The Elitefts™ Sports Performance Coach Education Series is a comprehensive educational resource for coaches in the collegiate, high school, professional, and private settings. This series will take a fundamental approach to various topics that will enable coaches the additional skills to enhance their coaching abilities, improve marketability in the industry, and drastically increase the impact they have upon their athletes.
A Better Way to Train High School Athletes?
About six months ago, I wrote an article entitled,"A Better Way to Train High School Athletes." This article was inspired by the simple fact that most high school coaches are not equipped with the resources to train their athletes in a manner to elicit year-round success.
There are multiple reasons why high school athletes around the country are not getting the most out of their training. It's easy to place the blame one specific entity but the truth is, it is a combination of many factors. For every high school that has a state-of-the-art weightroom, a full-time strength coach, and strength training classes during the school day; there are just as many with no program at all.
When looking at the problem, there are a few key components that influence the possible solutions. This presentation will look at some common obstacles that most high schools face and formulate some possible anecdotes to put our athletes in a better situation to succeed. The essence of this presentation explores the process of:
- Discouraging specialization in one sport.
- Encouraging training for all sports year-round.
When it is all said and done, it is the responsibility of administrators, coaches, parents, and the student-athletes to become more educated and open-minded.
Presentation Outline
The Tweet
Sharing this for all you football players who take off the winter/spring to "work out." pic.twitter.com/tThJAo03eB
— Ohio Varsity (@ohiovarsity) January 18, 2015
The Question
Does playing multiple sports make me a better athlete and increase success at all of them?
—OR—
Do the better athletes play multiple sports because they are simply good enough to do so?
Take-Aways
- Don't discourage athletes from playing multiple sports.
- Make sure it is the athlete's decision.
Possible Solution
Create an athletic development curriculum within the physical education department at each high school that will facilitate a year-round comprehensive training for every athlete in every sport
Sport Coach Reservations
1. My athletes can train without being sore for games?
2. My athletes will physically develop and improve during the season?
3. My athletes will not be fatigued for games during the season?
Can high school athletes training in an in-season template and still develop physically for all the sports played?
Obstacles
- Money
- Cooperation
- Education
- Commitment
Curriculum
- Elementary School
- Motor Learning
- Sports Education
- Self-Worth
- Middle School
- Non-Co-Ed
- Self-Efficacy
- High School
- Life Skills
- Learning
Scheduling
Class Time
- In-Season = in the AM
- Off-Season = in the PM
The In-Season Template
Three-Day In-Season Template
Systems
- School-Wide Methodology
- Two-Day per Week Programming
- Speed Training in Lager groups on Different Days
- Staggered Starts
- Complexes and Circuits
Two-Day Movement Split
Exercise Pool
Two-Day Split
Equipment Based Split
Summary
- Encourage athletes to play multiple sports.
- Educate coaches on the benefits or the training template.
- Expect improved performance.
High School Strength Coach Podcasts
- Interview with Dan Stevens
- Interview with Gary Schofield
- Interview with Tobias Jacobi
- Interview with Fred Eaves
Youth Training Podcasts
- Interview with John O'Sullivan, Changing the Game Project
- Interview with Mike Boyle
- Interview with Mark McLaughlin
- Interview with Dr. Michael Yessis
- Interview with Nick Showman
Mark Watts' Articles and Coaching Log
Does playing multiple sports make me a better athlete and increase success at all of them?
—OR—
Do the better athletes play multiple sports because they are simply good enough to do so?
I will say that during my 14 years of coaching college football (all but 3 were D3), I had a handful of kids that only played football. Most of those kids we didn't actively recruit and almost all were lineman. I realize that is anecdotal but the point of the video was to provide some possible ideas of how to better prepare high school athletes. The tweet was only mentioned and I openly criticized it for implicating more than it actually did.
Thanks,
Pete arroyo
A few things my colleagues have done with success with swimming is:
1.) Train with lower intensities
2.) Don't neglect the eccentric contraction. Be aware of soreness, but sports like cycling and swimming have very little eccentric components as opposed to other sports
3.) train the antagonists. Doesn't make sense to make a free-stele swimmer perform internal rotation of the shoulder when they do it thousands of times during practice
4. Train explosively. they need it and they can recover from in from a neurological standpoint.
5. Stay consistent when they taper.
Sorry I couldn't be more help. I would check out Jay DeMayo's podcast as he talks a lot about training swimmers and divers in his interview.
http://www.elitefts.com/education/coaching-education/listen-jay-demayos-rules-for-transitioning-to-in-season-training/
I do also think that there is carryover or skill development acquired from playing multiple sports that will help one to become a better athlete, but not necessarily increase success in all sports they participate.