What is a foam roller?

I’m sure you have probably seen a foam roller, but it is a 2 foot or 3 foot foam tube about 6 – 8 inches in diameter.  The roller can vary in the degree of solidness, but as you get used to the foam roller generally the more solid the better.  In fact, I’ve had some people tell me that they’ve graduated from a foam roller and just use pvc pipe with some type of cloth around the pipe.

You can probably go to any health club now and see these pieces of equipment lying around.  You’ll see members rolling their bodies all over this foam roller, some crying out in pain.    If you’ve ever wondered what that thing is and why they are doing it, then continue reading.

It isn’t that expensive.  In fact, I just checked online and the priciest I saw was under $20.  You can click here to look at it and order if you like.

How to integrate it with my workouts?

The foam rollers are being highly touted by many of the top strength and conditioning professionals across America.  I try to go to as many conferences as I can throughout the year and are exposed to many different strength programs.  Many of them have the foam roller included in those workout programs.

Basically, the foam roller is a self-massage that helps before you workout and after your workout.  It helps the body recover faster and in this day and age, recovery is huge for athletic performance.

A lot of the top collegiate programs will have their athletes come to the workout and do a general quick warm-up (jump rope, light jog – something to get the blood flowing).  Then they will have the athletes do a series of exercises on the foam roller.  This is doing what a massage would do, break up the muscle tissue, get it a little looser, so you get your body moving a lot easier during your workouts.

The athlete will then start his/her dynamic warm-up and get right into the training session.  Doing that foam roller prior to the warm-up really helps get the body moving in the greatest range of motion possible.  This helps reduce the chances of injuries happening and have a great workout.

After the workout, normally the athletes will use the foam roller on the body to break up the lactic acid developed in the muscle.  This helps reduce the chance of soreness happening and help with recovery.  Then the athlete would participate in some general stretching to finish.

A lot of professional athletes will get deep tissue massage after workouts as a way of getting their body to recover faster.  Most of us can’t afford a massage all the time, so in its place you can use the foam roller.  I don’t think it can substitute for a good massage, but it will suffice.

What does the foam roller feel like?

If you have some tender spots on your body or some tight muscles, the foam roller initially won’t feel pleasant.  A good example is your IT band, the muscle tissue running down the side of your leg.  A lot of people will have to go slow and apply a little amount of pressure because this is so tender.  I’ve seen people howl out in pain because of this tightness.

If you are like that, then be conservative with the foam roller.  Over time, you will get that area looser and it will feel better.  Just like with a massage, you have to work out those rough patches before you can get better.

When you get to the point that the foam roller just doesn’t feel like much of anything when you do your exercises, then I would suggest moving on to a higher intensity roller.

This is a great piece of equipment to work into your routine.  With our athletes, we will do it beforehand with some of our athletes we feel need it.  We are trying to do it with all of our athletes after the workouts.  It only takes an extra 5 minutes and it will help your body feel a lot better before and after the workouts.  Even non-athletes who are just trying to maintain good health should start using it.

If you are interested in purchasing a foam roller now, click here.

Running Back – I predicted Knile Davis from Arkansas going in the fourth round based on how he did at his combine.  I was close, as Kansas City chose him late in the third round to help compliment Jamaal Charles.

Wide Receiver – I thought Ryan Swope from Texas A&M would go in the third round.  He ran the second fastest 40 for wide receivers and had big time quarterbacks throwing to him the last couple years.  He did get drafted, but it wasn’t until the sixth round by the Arizona Cardinals.  He must have had a few drops in his career.

Tight End – I went with a local pick for me and chose Jake Stoneburner from the Ohio State University going in the sixth round.  I felt with his speed and quickness pretty high with the tight ends, it would overlook the fact he was hardly used by the Buckeyes.  It wasn’t and he wasn’t drafted.  I think he was signed as an undrafted rookie by the Packers.

Tackle – Lane Johnson of Oklahoma had some awesome measurables for a tackle, the crown jewel of the offensive lineman.  I felt he was going in the first round and the first round he did go, getting picked fourth overall by the Philadelphia Eagles.  We have no clue if he is going to be good or not, but getting picked this high at least got him a good rookie contract.

Guard – I’m always baffled by where NFL teams draft guards.  In the past some have had great measurables and not been drafted, while others have stunk up the combine and been drafted rather high.  Jonathan Cooper of North Carolina had some good combine results, but he also must be a heck of a guard as he was drafted in the first round by the Arizona Cardinals with pick number 7.  I guessed the fifth round.  At least he got drafted.

Center – Brian Schwenke from California was the stud at the combine for centers.  Once again, a position that obviously looks for more than just numbers, I guessed he was going to go in the sixth round and he ended up going in the fourth by Tennessee.

Defensive End – In the four drills Trevardo Williams of UConn participated in, he ranked no lower than 3rd in any of them.  A little light for a DE, I thought he would go in the third round and he was taken fourth by the Houston Texans to team up with J.J. Watt.

Defensive Tackle – I liked Brandon Williams from Missouri Southern St. for no other reason than he did the most bench presses of all the DT’s.  I thought he would go in the fourth round (I seem to like that round) and he went late in the third to the Baltimore Ravens.

Outside Linebacker – The NFL teams like outside linebackers to be fast and this year no one was faster than Zaviar Gooden of Missouri.  He also tested well in everything else and I thought he would be a second rounder.  Turns out he was liked by Tennessee in the third round.

Inside Linebacker – Not super excited by this group, I picked the fastest of the crop going in the fourth round (there’s that round again).  Jon Bostic of Florida was that guy and Chicago coveted him enough to grab him in the second round.  I’ll have to do more analyzing about why I’m picking the fourth round all the time.

Safety – Shawn Williams of Georgia was the safety I was going to go with.  I felt he would go in the third round and BINGO I got one right.  He ends up going to the Bengals in that round.

Cornerback – Run yourself in the 4.4′s or faster and you are almost guaranteed to be drafted if you play cornerback.  Desmond Trufant of Washington ran a 4.38 and I called a first round in his future.  I was correct, getting picked late in the first by the Atlanta Falcons.  Obviously wanting to shut down some of these quarterbacks they face a lot in their division.

What can we take away from this?  Here is what I can gather.  I haven’t calculated the exact percentage, but regardless of position if you are invited to the NFL combine AND you rank in the top 5 of any of the combine tests you have to perform (not the position specific drills), you have roughly a 70% chance of getting drafted.  Give or take.

So bust your butt!  At some point, I’ll do the exact number, but you have to like those chances.  Some positions will be higher or lower, but that is some nice data for you.

Photo courtesy of zennie62 on Flickr

As a parent, I walk the fine line of making my child understand the importance of playing sports.  I truly feel that life lessons can be learned in sports.  I have no delusions that my child will be a professional athlete, but I do want her to succeed enough to the point that she will have a positive experience no matter what she does.

How much is too much?

I truly feel that most parents that bring their kids to us for help are doing so because they want their kid to have the best experience possible.  When their kid looks back on his/her sports career they did all they could to be the best athlete possible and it gave them a lifetime of positive memories.  Very few actually think their kid is going to be the next best thing.  (Yes, a few of you are out there and you know who you are).

I get that.  Right now, I think parents battle how much should they push their kid.  You want your kid to have fun, but you also know that if what you are having them do isn’t making them a better athlete at their sport, your child might be facing the realization of never getting off the bench.

Or worse yet, not even making the team.

When do you start sacrificing a little free time and spending it on instructional lessons for your athlete?  Or when do you decide to try that upper level team and challenge your child to be better?

As long as it is fun, it is alright.

Yes, I am cool with that.  But, most people who want to play a sport have fun with that sport when they are actually PLAYING that sport.  If as an athlete I’m not doing anything to improve my skill set and I’m seeing more and more bench time, am I really having fun?

Some people are just happy being part of a team.  I understand that, but to be part of a team, you have to make a team.  Will your skill-set still be good enough to even make that squad?  Or are you just fine playing on a rec team, with little structure, little practice, and some fun games that are really like intramural games?

If that is fine with you great, but for some people challenging oneself to make a good team is important to him/her.  Some people want to take pride in representing their school and some of the accolades that go with that.  Maybe you want to participate in that school rivalry.

That is fine and dandy.  But, will your skill-set allow you to make that team?  If it does, will it allow you to be a starter for that team?  That is for you to decide or better, determine.

Wanting to win doesn’t make it wrong.

I don’t think that winning is everything, but you shouldn’t NOT want to win.  It is alright to win.  It is what fuels us to be better.  Just because you want to win doesn’t mean you are so serious and don’t want any fun.

Just win, win, win.

You can be serious about your sport and have fun with it at the same time.  That is possible.  Even when I was out of organized sports playing intramurals as an adult, if my team was getting thumped, I was not happy with it.  That was not fun.  Looking at the other team laugh and goof around, I assume they were having fun.  It was fun for my team, until they got to the bar and consumed a few “beverages.”

Yes, I do think you need to keep things in perspective, but I do think that you can want to be better for your sport and it doesn’t make you a bad person.  You can still have fun with your sport and want to win.  There should be nothing wrong with that and don’t let anybody tell you different.

I think you must have those two attitudes if you are an athlete who even wants to just make his/her high school team.  Schools have a lot of kids to pick from and more and more people are participating in sports.  Are you going to have the right attitude and work ethic to do what it takes to just make those high school teams?  I can’t answer that only you can.  Something to think about.

Would love to read your comments below.  Maybe your perspective is the same as someone else and might help shed some light for that person.

Photo Courtesy of battlecreekcvb on Flickr

For the 2012 NFL draft, I did a lot better with my defensive predictions than my offensive.  Let’s see how this year goes.

Defensive End

If you are a defensive end and you were invited to the combine, based on the last three years data that I have, you have an 82% chance of being drafted.  You have to like those odds.  Trevardo Williams from UConn intrigues me this year.  He had the fastest 40, the highest vertical leap, and second best showing on the bench press.  His downfall to me is his size (6′ 1″ and 241 pounds).  Out of the previous 3 drafts, only 1 other defensive end ran faster and he had a similar build.  I think with his speed and size, they could try him in a 3-4 scheme and I’m going to say a third round pick.

Defensive Tackle

The defensive tackles do a lot of the dirty work on the line.  Sometimes measurables aren’t as important as nastyness.  Anyways, I’m going to put my money on Brandon Williams from Missouri Southern St. for no other reason than he did the most bench presses of all the defensive tackles (38).  He had the slowest 40 and one of the slowest 20 yard shuttles, so speed isn’t his strong suit.  His size is alright at 6′ 1″ and 335 pounds.  That being said, I could see him going in the fourth round.

Outside Linebacker

Zaviar Gooden of Missouri had the fastest time of the outside linebackers by almost .1 seconds, running a 4.47.  Any OLB that has run a 4.47 or faster was drafted no lower than the third round.  He ranked in the top 5 in all the other categories and his size is good at 6′ 1″ and 234 pounds.  Speed kills and I see him going in the second round.

Inside Linebacker

I’m not wild about this group of inside linebackers in relationship to previous classes.  No one really jumps off the board so let’s take their fastest 40 guy, Jon Bostic of Florida.  He stands at 6′ 1″ and 245 pounds.  He also was second in the agility tests, but compared to previous years those times wouldn’t have been as high.  Consequently, I’m going to say a fourth round pick for him based on the depth at other positions.

Safety

I swung and whiffed last year at the safety position.  There were three safeties that ran sub 4.5 this year and I’m going to go with the biggest of the three, Shawn Williams.  He stands at 6′ and 213 pounds.  He also attended an SEC school (Georgia) which might help his stock.  The other thing I like to see in safeties is strength and he ranked third in bench press reps among safeties.  Williams ran a 4.46 and with his size I’m going to say he gets picked in the third round.

Cornerback

I love picking this position because they are all fast.  Generally, if you are invited to the NFL combine and run in the 4.4′s or better, you will get drafted.  This year I like Desmond Trufant from Washington.  Guy ran the third fastest 40 at 4.38 and the second best 20 yard shuttle at 3.85, so his straight away speed and change of direction are fast.  He stands 6′ and 190 pounds plus he didn’t do bad on the bench press.  I think he is a first round draft choice.

There you have it.  All my predictions.  I probably will go over these results not this coming Monday, but possibly next Thursday or the following Monday.  Enjoy.  Feel free to leave your comments below in the comment box.

Photo Courtesy of Marianne O’Leary on Flickr

Take a look at how I did with my predictions from last year’s NFL Draft.

What I do is take one player for most of the positions, today will be offense, and guess a round where they will be drafted based on the 40 yard dash and other measurables they might have performed at the combine.  I’m not the biggest college football fan so outside of Ohio State and some Big Ten studs, I usually only recognize the top flight players from college football.  Thus, some of my picks you might not recognize unless you truly follow college football.

Let’s get started.

Running Back

I am choosing Knile Davis from Arkansas.  Mr. Davis ran a 4.37 in the 40 yard dash, jumped 33.5 inches in his vertical, and showed some strength benching 225, 31 times.  He is 5′ 10″ and 227 pounds which shows some good size and speed for a running back.  His agility drill times weren’t the fastest, but hopefully with that size and strength he can break enough tackles to make an NFL team want to draft him.  That in mind, I see him going in the fourth round.

Wide Receiver

They really look for speed at the receiver position.  Based on the data I keep, from the last three drafts the average 40 of a receiver who was drafted was 4.46.  A non-drafted receiver was 4.53.  That being said, I’m going to guess that Ryan Swope of Texas A&M will go in the third round.  He ran a 4.34 in the 40, had a 37 inch vertical, and above average bench press.  Plus, he is 6′ and 205 so he has some size.  In the last three drafts, only 2 players who ran in the 4.3′s did not get drafted.  One had a history of injuries (which I didn’t know about) and the other went to a really small school.  Swope comes from a pretty big program and has had Ryan Tannehill and Johnny Football throwing to him.  I think he’ll be fine.

Tight End

I’m going to use this position to guess where Jake Stoneburner is going to go.  The tight end from the Ohio State University ran the third best 40 out of tight ends, 4.65.  He wasn’t targeted much at OSU, but he could catch.  They bulked him up to play tight end.  His other measurables weren’t bad highlighted by running the fastest 20 yard shuttle (4..27).  Suffice it to say, tight ends are hot commodities.  I think he gets in with a sixth round pick.

Tackle

I’ve heard that this draft is weak in skill positions and the “unsexy” positions will probably draft high.  Tackles are highly regarded so I think Lane Johnson of Oklahoma will have a big day.  He ran a 4.72 in the 40 which was second this year, but in the last three years only one other person that I have data on ran faster than a 4.8 and he did get drafted.  Johnson is 6′ 6″ and 303 pounds.  He also had the top 3 cone drill and broad jump scores and second in the vertical jump for tackles.  In fact, he ranked in the top 5 in every measurable among tackles.  I’d be shocked if he drops to the third round, but based on these scores unless he sucked at his position drills, I think he is going in the first round.

Guard

I can’t figure out guards.  I think it might be one of the positions where they really do value game-tape a little more than combine skills.  Jonathan Cooper of North Carolina isn’t super tall (6′ 2″ and 311 pounds), but has some good measurables.  In the last three drafts, 6′ 2″ was the shortest out of the guard prospects and 2 out of those 3 athletes were drafted.  Cooper had the fifth best 40 at 5.07, the second best broad jump at 108 inches, and the second best bench press at 35 reps.  Only one other person in the last three drafts benched more than that, so I gotta think that is highly valued.  I’m going to say a fifth round pick.

Center

Another position that is tough to get a grasp on, but I’m going to start with the guy that had the best numbers across the board, Brian Schwenke, from California.  He had the best 40 among centers at 4.99, plus the best 3 cone drill, broad jump, and second best bench press.  In the past, there have been centers that have had a good mix of speed and strength that haven’t been drafted.  That being said, I’m going to say he goes in the sixth round.

On Thursday, I will go through my defensive choices and then we can sit and wait for the draft to start that evening.

Photo Courtesy of RMTip21 on Flickr

One of the topics this week has been star players in the NBA resting and missing games.  For no other reason than resting up for the playoffs.  Some of them might have some knick knack injuries to let heal, but there is debate about the others.  In particular, Mike Greenberg of Mike and Mike in the morning gets really fired up about this topic insisting that the players should be playing just like they did in the old days.

Fans pay good money for these tickets and should need to see the stars play.

First of all, any fan I talk to usually says they don’t pay any attention to the NBA and if they do, it doesn’t start until the playoffs.  What is the knock on most players who are good, it doesn’t mean anything if they can’t win in the postseason.

It doesn’t bother me if a star player sits in the regular season to prep for the playoffs.  Cry me a river that the one time you go to an NBA game Lebron sits.  Watch a few more regular season games and know a few other players on the court and maybe we can talk.

It is a different day and age than the likes of Larry, Magic, and Michael.

The league has changed since the golden days of the 80′s and even the 90′s.  Most of these players are making way more money than their predecessors and management wants to take care of their investment.  You see this happening in every sport.

Plus, in basketball these kids are playing way more games than what the older generation did.  I know fourth graders that are playing 40 – 50 games in their basketball season.  High schoolers play a regular season of 20 games and maybe an extra 8 or 9 if they get to the state title game.

Tack on AAU season and summer ball and that is a lot of games on the body as these kids are trying to grow.  Kobe Bryant is 34, but he’s in his 17th year of the NBA.  Their bodies are breaking down earlier and earlier.  Remember Tracy McGrady and Jermaine O’Neal.  They’re shells of themselves and they are younger than Kobe.  The body can only take so much.

We also know so much more about the body.  If you have older veterans like Tim Duncan or Kobe Bryant, you should be preserving their minutes throughout the regular season so they can play well in the playoffs.  You can’t run them into the ground like they are in their 20′s and expect them to bounce back.  Even a well conditioned veteran is going to have issues.

Upper management for the Lakers caused Kobe’s injury.

Let’s get back to Kobe.  The Lakers are an older team.  Most of their key players are in their 30′s.  They also have specific skill players that fit well for particular systems.  No offense to Mike D’Antoni, but when he was hired as coach of the Lakers, it was the wrong fit for these players.  His frantic style of offense was going to wear these players down.

I think it did culminating with Kobe’s injury on Friday.  Every key player on the Lakers has missed some time because of injury this season.  Lots of time.  Maybe Kobe would have tore his Achilles anyways, but if he could have averaged less minutes a game and a better system for this team, it might have been different.

Heck, Kobe was being played like a fiend his last games.  45 minutes, 47, 48, 47, 47, 43.  I think March 28 was the last game he played less than 40 minutes and that was 36.  That is an awful lot for a 34 year old to handle.  Upper management should have assessed what they had and picked a better coach (cough…cough Phil Jackson).

Take this lesson for your younger athlete.

This is a topic for another day, but the younger athletes and parents should be aware that the body needs rest and preparation to handle all these games.  A fourth grader should not be playing more basketball games than a high schooler.  Don’t assume that the youth can recover quickly from these games.  Eventually it will take effect.  That is why there is a big increase in youth injuries.  Major youth injuries.

I know you want your athlete to be the best they can be, but step back and assess the situation.  Does he/she need to play one sport year round as a fifth grader with no break into another sport?  The chances of that athlete continuing on to play into college is slim.   Think about that before you sign up for that stud travel team that will travel all over the world and you fork over tons of dough.

Photo courtesy of Keith Allison on Flickr

For today’s post, we will focus on the caloric needs of high school athletes.  When I have athletes that want to address their nutrition, for the most part these athletes want to gain weight.  So, we try to devise and eating schedule based on their class schedule.  Obstacles come up obviously of not eating in the hallways or the classroom, so that leaves lunch to get a decent amount of your calories.  This is where the Act comes in.

The guidelines for the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

Understand that this Act was created to change around the rise in obesity.  They could care less about athletes getting enough energy.  Here is a quick-hitter of some of the guidelines:

• Schools are required to serve both fruits and veggies daily.
• Students must have one fruit and vegetable on their tray and can ask for seconds of both of these items.
• By 2014, all grains offered must be whole grains.
• By 2014, the maximum amount of sodium allowed in a high school lunch will be 740 milligrams (boy they’re going to have to do some serious number calculations to get under that number).
• Flavored milks must be fat free and plain milk low fat.
• The five components of a school meal will be meat/meat alternative, grains, fruits, veggies, and milk.
• Here is the big key.  For high schoolers, their lunches will run between 750 and 850 calories.  The aim was to provide one third of a student’s daily caloric needs.

Personally, I think these parameters are great, but for athletes who need a whole lot of energy for their sport demands, this could be limiting.

How to get the right amount of calories in for your athlete.

It starts with breakfast.  Sleep is important, but for athletes you should get up a little bit earlier to get a quality breakfast in.  You need to get your engine fueled so the metabolism will start firing.

For athletes, a piece of toast won’t suffice.  Change that to a whole grain bagel with peanut butter, add some fruit, and 8 ounces of low-fat chocolate milk will start your day off right with a good mix of carbohydrates and protein.

You need to also get in some mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks.  Something that will be quick.  Maybe it is a peanut butter jelly sandwich, maybe it is a pre-made meal replacement shake that won’t spoil in your locker, or a couple of granola bars.  Whatever it is, you need to add these calorie boosters to your diet to get you to the next meal and keep your energy up.

Figuring out your caloric needs as an athlete.

If you are an athlete, you need to eat more than the average individual.  You are working out or practicing for 2 hours a pop.  That energy has to come from what you are eating.  To determine that number, you really need to talk with a sports dietician.  That goes beyond the scope of what this post is about.

Just remember though, that three squares a day for an athlete just isn’t going to cut it.  For example, I had an athlete who was a cross country runner at 105 pounds.  I have a metabolic machine and Dietmaster™ software that figured out she needed 2700 calories to maintain her energy levels and bodyweight.  A 285 pound football player needed to eat 3700 calories just to drop down to 275, have lower bodyfat, and have the right amount of energy for off-season lifting.

If you are a parent, I would be very happy with this Act.  It was created for the right purposes.  If you are a parent of an athlete, then you should start strategizing where and how you will get other calories in so that your athlete doesn’t bonk out on the playing field.

Photo Courtesy of USDAgov on Flickr

For example, if I’m working with a track athlete and a soccer athlete, my linear development might be similar for those two athletes.  But, when it comes to lateral training, I’m not doing any with the track athlete because all he/she is doing is running around in a circle.  The soccer athlete will be incorporating a decent amount of lateral speed development for obvious reasons.

The tried and true way to improve lateral speed.

You will see a lot of speed programs that utilize all sorts of drills to try and improve lateral quickness.  Whether it be the use of step hurdles, agility ladders, or cone drills, you could spend hours on the amount of drills that are available for one to use.

In fact, I’ve seen that happen.  In a 30 minute session, the speed coach will immediately pull out the agility ladder right after the warm-up.  Then they bust through rep after rep of ladder drills.

“Alright, let’s do a backwards icky shuffle.”  ”Great, now let’s do a cartwheel through the ladder.” “Awesome!”

Don’t get me wrong, I do find some use with the agility ladder, but I don’t think it is the end all be all to developing lateral speed.  In fact, I think developing lateral speed can be as simplistic as developing linear speed.

The nuts and bolts to improving any type of speed.

If you have read any of my blog posts about speed improvement, speed can be developed with two things: running mechanics and strength gains.  That is very simple, but that is what it boils down to.  Whether it is linear or lateral speed improvement, that is the recipe.

Once those two items are addressed, then you can start throwing in some of the sport specific speed/quickness development.  That would probably include ladders or step hurdles to improve that lateral quickness.  It does no good to do those ladder drills if your faulty mechanics are still slowing you down.

Get that core and leg strength improved so that your body can maintain the proper positioning it needs to do those agility drills efficiently and correctly.  If you aren’t correcting that and your mechanics, you might improve your speed a little bit just because you’re reinforcing movement patterns, but it isn’t anything like what it could be.

Improve your lateral speed by doing nothing at all.

Here is my secret for improving lateral speed and quickness: I don’t spend that much time on it.  For me, linear speed is tougher to develop so I spend much of my time doing that.  I improve the mechanics and leg strength to the point where it is almost second nature for them to run efficiently.  I sprinkle in some agility/foot quickness drills and PRESTO, quicker lateral speed.

Here is a good example.  One of our athletes that just finished up our program was wanting to improve his speed for track, but he also played football.  So, for his pre-test we did a T-Test (one of our agility drills testing lateral quickness, forward/backward movement).  During his program we didn’t do any lateral training, no cone drills, nothing that was for lateral movement.  It was all straight ahead development.

When we post tested him, he improved his T-Test from an 8.12 to a 7.37.  We didn’t do the T-Test in our sessions and we did no lateral training.  He basically improved because his running mechanics improved and his strength and power were optimized.  Now, if we were to do some lateral training we would probably make sure his good running mechanics were carrying over properly, but we’ll wait until he’s training for football.

A .75 second improvement on an agility drill for lateral speed doing no lateral drills during his training sessions.  I only have so much time to spend with my athletes.  So, based on what I just showed you, I’m not spending 20 minutes on agility ladders or step hurdles when my athletes can be better served doing other drills that will help their overall speed.  Try it sometime.  You’ll be impressed at how much more you can get in your training session when you are eliminating some non-essential drills.

Photo courtesy of ralphhogaboom on Flickr

That spring sport is track and field.  If you’ve never done track, then this is going to be my sales pitch for you to give it a try.  Yes, I’m biased because I ran track, but I think I provide some convincing arguments for you.  Let’s take a look.

There is something for everybody.

Track and field has many different events and they need a whole bunch of athletes.  But, much like a football team, you need different body types and different kinds of athletes to make a up this team.

If you are blessed with speed, then the sprints and possibly the jumps, might be your events.  If you have some speed and some endurance, then maybe you try the middle distance.  If you have more slow twitch fibers, then you are probably well suited for the distance events.

If you have absolutely no speed, but some nice size and strength, well guess what, we have some throwing events for you.  Like I said, a lot of different events for a lot of different types of athletes.  Pick the events that suits your athleticism and give it a try.

It is a great sport to help your primary sport.

Piggy backing on what I talked about with my last post.  It is the very rare individual that will make it to the professional level, so specialization might be overkill for most athletes.  An athlete might be better served mixing it up and doing a different sport for a couple months so the body doesn’t get overused doing the same movement patterns for that one sport.

Outdoor track is usually 2 – 3 months at most.  It is a good change of pace from your primary sport.  If you love football and you’re a lineman, lifting weights for the throws will still develop your power for football.

If you are a speedy wide receiver, don’t you think training for sprints in track will help improve your speed?  You betcha.

What about a soccer player?  You can improve your endurance by running track and it will be great for getting you in shape and ready for the summer conditioning knowing that fall soccer will start in about two months after the end of the season.

The sportsmanship is great.

When I was in high school, I remember competing against athletes who would call me names, spit at me, try to instigate anything to get under my skin.  I’d see those same athletes at track meets and they couldn’t have been nicer.  It was like they were my best friends.

I never had a moment in track where someone talked trash or was disrespectful.  Everyone was encouraging everyone and congratulating each other.  You still wanted to beat the pants off your opponent, but there was also kudos at the end of a race.  Not always the case in other sports.

One final perk.

There aren’t many sports where males and females compete in their sports at the same venue.  Swimming is one and track is another.  Especially now seeing the form fitting uniforms they wear, it leaves nothing for the imagination.

And I’m talking about the guys.

As a high schooler, it’s a great opportunity to show off in front of the opposite sex.  It’s a great way to meet new people and who knows what happens when your warming up shooting the breeze with someone who looks pretty good from a rival school.

It’s spring now and if you didn’t make your club or travel team, think about participating in track.  Worst case scenario, you run around, get in better shape, and it’s over in about 8 weeks.  Also, your body gets a little rest from its normal sport movements and is recharged for your primary sport when you decide to start up again.

One of the topics that I talked with a few parents about, was basically how much basketball is just right and how much basketball is actually needed.

Some of these athletes were trying out for 3 or 4 teams.  Trying to determine what would be the best fit for them.

What should you look for in a travel team?

Was it important to be part of a strong AAU program that travelled the country?  Or was playing time more important?  What about the coaching?  Do you want your AAU experience to teach the fundamentals or do you just need a coach to be a figurehead to kind of coach you during the games?

I don’t know if we will necessarily have the answers to those questions in this post, but you should be aware of them.  That isn’t all though.

Can you play a second sport if you are doing a travel sport?

What do you do if you want to play a spring sport?  So now you have your athlete playing baseball and then AAU basketball at the same time?  What about the philosophy of many athletic trainers that your body needs to have down time from one sport?

Meaning, you did basketball for four months and your body is used to those movements.  Now, you still stay active, but stop basketball at the end of the season and go to playing your spring sport.  A whole new movement and skill set for your body.  This keeps your body fresh and allows it to not breakdown as fast.

What would I do?

I don’t know yet.  My oldest is getting to the age where I might have to start looking into these travel teams because everybody tells me that’s what you have to do to improve as an athlete.

Of course, I want an athlete to play as many sports as he/she wants to, but at what point do you have to make a decision to narrow those sports down?  I don’t have aspirations that my kid will play in college, but if I don’t do something soon, will that affect whether or not my kid even makes a high school team to enjoy that experience?

I certainly don’t want my kid to play on a travel team just to play on a travel team.  I’ve watched some of these practices and coaches and I don’t think it is time well spent.  My kid is still young enough that what is important to me is developing a skill set.  They don’t need to know how to run a 1-3-1 trap if they can’t even dribble without looking at the ball.

Would I be better served to spend the money I would use for a travel team and put it towards a private coach to develop that skill set?  That is a debate I have back and forth.

Once again, I don’t think I have the answers, but these are the questions that are causing a lot of angst for many parents.  I know fourth graders that have played 38 games over the winter basketball season.  High school teams play 20 games in the regular season and as many as 26 if they make it to the state championships.

That doesn’t make sense to me.  Why are fourth graders (younger developing bodies) playing almost double the games of kids who are on the latter years of their maturity development?

This is the new landscape for youth sports.  It is a business and sometimes the concept of “developing youth” isn’t necessarily at the top of mind.  Hopefully, these questions will get you thinking as well.  I would love to hear what your thoughts are in the comment’s box below.