s anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), particularly among females. Prevention and prehabilitation is always better the rehabilitation. Strength training will improve performance and reduce injury if done correctly. If you look at Mia Hamm, Venus and Serna Williams, these athletes train with weights and have a great physique on and off the court.

4. You can’t train speed


For some reason it is a popular belief that you are born with a certain amount of ‘speed’ and you can’t improve it. If that’s the case than the Olympians that participate every four years waste their time throughout training to get better because they have nature born speed that will just come on when the touch foot on the track. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Speed is a skill that can be learned and the problem that I see with most young athletes is they are so physically weak and mechanically out of tune that significant improvements in speed can be made often just by working on technique and form. Athletes at any age and any level can improve speed when implementing a complete speed training program designed to improve and develop the entire athlete.

5. Training slow makes you fast


I don’t think coaches directly believe this way, but their training implies otherwise. I think they understand this when it comes to practicing for their sport for they know that in order for the athletes to get a true feel and understanding of what is required when in competition, the athlete must be put in ‘game speed’ situations so that their bodies are able to react. The same is true for speed training, in order for an athlete to be able to get faster, they must train their fast twitch muscle fibers consistently and properly so that they will be able to translate their training to the competition. Athletes must train how they play or train the way their sports demands of them. For example in sports that involve a higher aerobic element such as soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, etc. I see kids out running mileage and doing long slow intervals of several minutes of continuous running. If their goal is to get faster for the season and want to improve their overall speed and first step quickness to the ball, they must train their muscles to fire and work in the same manner that the demand will be placed on them for the sport. If you want athletes to improve their acceleration and top speed so they can get to the ball faster or get back on defense, then you have to train by running at full speed in practice.

6. You can train hard every day

Most coaches and parents understand this concept when it comes to strength training with training the same body part over and over. However, when it comes to speed training this concept gets thrown out the window for some reason. The workout itself is only a piece of the training puzzle. Just as with strength training, athlete’s muscles aren’t built in the weight room but during the recovery period, so is true with speed training. It is the time between intense workouts, the recovery, where athletes make their improvements. And generally it takes 36-48 hours to recover from high intensity training. If athletes are doing too much, too often they become over trained. Coaches can expect to see an increase in injuries, athletes complaining that they are sore more often, decreased performance, higher levels of fatigue earlier in games, and the BIG ONE—burnout. It’s always better to under train an athlete than over train. Err on the side of caution to get maximal results.

7. Strength training will stunt a young athlete’s growth


This is another myth held over from a different time. With parents having their kids participate in year round sports, strength training can assist with preventing some of the injuries that these athletes may be susceptible to with year round participation. These loads on the body can have a much greater physical impact than a well designed strength training program. Though I don’t usually begin training with weights with pre pubescent athletes, they can benefit from body weight exercises such as push ups, full body squats, pull ups, crunches, sit ups, etc. This will increase muscular efficiency, speed up recovery, improve coordination and overall speed.

8. The harder the workout, the better the result

Some athletes (and coaches) have this mentality that if a workout doesn’t reduce them to complete exhaustion and/or make them vomit, that it wasn’t an effective workout. I hated coaches that thought like this and now that I am a speed/ performance coach, I still hate it. The reasoning behind the vomiting is that the body is trying to buffer the blood due to it being too acidic and the lack of oxygen left for the muscles to use during the workout. Now that young athletes are dying due to myocarditis and other abnormal heart conditions, ‘old school’ coaches that have this mentality need not apply with working with youth athletes period. Also those who have this mentality probably see a lot of injuries and frustrating performances. The purpose of a workout is to stimulate an adaptation by the body. If the body is forced to do too much work in a given time period, it will break down. The skill in coaching is to stimulate the adaptation in the body, without reaching a point of diminishing returns.

9. Interval training is the same as speed training

Running repeat 100s, 200s, etc will not improve top speeds. Even running
repeat 40s with short recovery will not improve acceleration and top speeds. I wish someone had explained this myth and concept to my college coaches when they had us doing repeated 100s and 200s in the hot summer heat to improve our speed! Speed work is defined at 2-8 seconds of maximal intensity running with full recovery. That means at least 2 minutes of light dynamic movement between each effort. This
goes against the experience of some coaches, but simply put, is the only way to improve speed. An athlete must be able to focus on proper form and maintain intensity in order to get faster. If they do not recover properly from each interval, they will not be able to replicate proper mechanics with consistency and they can not improve.

10. Flexibility won’t help you get faster

Both coaches and athletes spend so much time on the skills of their sport, speed training and conditioning that they often forget a fundamental component of success: flexibility. After practice or a game, the muscles are warm and loose. Now is the time to work on increasing flexibility. So many athletes suffer injuries or compete below their capacity because poor flexibility inhibits their range of motion and speed. I see this often in the hips and hip flexors where athletes’ stride length appears conspicuously short. Most often I see this in male athletes who will lift weights, train hard and then skip out on their cool down and flexibility work. Hey I have been guilty of this one myself throughout the years of my high school and collegiate career.


11. Lift your knees

I hear so many parents and coaches yelling to their kids when they want them to run faster or when they are beginning to fatigue, “Lift your knees, Get your knees up”.
This is one of the most backwards cues you can give to athletes. The way to run faster is to apply more force to the ground. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so the more force you apply to the ground, the more the ground will give
back. So when we cue athletes to lift their knees we’re doing two things incorrectly. One, we’re telling them to use their hip flexors to lift instead of their glutes and hamstrings to drive down. Just think about the size of your hip flexor versus the size of the glutes and hamstrings. Now which muscles do you think can create more force and therefore more speed? Second, we’re cueing them and teaching a movement that is in opposition to what generates speed. If an athlete learns at age 7, to lift their knees when they need a burst of speed, that improper cue will be hardwired into their brain. To unlearn that as a teen and try to do the opposite and drive down, that athlete will have a difficult time coordinating an entirely new way of running and will potentially have to take a step or two backwards. That’s why it is critical to learn proper form early and get an advantage over those who still aren’t getting the best instruction. So cue athletes to step over the opposite knee and drive the foot down into the ground, with the foot landing underneath the hip.

Speed/ Performance Coach and Speed Camps in Charlotte, NC

The 3 Common Mistakes with Running Form for Youth Athletes

I remember when I was young playing football I was never the fastest kid on the team. Even though I wasn’t the fastest kid on the team, I was one of the toughest and roughest, “the get things done” type of player, “the work horse”. I can remember one particular incident where we were required to turn around and take a side step in the backfield before receiving the ball. The reason was to slow the runner down so that it gave time for the linemen to pull to block for the runner. However, I was so slow that the coach just told me that by the time I would receive the ball I could just take the ball and run with it. That tore me up inside, and I think I even cried either during practice or afterward on the way back home or probably both. I can remember that during the offseason I worked my tail off to get faster and by the time the next season had rolled around, I had gotten a little bit faster and was able to do the play like the rest of the running backs.

You probably have noticed in recent years that sports teams are focused on speed, speed, and more speed. It's not surprising that parents and coaches of youth athletes now want their youth athletes to get faster. Runners who competed in track during club, high school, and university are lucky to have a coach early in their running career, critiquing form and offering pointers for more efficient running. Those who don’t run competitively may never receive any tips on form from a coach or a professional runner. During the years, I have had the pleasure of working with a lot of athletes ranging from youth all the way to collegiate and semi-professional with regards to enhancing their performance on the court/field.

Running seems simple in theory, but yet complex with application. I have had the opportunity to work with a variety of different athletes from a variety of different backgrounds and sports. From youth aging from 6 to 46, from youth to semi-professional, from males to females and what I have found is that they all have the same common issues with dealing with running. Breaking bad habits in an athlete’s running form isn’t easy; it takes years of practice before the athlete learns the proper form for running. Even though running is primarily a lower-body activity, your arms aren't just along for the ride!

In running, your legs move you forward but your arms propel your body. If you carry your arms properly and use them in the right forward motion, they will help you maintain good balance and rhythm. If the arms are held poorly (too high, too low) or the arm swing is incorrect, you will lose energy and speed. The proper arm form that an athlete should have when running is as follows:

Arms should be held low, bent at a 90-degree angle and relaxed. As you run, swing your arms up and down. The term I use is “elbow/ uppercut”. The analogy that I use is the athlete envisions themselves elbowing the air with the downswing, bringing them back behind your body, brushing them past their waistband, and upper cutting the air at the top of the swing. The arm movement should be just that — arm movement — and should minimize the rotation of the torso. Arms should move in conjunction with their legs. The majority of the motion should take place in the shoulder (deltoids) with regards to the arm swing. The athlete, if performing the motion correctly, will feel it there instead of any other place.

There are 3 common mistakes that must runners encounter when running. They are the train, the twist, and the drummer. These are some terms that I use with my athletes when teaching them the improper arm swing form with running.

The locomotion/ train: The arms are held too high when the athlete runs. During this illustration, the athlete swings outward in a jabbing motion similar to imitating a train going down the tracks. The majority of the motion is incorrect during the top swing in which the athlete’s arms are fully extended outward.

The twist: The arms are maximizing during the rotation of the torso. Image there is an invisible zipper that runs down the middle of the athlete’s body separating the left side from the right. The athlete during “the twist” will rotate across the imaginary zipper and perform a twisting motion, the athlete’s arms cross their body, between waist and lower-chest level. As a result, the athlete looks as if they are twisting when they are running.

The drummer: The arms are held too low when the athlete runs. During this illustration, the athlete’s arms are bent at a 90-degree angle, but instead the extension happens during the downswing, at the waist. The athlete extends their arms at the elbow as if they are trying to receive a baton pass from a sprinter coming up from behind them. The athlete is looked upon as beating a drum when they are running.


Remember, it’s not easy to break old habits, and athletes run the way they do because their body has found it efficient, and it’s now probably become a habit. To make their new effort a habit, practice concentrating on their new running style for a few minutes at a time.

Youth Speed/ Strength Coach in Charlotte, NC

Women And Sports: The Building Blocks Of A Positive, Confident Person

I am very active in my church's youth ministry. There I have the chance to interact with the males and the females that participate in the program. It is amazing to observe the group dynamics of the kids interacting with each their same gender and opposite gender peer group. Last year, one of the females in the program graduated from high school. She was a varsity basketball player, who had picked up the sport in grade school. She was graduating with honors and attending one of the state universities here in the state. In addition, she had enrolled in their competitive engineering program this fall. She was one of our strongest, if not the strongest member, of our youth group. I watched how she interacted with her peers as well as the confidence she exhibited when she had to do projects or speeches in front of the congregation in comparison to the other females that were in the group. To me, she displayed an aura of confidence and leadership that the other girls seem to lack. She never really seem to concern herself with the way she looked or how much makeup she needed to have on if we were going to a public event.

She isn't the only female that I have noticed this correlation of sports and confidence with either. My little sister has played numerous of sports while growing up. She started with basketball in middle school, then transitioned over to soccer and tennis in high school. She went to college as a walk-on in tennis and later was awarded a tennis scholarship the following year.

There are many benefits that females receive from participating in athletics. In this blog today we will briefly go over some of them as to encourage those that are reading that may be on the fence to participate or to allow their daughters to participate in athletics.

Benefits of Females In Sport

Not long ago, being serious about sports was considered appropriate only for men and boys". Throughout the 20th century, women's increasing participation in sports has challenged our conception of womanhood. In the post-Title IX era, female participation in sport has skyrocketed. In 1970, one in every twenty-seven girls played high school varsity sports; compared to one in three today. Overall, women currently outnumber men as active sports/fitness participants. Sports have many more positive effects on women than are recognized in our everyday lives. Sports are not only positive physically, but they are also very important for the psychological and social well-being of women in today's world.

Studies have shown that sports participation for girls has significant health implications:
• Sports and other exercise helps to lay down bone mass. Therefore sports can be an influence over the prevention of osteoporosis.

• Girls that participate in as little as two hours a week of exercise can reduce her risk of breast cancer.

• High school girls who participate in sports are less likely to experience unwanted pregnancy and more likely to graduate

Psychological effects of sports are equally as strong as the physical aspects. Here are some psychological benefits for girls that participate in sports:

• They have a higher self esteem and a higher level of confidence and lower levels of depression

• They have a more positive self image and experience higher states of psychological well-being than those that don't participate in sports


Through sports girls can learn intangible people skills that will help them throughout the working world. Traditionally, girls can learn teamwork and goal-setting. Sports help women learn how to work together to achieve common goals, much like that of the business world. In an age where women are rising in the corporate world, women should be as familiar with those skills as men are. In a study, 80% of the female executives that were employed by a Fortune 500 Company, identified themselves as a former "tomboy" or a former athlete of some sort.

Girls and Women Need Encouragement and Aspirational Role Models

Many people think that girls are not as interested in sport as boys. Women's Sports Foundation research shows that boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 9 -- and their parents -- are equally interested in sports participation. However, by the age of 14, girls drop out of sport at a rate that is six times greater than boys. Girls and women simply do not receive the same positive reinforcement about their sports participation. Boys receive balls, gloves and sports equipment by the age of two. They see their images on television as sportsmen, they see their photos in the sports section and know from their parents and friends that they are expected to play sports.

So what must be done to alleviate this problem?

We must do a better job of supporting our daughters' sports participation. For Christmas and birthdays, we must find books about girls in sports, give gifts of sports equipment and sports lessons. We need to take our sons and daughters to see women playing sports so they grow up appreciating and respecting the sports skills of women and so our daughters see images of themselves excelling in sports -- because she is not going to see those images on television or in the newspapers. It's no accident that girls' sports participation in Olympic sports increases significantly following the Olympic Games, one of the few times that coverage of women's sports is equal to that of men's sports. Aspirational role models drive youth demand for sports. This top to bottom synergy has not yet become commonplace in women's sports because of limited college and professional sports opportunities and television coverage.

However, the trend is clear: the increased participation and success of female athletes equates to a healthier more productive female in society. Not only will she be a force on the playing field/ court, but once she takes the sneakers, cleats, etc. off she will also be able to contribute and be a force in our community. I think with the raise in female coverage and participation "We ain't seen nothin' yet! Bust that ceiling open.-Girl Power"

Reference:
Women's Sports Foundation. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org
Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Global Training for Youth Athletes

The majority of my information on today's topic is taken from one of the leading youth fitness experts in the world, Mr. Brian Grasso.


With that said let's get started.

Remember back in the day when you were a kid, you would go outside and play multiple games throughout the day. The day may start off with you and the fellows walking to your neighbor's house to ask and see if your best friend could come out but during that trip you wouldn't just walk on the sidewalk like normal kids, you would walk on the edge of the sidewalk to test your balance and coordination or play "Don't step on the crack cause it'll break your momma's back. Remember that was the game where you jumped the lines that separated the slobs of cement from each other on the sidewalk. Once everyone got outside you guys may warm up by playing a quick game of freeze tag. Then progress to playing some type of sport rather it was touch football, or basketball, or some type of organized play depending on the season that was in or televised on tv. Afterward, somebody would notion everyone going to get their bikes so you guys could ride up to the corner store to get some candy or something. And if you didn't have a bike, then you either rode standing on the back spokes of the guy who did have a bike, or you rode on the front handlebars as he used you as his personal Tom Tom navigation system. And at the end the day you guys may have orchestrated "the fastest kid in the neighborhood" race so to see who was the fastest kid in the neighborhood.

I had the opportunity this week to work with one of the local high schools where I currently reside. Before working with them, the coach and I met so that I had a clear vision on what goals she wanted for her team. I thought her response was going to be for me to come in and bring out all the toys and whistles that I have i.e. the agility ladder or some piece of agility/ speed equipment. But I was pleasantly surprised because that was not the case. What she said her number one goal that she wanted me to work with her girl's basketball team on was developing and improving upon their global skills and motor skills instead of concentrating on sports specific training.

Some reading this article may ask why???

And here is the answer. FOUNDATION.


Most parents, coaches, and trainers have narrow goals when designing a program for their youth athlete. However, like yesterday's post, the main goal for youth athletes should be for them to master the different motor skill components of coordination before they are introduced to more complex topics or sport specific drills and subjects. A global development of training approach not only ensures success in the future for the athlete but also prevents future injury.



The goal in early training for youth is to develop coordination through movement based stimuli so that they graduate later in their adolescence and post adolescence years to a more sports specific type of training that parents, coaches, and trainers are accustom to seeing and more familiar with their athlete participating in. First, let's define coordination. Most reading this post may think of coordination being a single ability or single skill; however, coordination is made up of several elements that work together. These elements are balance, rhythm, spatial orientation, and the ability to react to auditory and visual cues. An example of a coordination program would be a young athlete performing some type of spatial awareness exercise with no speed involved in the beginning and later progress to the same skill with the incorporation of a speed component combined with a change in the environment to make it more challenging for the athlete to master.


Research points out that coordination development is best introduced between the ages of 7-14 with the most crucial period of learning and training being in the period of 10-13. At the age of 16 usually is when the athlete has optimized the development of coordination. As a result, the drills planned should be age appropriate and structured so that it is challenging but yet fun for optimal results. Athletes who have a firm foundation with coordination development are far better athletes in the long term than athletes who are never exposed or are exposed to coordination/ global training later in their athletic career after these prescribed ages.


Why you might ask?


Because it is all about building a firm foundation to work upon. I like to use the analogy of a Jenga game, in which one piece missing could be detrimental in the end and cause the whole structure to fall. Thus young athletes should have a firm foundation so that they become a successful and healthy athlete in the long term.

Coordination development is a process of years of exposure to diverse yet versatile exercises and training. Coaches, parents, and trainers must understand that coordination training is a process and that each component builds upon the other. This statement alone should cause parents, coaches, and trainers to sit up and pay more close attention. Young athletes should have an opportunity to be exposed to different kinds of sports on a yearly basis so that they are introduced to a variety of coordination skills that they ordinarily would not be exposed to if they were to play the same sport year-round. Parents and coaches should not concentrate so much on sport-specific and specialized training for young athletes early on because it causes a faulty, weak foundation in the long term.

In addition, parents, coaches, and trainers should not wait to introduce global training in the beginning of an athlete's adolescent years because of the rapid changes that occur in their bodies during this period of time. The best time to introduce global training is during the pre-adolescence years when the athlete's nervous system is still highly plausible and their motor skill learning has not become fully developed permanently. Once the athlete masters the pre-adolescent stage, the next level to build upon is their adolescent years in which the main goal should be to refine those skills that were introduced in the pre-adolescent stage. Then and only then should the concentration be shifted to a more sports-specific or specialized type of environment for the athlete, which we will call the post-adolescence stage.

I must address the issue of genetics as it relates to global training. Less coordinated athletes will never exhibit the coordination of well-skilled athletes no matter how much global training they receive; however, improvement will be seen and achieved on a more personal level.

So to recap all that was covered today these are the base points that parents, coaches, and trainers should consider when training a young athlete in the beginning:


1. Start young – coordination improves as a result of learning and mastering new movements. Start young athletes off early with coordination-based exercises that challenge their abilities (within reason). The more coordination a young athlete has, the more ability he or she will display at any perspective sport.


2. Challenge young athletes on an individual and appropriate level – Some youngsters have good balance while others display good rhythm. The key to successful coaching is to undercover what elements of coordination each athlete requires and develop drills/exercises that most suitably target the weaknesses.


3. Change exercises frequently – young athletes learn quickly in most cases. Be sure to challenge them physically and intellectually with new exercises often.

Until then keep working hard. Tomorrow we will look at what sports every kid must play in order to be an overall stud on the field/ court/ or rink.

Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

The Recruiting Process: How to Protect and Help Your Athlete

This article was taken from FamilyResource.com and was written by Brent Elsasser and Gerald Masterson, Ph.D.

I remember when I was a junior and senior in high school playing football. I wasn't highly recruited coming out of high school. Heck, I don't even think that I was in the top 50 athletes in the city even though I was two time All Conference at the position that I was playing. I can remember the anxiety that I felt when it was time to sign my letter of intent; however, I didn't know what I was doing. My coach wasn't a great support system to use. He didn't do anything really in getting the schools to look at me; it was more my wrestling coach that tried to get some of the schools to look at me for football. My mother didn't have a clue as to how the recruiting process went cause I was her only son so she wasn't familiar with the process nor did she know what questions to ask the recruiter. It was very scary and frustrating at the time. We were like the blind leading the blind. We both were headed for the ditch. I wished I had someone that would have walked my mother and myself through the process that didn't have a bias interest in the matter.

Highly visible sought-after recruits receive heavy attention from college coaches, the media, boosters, and others that can make the recruiting process very straining on the recruit, their family, and even the high school coach. Recruiting blunders are a common occurrence as the need to win mentality in Division I college athletics is prevalent. As the high school coach of a recruit, there are steps that can be taken to help alleviate some of the pressures placed on your athlete.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has rules and you as a high school coach should be aware of these rules. First, the NCAA defines a recruited prospective student-athlete as a student who has started classes for the ninth grade or has received contact by a coach offering any financial assistance or other benefits before the ninth grade. The student officially becomes a recruited prospective student-athlete when contacted by a college coaching staff on more than one occasion for the purpose of recruitment.
Contacts

The NCAA limits contact during the year and specifies recruiting and non-recruiting periods. There are four periods specified by the NCAA: the contact, evaluation, quiet, and dead periods. The amount of face-to-face encounters and dialogue the coach is allowed with a recruit differs with each period. The contact period is the only time when coaches may visit the recruit's home and talk with the athlete and his or her parents. In the evaluation period, coaches can visit the recruit's school to observe the athlete at practice or a game and converse with high school coaches and guidance counselors. However, the coach cannot have dialogue with the recruit. The only in-person contact allowed during the quiet period is on the college campus during a visit. No face-to-face contact is allowed during the dead period. Telephone calls are permitted during all periods, with limitations on how often the coach may call. To view the dates for each recruiting period, visit the NCAA's website.
College Visits

A recruit can visit a college campus, either officially or unofficially, during the recruiting process. An official visit is paid for by the interested school and consists of transportation to and from the college, room and meals during the visit, and reasonable entertainment expenses such as a home athletics contest for the recruit and his or her parents. Before an official visit can take place, the recruit must provide a copy of their high school transcripts and ACT or SAT scores. The recruit is limited to five official visits, which can take place during the contact, evaluation, or quiet periods. An unofficial visit is paid for by the recruit and their family, except for complimentary admissions to a home athletics contest the school may provide. The recruit can talk to the coaches on any unofficial visit except during the dead period. A recruit can take as many unofficial visits as desired.
Signing Day

The most important day during the recruiting cycle is signing day, when recruits sign National Letters of Intent (NLI) to play for an institution. Signing a NLI binds the athlete to that college, with penalties if the athlete doesn't follow through, such as losing a year of eligibility for transferring to another school. The NCAA's recruiting year runs from August 1st to July 31st, and the NCAA specifies signing periods for each sport. The signing period for fall sports begins the first week in February and lasts until the end of March. Basketball has two signing periods; an early signing period lasting for a week in November and the second for a month beginning in mid-April. All spring sport recruits will sign their NLI during the November period.
Verbal Commitment

Until a recruit signs a NLI, which binds them to an institution, a prospect can only verbally commit to a school until they are able to sign. When a prospect verbally commits to a school, it is no more than a promise to the coaches he or she will sign. The athlete can break a verbal commitment, and many times coaches will continue to recruit committed prospects of other schools. Negative recruiting (supposedly against the rules), a practice in which coaches from a school will talk badly about another school in an attempt to gain a recruit's commitment, is common in the recruiting world. An important note here is that an athlete does not have to sign a NLI to attend a college.
NCAA Clearinghouse

For a high school athlete to be eligible to play at the NCAA level, the individual must register and be certified by the NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse. The student's academic background, including grade-point averages for core-curriculum courses and scores from an ACT or SAT, are evaluated to determine eligibility. It is a good idea for prospective college athletes to register with the Clearinghouse after their junior year, but before their senior year, so any academic deficiencies can be addressed during the senior year. A new requirement is that prospective Division I and II athletes must send their ACT or SAT scores directly to the Clearinghouse from the testing agencies.

Many college basketball and football programs generate 20 to 30 million dollars annually in revenue (Fulks, 2000, as cited in Letawsky, 2003). Between 1985 and 2005, the average budget for NCAA Division I-A football teams more than tripled and men's basketball budgets more then quadrupled (Wolverton & Lipka, 2007). Success on the field can bring recognition, visibility and increased revenue to the school and the head coach.

Only 5.7% of high school football players and 3% of basketball players will compete at the college level, and less than 0.1% advance to the professional ranks (NCAA). The pool from which coaches select is very small, leading to intense battles for players. Winning on the field or court starts with winning on the recruiting trail. This means the recruiting battle for the highly sought-after blue chip prospects can be extremely competitive and dirty.

Fans and boosters also follow the process intensely, as the perception is attracting the best athletes to a school equates to winning. The media now covers recruiting as part of their regular reporting of college sports, and websites dedicated to recruiting have popped up all over the Internet, with fans paying to read which recruits their favorite school is pursuing. Recruiting websites receive millions of visitors monthly and rank players with a star system (1-5, with five being the highest). These websites try to stay in constant contact with recruits and tend to call prospects without parental permission. Since college coaches are not allowed to comment on a prospective student-athlete until he or she signs a NLI, these websites have numerous journalists collecting information and conducting interviews that are then relayed to their subscribers. Many journalists can be unprofessional and biased, and have been known to misconstrue quotes made by recruits. As a coach you need to encourage your athlete to limit interviews with these websites and have parents become involved by setting boundaries. One easy solution to avoiding these journalists is to not give out cell phone numbers. If you have to give them a number, only give out a home phone number where parents can help protect the recruit.

Another reason not to give out cell phone information is the escalation in frequency of text messaging. Since the NCAA limits the number of phone calls coaches can make to recruits, coaches had been sending excessive amounts of text messages to recruits. However, the NCAA recently addressed this problem by eliminating coach-to-recruit text messaging effective August 1, 2007.

The early signing period currently in place in basketball is beneficial for recruits who know their college destination and want to end the recruiting process. However you should not push your athlete into making a decision if they are not ready or if they are trying to avoid the pressure. When an early signing period is not available and your athlete has made a verbal commitment, hold them to that decision. Let the athlete know that once they've given a school their word, it should be binding. This also means that when other colleges call to inquire about the recruit, they must be told to move on and to stop recruiting the individual.

As a coach, you must stay neutral and guide your athlete along through the recruiting cycle. Offer suggestions and support, but do not pressure the player to choose a certain school. Set limits for college coaches in contacting your player, and do not let the athlete be persuaded by negativity. Help the athlete make a list of pros and cons regarding each school to help them make the decision. The decision may become easier when everything is laid out in front of them.

The NCAA has a detailed compilation of rules and regulations regarding recruiting practices. It offers information to recruits to help them know their rights and for coaches to clarify boundaries and help them follow the rules. To become better acquainted with the NCAA's policies, visit their website at www.ncaa.org and click on "Legislation and Governance" then "Eligibility and Recruiting."
References

* Wolverton, B., & Lipka, S. (2007). Knight commission to fight high salaries and recruiting pressures. Chronicle of Higher Education, Vol. 53 No. 22, p. 28.
* Judson, K.M., James, J.D., & Aurand, T.W. (2004). Marketing the university to student-athletes: understanding university selection criteria. Journal of Marketing for Higher Educations, Vol. 14 Issue 1, pp. 23-40.
* Letawsky, N.R., Schneider, R.G., Pederson, P.M., & Palmer, C.J. (2003). Factors influencing the college selection process of student-athletes: are their factors similar to non-athletes? College Student Journal, Vol. 37 Issue 4, pp. 604-610.
* Lipka, S. (2006). Hot-button recruiting. Chronicle of Higher Educations, Vol. 53 Issue 7, p. 37.
* Carey, J. (2007, January 29). Legal woes big challenge in recruiting. USA Today, Sports p. 3.
* Carey, J. (2007, January 23). Commission told of big changes in recruiting. USA Today, Sports p. 5c.
* Sperber, M. (2004). Sex and booze: two steps to winning football. Chronicle of Higher Educations, Vol. 50 Issue 27, p. 24.
* Jacobson, J. (2004). Rolling up the red carpet for recruits. Chronicle of Higher Education, Vol. 51 Issue 6, pp. 37-39.
* National Collegiate Athletic Association, www.ncaa.org.
* Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, www.knightcommission.org.

Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Sportsmanship: Teaching Kids How to Lose Gracefully and Healthy Part II

"No fair!"

"You cheated!"

"It wasn't my fault we lost!"

Have you ever played on a team with somebody who hated to lose? Or maybe you have a tough time if you lose anything — even a game of ping pong. Such omnipresent multimedia messages combined with a "winning is everything" philosophy embraced by increasing numbers of parents and coaches - makes it harder than ever for adults to teach kids that it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game that's important. Some kids find it extra-hard to lose, but everyone needs to learn how to do it. Learning to lose without losing your cool is a skill, like learning to ride a bike. You might not be able to do it at first, but over time it will get easier. And when you can handle losing, people will call you a good sport.

Why Learn to Lose Gracefully?

Everyone wants to win. But any time two teams or kids are facing each other in a game or contest, someone will lose (unless it's a tie). Kids lose in small ways, like in a game of checkers, but they also might face losing in bigger ways, like when their team loses a championship game. Losing is disappointing, so it's not surprising that kids don't like it. Adults don't like it either.

I can remember just four years ago how competitive and caught up in my flag football games I would get. I got so caught up that many of the female team members (it was a coed team) stated that they didn't want to play on the same team as I ever again or they didn't want to play anymore altogether because of my conduct when we would lose. I never was able to (until recently) grasp and learn to lose without losing my cool. Everyone can learn to control how they react to a loss. In other words, what should you do when you lose?

The tricky part is that sometimes you might react before you even realize it. For example, I can remember when I was in high school playing junior varsity football, my best friend at the time played for the cross town rivals. We were clearly suppose to have beat them but we were off and they were on that night. Needless to say, we lost within the last two minutes of the game. Instead of being a good sportsman and shaking his hand, I shook everyone else hand as we walk down the line to congratulate them on a superb performance, and walk off the field without speaking to him. It took me a whole week before I had cooled off and returned any of his calls to apologize for my actions.

In addition, it's not surprising that the rise in bad sportsmanship -- and outrageous behavior in professional sports has resulted in a parallel increase of poor sportsmanship (e.g., trash-talking, violence) in youth sports. Regardless of whether we caution our kids to NOT idolize professional athletes who behave badly, kids will continue to be influenced by the behavior of the pros.

How can you instill in your child the importance of good sportsmanship and offset the "win at all costs" philosophy? Both parents and coaches can start by focusing on these issues:

Tips for Parents

# Be Your Child's Role Model. Offer praise and encouraging words for all athletes, including your child's opponents. Never openly berate, tease, or demean any child athlete, coach, or referee while attending a sporting event. When attending athletic events or watching them on TV with your child, refrain from criticizing or condemning athletes' performances.

# Do You Have A Hidden Agenda? Be honest with yourself about why you want your child to play organized sports. What do you want them to gain from the experience? Are your intentions based on providing them with pleasurable, social activities that develop a better sense of self-worth, skills, and sportsmanship? Or do you harbor dreams of them turning their topspin forehand into a collegiate scholarship, or riches and fame? A child's participation in sports and the importance attached to it should not be driven by a parent's desire to use their child's sports accomplishments for ulterior purposes.

# You Set the Rules. It's ultimately your responsibility to teach your children good sportsmanship, both as a participant and as a spectator. If you observe your child engaged in poor sportsmanship, regardless of whether their coach corrects them or not, you must discuss your child's misbehavior and insensitivity with them after the game. If a coach is ignoring, allowing, or encouraging poor sportsmanship, you need to make your objections known to the coach in a private discussion.

# Watching and Learning. Whether you're watching the Olympics on TV or attending a high-school sporting event, you can always find "teachable moments" regarding sportsmanship. Ask your child their opinions of: players who showboat and taunt their opponents; the costs to the team of a technical foul, or being ejected from a game for unsportsman-like conduct; and the appropriate behavior of opposing players toward one another after a game. During these "teachable moments" ask them open-ended questions and listen more than you talk or lecture.

Tips for Coaches

Coaches nurture good sportsmanship. They should embody parents' values regarding good sportsmanship. A coach must model good sportsmanship at every level and make it a core goal of his work with kids.

I recommend that every youth sports coach engage their players in a detailed discussion of good sportsmanship as soon as they forms their team. A written contract, perhaps titled The Good Sportsmanship Code, should be given to every child and parent to sign. The contract should spell out what the coach expects from each player in terms of good sportsmanship, including the following areas:

* Cheating
* Losing one's temper
* Negative criticism of teammates, coaches, referees, and opposing players
* Blaming teammates for mistakes or a poor team performance
* "Trash talk" and taunting opponents
* Showboating
* Arguing referees' calls and judgments
* The need to congratulate one's opponents after a game

Coaching children is an honor and a privilege that carries with it a moral responsibility to contribute to the healthy character development of young players. Coaches who equate "trying your best" as the definition of success -- and who value, expect, and demand good sportsmanship from their players -- help shape the moral, ethical, and spiritual character of children.

Communicate often with your child's coach to make sure they takes this responsibility seriously.

Here are some ways that your child can show others what good sportsmanship is all about:

and finally Tips for the Athlete

1. Be polite to everyone you're playing with and against. No trash talk — which means saying mean things while you're in the middle of a game.
2. Don't show off. Just play your best. If you're good, people will notice.
3. Tell your opponents "good game!" whether you've won or you've lost.
4. Learn the rules of the game. Show up for practices and games on time — even if you're the star of the team.
5. Listen to your coaches and follow their directions about playing.
6. Don't argue with an official if you don't agree with his or her call. If you don't understand a certain call, wait until after the game to ask your coach or the official to explain it to you.
7. Don't make up excuses or blame a teammate when you lose. Try to learn from what happened.
8. Be willing to sit out so other team members can get in the game — even if you think you're a better player.
9. Play fair and don't cheat.
10. Cheer for your teammates even if the score is 1,000 to 1! You could inspire a big comeback!


I leave you with two quotes from two famous coaches. The first is from Joe Paterno, Penn State Head Football Coach, "Success without honor is an unseasoned dish. It will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good. And the last comes from John Wooden, former UCLA basketball coach, "Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

Reference: FamilyEducation.com
Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Female Athletes and ACL Injuries

Last week, I wrote about the experience that I had with working with a local high school girls basketball team and the conversation that took place with the head junior varsity coach and myself. I briefly explained the goals that the coach was seeking with working with me; however, I failed to talk about one other issue or topic that came up in the discussion.

Anterior cruciate ligament commonly known as the ACL.

Eight years ago 2.5 million high school girls and 145,000 college girls played some type of competitive sport. No longer are the days that girls are just participating in non-contact sports such as golf or tennis. They are now participating in more violent contact sports like football, basketball, boxing, roller demolition derby, field hockey, and lacrosse to name a few. Each year, females participation in sport has rising substantially in every major market or competitive arena from club sports all the way to collegiate competition. Even though, more females are signing up and participating in sports, more are watching on the sideline rather than playing on the field due to sustaining more injuries like ACL injuries.

ACL injuries are the most common injuries that most females will be faced with while participating in athletics. Each year, 1 out of 100 high school female athletes and 1 out of 10 college female athletes will go down with an ACL injury. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (more commonly known as the NCAA) reports that in a given year, approximately 2200 collegiate females are expected to go down with an ACL injury. These stats suggest that females are 4 to 8 times more likely to sustain this type of injury than males. Also research data shows that on average, an ACL reconstruction surgery costs a family $25,000 a year. In addition, the data from high school and college suggest that they spend over $100 million annually on reconstruction surgeries for females.


The question is why are females more susceptible to ACL injuries than males? And are there exercises that can be done to prevent them from being injured?

Many experts (myself included) think the reason why females are so susceptible is because of the anatomical differences that females have in comparison to males. In addition other common factors are muscle imbalances and variations in movement patterns.


Anatomical Differences

In the knee joint, an intercondylar notch lies between the femoral condyles. The ACL moves within this notch, connecting the femur (more commonly known has the thigh bone) and the tibia(more commonly known as the shin), providing stability to the knee. The ACL prevents the tibia from sliding forward and rotating inward. The majority of women have a small notch, therefore restricting ACL movement. When movement is restricted, the femoral condyles can easily pinch the ACL within the joint, especially during twisting or hyperextended movements. This ultimately can result in a tear or rupture.

The other difference lies in what is called the Q angle or the angle from the hips, femur, and tibia. The femur is affected because it meets the tibia at this angle and if a person has wider hips (which most females do in comparison to their male counterparts) it can have an affect on their ACL. The wider the hips, the larger the Q angle. At this greater angle, forces are concentrated on the ligament for stability each time the knee rotates. This increases the rotational forces on the ACL, raising the probability of a tear. A large Q angle also results in a more pronated foot (a foot that is turned outward), further stressing the knee.

Muscle Imbalance

The balance and relationship between how the quadriceps and hamstrings work together plays a crucial part to knee stability. Research shows that female athletes tend to have quadriceps to hamstrings muscle imbalances -- with the quadriceps as the dominating knee stability muscle. On the other hand, men have a better balance between quadriceps and hamstrings. They engage the hamstrings first when performing a movement, which actually decreases stress on the ACL. Therefore, the stability of the knee is more quadriceps-dominant (an ACL antagonist) in females and more hamstrings-dominant (an ACL agonist) in men.

So let's relate this concept to female involvement in sports. As stated earlier, females are now engaging in similar activities like their male counterparts which place the same demands on their bodies and knee structures with similar intensity (equal twisting and loading forces on the knee joint). Twisting, cutting and landing movements all stress the ACL to provide stability. As the quadriceps contract, additional stress is put on the ACL, increasing the risk of injury. So, if females or more quadriceps dominant, they are more susceptible in putting their ACL in danger of tearing because it is stressed more during the activity.

Variations in Movement Patterns
Contrary to what a lot of you reading this article may think, the majority of ACL injuries come from non-contact incidents on the field or court. These injuries are divided equally among the three main non-contact movements -- planting, cutting and straight-knee landings with hyper-extended knees. For unknown reasons, women tend to perform all these movements with straight legs. Straight-legged activities require the knees to absorb forces equal to four times an individual's body weight as well as encourage hyperextension of the knee joint. Hyperextending the knee is one of the major contributors to non-contact ACL injuries. Also, videos have show that women tend to perform planting, cutting and landing movements by turning the knees inward, further exaggerating the Q angle stress on the ACL and therefore increasing risk of an ACL rupture.

How can the athletic community assist females to decrease the risk of an ACL tear?

Obviously, anatomical characteristics that increase the risk of ACL rupture cannot be changed. As a result, the focus for prevention has been on teaching athletes the correct motor patterns to prevent excessive stress on the ACL through jump training (landing and propelling). Finally, because quadriceps-hamstring strength imbalance appears so important, athletes must also work to maintain flexibility of both of these muscle groups. As muscles are strengthened, flexibility can be lost unless athletes conscientiously cool down and stretch at the end of the workout..

The bottom line is:
• ACL injuries are a big problem
• ACL injuries are a bigger problem for females
• ACL injuries are preventable

Every serious female player (of ANY age) should:
Practice proprioceptive training (a good idea for competitive male soccer players as well)

Strengthen hamstrings by:
• Jump training and/or leg curls
• Avoid turning and landing with straight legs
• Cool down and stretch after exercise
These measures can help prevent serious injury and will almost certainly improve performance to boot. Sorry about the pun. I just couldn’t resist.
Reference:
Stephanie Vlach, M.S., is the Manager, Fitness Education for the Life Fitness Academy.

Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC