In the American youth sports landscape, being competitive as soon as possible is often the goal. In addition to that, it seems that athletes are beginning to train at younger and younger ages . With that being said, as coaches, we have to remember who we are working with. Our goal shouldn’t be to focus on short term gains , but rather to take a holistic approach and focus on long term development. Here are some of our principles when it comes to youth athlete training.
4 Guiding Principles For Youth Athlete Training
How to Run a Fast 40
The 40-yard dash is the SAT of college football. It’s a basically standardized test that all high school football players must take if they hope to play in college. It’s not necessarily indicative of an athlete’s ability on the field but is often a prerequisite for coaches to open the door for further evaluation. If you’re not prepared, you’re in trouble.
3 Proven Ways to Increase Your Vertical
A high vertical jump is one of the most desired and coveted physical traits for any athlete. Whether performing in a game, or simply filling out a recruiting profile, how high you can jump matters.
So then, the question for athletes is, “How can I increase my vertical?”
The question seems simple enough at first, but when you peel back the layers, it’s more complicated than that. One of the complications to that question is information. In 2019, the challenge for athletes isn’t access to information, it’s access to the RIGHT information.
A quick Google search of “How to Increase My Vertical” yields 305 million results. As you can see there is no shortage of info out there. But just like most information online these days, some of it is good and some of it is well….not.
The purpose of this blog post is to give you 3 PROVEN methods to increase your vertical jump. These are methods that we have used with many of our athletes, and ones that have yielded great success. Hopefully after this article this you will be on your way to creating your own success story.
Why I Don’t Care How High Your Box Jump Is
Recently I saw a video of some kid on Instagram jumping onto a vending machine. My initial reaction…WHO CARES.
It seems like videos are popping up every day of people showing off their incredible box jumping prowess. Most people freak out when they see these videos. For me, it does nothing. Uhh, what Pro-League does he play in again?
Although it is impressive to see these freak athletes jump this high, there really isn’t much application. And to make matters worse, these video have led to a rash of “Insta-trainers” having their clients attempting this craziness too. Well I’m here to put an end to it. Read on to see why we need to stop this madness ASAP.