Youth Sports Conditioning Goal Confusion – Part 2

[wpfblike] Youth Sports Conditioning Principles Soccer is no different than any other sport at the youth level – and I am not inferring that anyone suggested otherwise – but every youth coach of every sport, seems to think that the technical nuances of their sport are some how more intricate or specialized than the skills of other sports… and that is not the case. And you can replace ‘Soccer’ with ‘Baseball’, ‘Basketball’ or any other sport in the above paragraph. The point of the Goal Confusion article can be summed up in one sentence – .. More »

IYCA Tip of the Week

Young Athletes and speed training Maybe this is something you don’t need to hear. But then again, maybe it’s something you really need to hear. I say that because we all ‘seem’ to know it, but then whenever I have a conversation with a Coach or Trainer about the topic, I see the same mistakes being made over and over again. So here it is bluntly – Speed Training should not produce fatigue in your young athletes. Again, it’s a ‘fact’ that every Coach and Trainer seems to understand from a theoretical perspective, but.. More »

The Business of Coaching Young Athletes

[wpfblike] Coaching Young Athletes Is Not Enough It never stops amazing me how much ignorance floats around our Coaching Young Athletes industry. I really don’t mean that in a bad way, but the crassness of the comment is something I need you to take note of. "Just become a great Coach. That’s all you’ll ever need to make a living in this field" "Be the best Coach possible and clients will flock to you" Are you fully aware how wrong and untrue that is? Without question, becoming the very best Coach.. More »

Youth Sports Training: Do You Confuse Your Young Athletes?

Youth sports training with kids You could open an interesting debate with respect to teaching sporting skills to kids. I did last week during a presentation I gave to area basketball coaches. Some trainers and coaches have decided that the skills required to achieve a certain task should be taught from the beginning. Others believe in the concept of motor patterning – allowing the young athlete to find his or her own way of achieving a task. The debate gets even trickier when you factor in the varying nuances and therefore objectives of different sports. .. More »

Fitness Training For Youth Flexibility vs. Mobility

[wpfblike] Fitness Training For Youth What is the difference between Flexibility and Mobility? Well, sometimes this is a confusing issue, as these terms are often used interchangeably. Mobility (also known in some circles as active flexibility) is where we’re talking about CONTROL of the body through a larger range of motion. The muscle group says “I want to move, and I can.” The contrast is passive flexibility, where an outside force will be asking the question, “Can I stretch you?”, and the muscle says “Yeah, I guess so”. There is no skill here, and it is my.. More »

Steroids in Youth Sports

[wpfblike] Youth Sports and Performance Enhancing Drugs Should we just say enough? Legalize steroid use at the professional and Olympic level of sport. They’re going to be used anyway. Just make it legal and stop the madness of masking agents, scandals and cover-ups. What do I really think? Not a chance. Kids deserve mentors who speak with a degree of common sense. We make it "okay" at one level, the connotation is that it’s "okay" in general. Yeah, it’s a headache and, quite frankly, a topic I’m growing weary of.. More »

Children’s Fitness: 3 Career Tips

[wpfblike] Children’s fitness is what your missing Without pulling punches or beating around the bush, I’m going to give you a straight look at something today. Why you need to become a Youth Fitness Specialist through the IYCA. Do yourself a favor and read this entire post – it’s short, succinct and very much to the point. But the impact it could have on your career is tremendous. Reason # 1 – Belong to Something Bigger As a Fitness Professional and Coach, your career is very much an isolated one. Yes.. More »

Exercise Programs For Kids and The Art Of Teaching Speed

Exercise Programs For Kids Speed Training One of my favorite things to teach, both to young athletes as well as Coaches, is the mechanics of speed. Deceleration techniques specifically. And that’s because speed is seldom taught as a skill at all. Usually, the ‘speed work’ of a training session consists of some hurdles, cones, sprinting and ‘plyo’ exercises with little attention being paid to form or function. Simply put, we don’t often TEACH speed and respect it in the way we should. Young athletes can (and should) be taught how to become faster and more.. More »

The Trouble with High School Athletes

[wpfblike] High School Athletes Training Programs Okay… So the ‘trouble’ really isn’t with high school athletes, per say, it’s with the training programs they’re often forced to use. And frankly, they don’t know any better. But then again, neither do many high school Coaches. Not a targeted shot, just reality. So here are some of the problems I’ve seen – 1) Train Versus Teach From Day 1, many incoming high school athletes are asked to ‘perform’. Using lifts they are often unfamiliar with and receiving little to no technical instruction, they.. More »

How to Become a Leader in Athlete Development

[wpfblike] Athlete Development Leaders Leadership is something that gets spoken about quite a bit in the fitness, athlete development and sport training world. But what is a leader? What are leadership qualities? I found it interesting when thinking about the tone and content of this article to realize that we often completely misunderstand the word as well as its meaning. We always think of ‘leadership’ as the ACT of being in charge of a group and perhaps becoming their mentor. But upon reflection, I had an awakening. True leadership isn’t simply about.. More »

Kids Fitness Certification: Weekend Food for Thought

[wpfblike] "It felt more like a family gathering than a conference" Carlos Alvarez, one of the tremendous speakers from my Summit two weekends ago in Louisville, wrote that on his blog just three days after the Summit concluded. And he’s right. Nick, Pat, Sara and myself go out of our way to create a ‘family- oriented’ feel about the IYCA. It’s not self-serving. We don’t do it because we think it’s going to get us more ‘sales’. We do it because we think it’s necessary. Fitness Professionals are a fragmented group… More »

Kids Fitness Professionals: 3 Words to Change Your Life

[wpfblike] Kids Fitness coaching principles Here they are –   1) Integrity   Personal honor, consistence in applying your personal values to every action.   Every young person I train is important.   They require and deserve attention and my very best.   In the highest value of integrity, I care deeply about every single young athlete I have ever worked with and given them everything I had in order to make them better.   I applied the same sense of integrity when creating the IYCA.  

Youth Sports Conditioning: Juan Carlos Santana Speaks…

Youth Sports Conditioning Juan Carlos is the director and CEO of the Institute of Human Performance in Boca Raton Florida. His training methodologies have been successfully applied to the full spectrum of the population; youth, geriatrics, rehabilitation and elite athletes. He has authored numerous articles, books and videos, on various topics involving optimum physical performance. We wanted to hear from him and his thoughts on youth sports conditioning IYCA: What’s your background in youth sports conditioning and athletics? Have you trained a lot of young athletes? JC: I’ve been a competitive athlete for over 3 decades. I.. More »

IYCA Summit Videos on Facebook

As promised in yesterday’s video message, I wanted to give you the link so that you can see the IYCA Fan Page on FaceBook Click Here to go to the IYCA Fan Page on FaceBook Oh… And BE SURE to become a Fan!! Read what attendees had to say. Look at the photos. And without question, watch the three short videos we’ve had posted. It will give you a brief glimpse at how truly special this event was. If you were there live, be sure to watch the videos anyways. I enjoy.. More »

3 Tips to Becoming a World-Class Athlete Development Coach

Athlete Development Coaching Tips Read carefully. But don’t forget…. I want to hear what you have to say. Be sure to leave your comments….. 1) Read, Listen and Watch Read books. Listen to CD’s and audio’s. Watch great athlete development Coaches do what they do best. But here’s the key (and it’s something I very seldom hear anyone else mention)… Don’t just learn from the stuff or professionals you agree with. We all like to be validated and stay in a relative comfort zone in terms of our knowledge base, but.. More »

Youth Fitness Trainer or Coach

Youth Fitness Professionals Personal Trainer = Someone who works with a client to plan or implement an exercise or fitness program. Coach = Someone who gives instruction, advice or direction. As defined by Webster’s Dictionary. Much has been discussed about my use of the term ‘Coach’ in favor or the word ‘Trainer’ when describing myself as well as IYCA certified professionals. And I have been asked many times why I have such a strong inclination towards the one versus the other. Re-read the definitions above and you should be able to figure it out for.. More »

Why We Confuse Our Young Athletes

[wpfblike] Young Athletes Correct Coaching Soccer is no different than any other sport at the youth level – and I am not inferring that anyone suggested otherwise – but every youth coach of every sport, seems to think that the technical nuances of their sport are some how more intricate or specialized than the skills of other sports… and that is not the case.   And you can replace ‘Soccer’ with ‘Baseball’, ‘Basketball’ or any other sport in the above paragraph.   Goal Confusion for young athletes can be summed up in one sentence –   Coaches.. More »

Youth Fitness Certification With The IYCA Family

[wpfblike] Youth Fitness Certification It’s impossible for me to go back to business as usual today.   So I’m not even going to bother trying.   The IYCA Summit has left Nick, Pat, Sara and myself in a dream-like state that has proven tough to shake.   So much energy.   So much passion.   So much drive.   The experience has reminded me of a conversation I had with a good friend and colleague of mine back in 2003 when I first incorporated the IYCA.   “Look at what all the other youth fitness certification are.. More »