Maximize
Acceleration
&
Top Speed
YOUTH SPEED COACH
&
MATH FACTS SPORTS
I am a Southern Maryland Man of Faith that is a; Health Advocate, Speed Coach, Creator of the free Math Facts Sports Digital Learning Products, and happily married father of a successful student/athlete. My passion is encouraging and helping young student/athletes to be successful.
I have coached numerous sports but my true specialty is in speed development. As a sprinter I was pretty successful, being All-Conference three years in college and competed into my mid 30s, but by far my biggest advancements in coaching/training has come by studying many of the top experts in speed development. I must admit though, it does also help that I am still able to get out onto the track to somewhat experience what I am learning and teaching.
Ideally you want to establish good speed fundamentals early on, and as the athlete matures, he/she will continue getting faster and not have a pre-mature leveling off of speed. The goal of many athletes is to earn a fully paid athletic scholarship to college. Speed, of course is a metric that athletic programs at all levels value greatly. The goal, however; should be to effectively carry that speed to the playing field or court. So again, the sooner good speed fundamentals are established, the more time the athlete has to learn to integrate that speed into his/her game, not to mention the more time that athlete has to produce tape where that speed is on display for colleges to see.
Check out my Developing Speed in Young Athletes blog to get an overview of where I'm coming from. I also offer Free Speed Assessments where I will view film sent me. This blog explains.
For female athletes that play sports that involve; jumping, cutting, and pivoting, ie; basketball, soccer, and volleyball, a priority is training that supports knee stability, since females in these sports are 4-8 times more likely than males in these same sports to suffer a knee injury, many of which are ACL tears where there was no contact to the athlete. This blog gives a great overview, and my Knee Care for Basketball, and Knee Care for Soccer blogs are more specialized.
Speed training can also fit into a training regimen that emphasizes "knee care", as learning to properly recruit the glute muscles is not only important to protect the knees but is also vital in maximizing explosiveness in running. In addition, learning to run efficiently can lessen the stress on the knees, ie; when changing direction, stopping, etc... However, as is described in the blogs I referred you to above, if the athlete demonstrates signs of being predisposed to knee injury, ie; knees caving in (knock knees), insufficient bending, and/or bad landing technique from jumps, then addressing the problem issues should be the priority.
I am not a doctor or therapist but I am a certified trainer that has put a lot of study into "Knee Care" and I do blend that into my Speed Training.
Visit my Youth Speed Coach Page for information about my programs. Those that would like to read my Speed Development blogs should visit my Blog Page. Many of the blogs are in the "Archive" section.
I referenced earlier getting a fully paid athletic college scholarship as being a goal. A bottom line though is getting the cost paid, and those parents who have already gone through the process of planning to pay for college know the potential value of academics as it relates to earning money for college, as often times academic scholarship money can be combined with partial athletic scholarships and other monies to make college affordable! My Academics and the Young Student/Athlete blog details this. For those who have already gone the student loan route, to consider getting that loan refinanced to get a better rate visit this Student Loan Refinancing page.
Lastly, those that would like to consider a "do it yourself" website like this one to communicate with the world, should visit this Website Information Page. You can even use your website to make money by referring customers to various products and services using links as I did with the "Student Loan Refinancing" and "Website Information Page" links above.
