[wpfblike] Tomorrow I’ll be in Louisville and kicking off the first IYCA International Summit. More than 200 attendees from all over the world will be there. And I admit that this is going to be an emotional time for me. I founded the IYCA back in 2003. Released it to market in late 2005. The struggles have been many and the uphill climb steep. But I wouldn’t have changed even one experience.
Training Teaching And Coaching Young Athletes
[wpfblike] Coaching Young Athletes Do you Teach or Train and deliver great coaching young athletes? If you are like most coaches and trainers I am familiar with, you likely ‘train’ your athletes as a means to elicit biomotor improvement. You work on various forms of sprints and jumping in order to develop ‘blazing speed’. You lift weights or perform bodyweight exercises to increase ‘mammoth strength’. You set out cones and have your young athletes practice elaborate movement drills as a way of improving their ‘stealth-like agility’. These types of exercises in themselves are.. More »
Kids Fitness Programs: Should They Really Lift Weights?
Developing The Perfect Kids Fitness Program The commonly held belief that strength training for kids is dangerous to the growth plates is simply not accurate provided that appropriate guidelines are followed with respect to, specifically, exercise execution. In fact, improved sport performance, increased muscular endurance and enhanced bone strength are all likely benefits of resistance training for children. More over, an increased need for correct kids fitness programs due to the rigors of a typical soccer, football or baseball game place far more of a strain on the structures of kids than does a well-executed lift. In.. More »
You’re Destroying Young Athletes
Young Athletes Programming One of my favorite things to do is chat with the ‘big name’ trainers in our industry about programming, speed training, strength development or flexibility for young athletes. Sometimes, in the middle of a casual conversation about nothing at all related to conditioning, I will switch gears in an instant and turn the discussion to something related to training. And that’s just what I did with superstar trainer, Alwyn Cosgrove this past weekend. Alwyn and I are good friends, so it’s not really unusual for us to be chatting about sports or family late in the afternoon on Saturday. “Ya, baseball.. More »
Youth Sports Conditioning Tip of the Week
Ever thought about “sub-specializing”? Youth Sports Conditioning Niche That’s when you narrow down your scope from being a ‘specialist’ in one specific demographic to a ‘specialist’ in one specific portion of that demographic. Rather than being a specialist in Youth Fitness or Youth Sports Conditioning Training, you become a specialist in Youth Soccer Conditioning, for example. At first, it may seem scary to isolate yourself this far down into a market niche, but I assure you that the pay-off can actually be tremendous. I started thinking about this last night.
Secrets to Young Athlete Rentention
Here’s a brief look at the IYCA Young Athlete system – 1) Young Athlete Training SYSTEM, not Training Session School is a ‘system’ that takes years to go through. Parents understand that and are more than willing to pay and commit their kids into a program that develops them over time and through progressive phases. This is your selling point for a young athlete. 2) Per MONTH Fee, Not Per Session Payments Lock the young athlete in for longer durations by having them commit to between 4 – 12 month training packages in.. More »
How Do Young Athletes Learn?
[wpfblike] Young Athletes Development Tips Developing young athletes is not based solely on a given conditioning coach’s understanding of scientifically valid measures of motor stimulus, strength training or flexibility exercises. In fact, it could be argued that given all of the critical information contained in this textbook on exercise selection, methodology and sensitive period development, successful coaches will be the ones who can teach and relay information to young athletes well, more so than the coach who merely reads and digests the scientific information offered via clinical research. The science of developing young athletes, then, is.. More »
Special Discount for Brian’s Birthday
“Always treat the people well who treat you well, Brian”. Words my father used to say to me growing up. If you’ve read my newsletters for any amount of time, you’re likely used to me talking about my Dad. Great man. In every sense of the word. 80 years old and energetic as ever. Always smiling. Always singing an upbeat tune (usually in Italian!). Always finding the good things in life. He’s been my inspiration for many years now. And that’s true of virtually everyone in my family. My.. More »
Top 2 Factors in Becoming A World Class Youth Fitness Coach
[wpfblike] Youth Fitness Coach Factor #1 1) Understanding How to Communicate It’s imperative that you assess your young athletes personality type and temperment prior to each training session. On a given day, the stress of teenage life could alter your young athletes mood dramatically. If you aren’t aware of that, then you could be offering instruction to someone who just isn’t listening at all. Engage each of your young athletes in an informal, yet important conversation prior to your training session. Ascertain how they’re feeling about life in general.
Why Test Young Athletes?
[wpfblike] Young Athletes Performance How to test a group of young athletes has become a popular ‘discussion board’ question recently. I have seen this query raised on several prominent websites and have been asked about it a great deal over the past few months as well. Thus… my desire to touch on this subject. The common curiosity surrounds how to test absolute strength ability via 1, 4 or 8 RM (rep maximum). The thought process is that once a trainer or coach has a baseline measurement of a given athletes strength capacity, they can deduce two specific.. More »
Youth Conditioning Programs Tip of the Week
[wpfblike] Youth Conditioning Programs Why hold on to the ‘norm’? What’s the point of doing what everyone else always has? Case in point. I’ve worked with literally dozens of different high schools over the past several years and almost always have been asked to ‘add’ to there already existing programs rather than re-create a system that I know will work better. It takes time, but eventually the Coaching staff come to learn that my style of athletic development works better than what they currently have and turn the reigns completely over to me. .. More »
Youth Fitness Training and Business Thoughts: Day 1 Was a Success…
[wpfblike] Youth Fitness Training lessons from Obama Yesterday I wrote about the ‘winds of change’ as Barack Obama took office as President of the United States. Did you catch any of the headlines or stories about what he did in his first day on the job? Without going into any details, simply put, he made changes. And whether you like his politics or not, he promised change and on Day 1, certainly delivered. Now, here’s what I like about that…. He sent a clear and defining message that he intends to take action… More »
The Winds of Change
Today is a landmark day in American history. Political idealogy aside, Barack Obama takes office as President of the United States. Some view this as good and others bad. But no matter your political viewpoint, it truly represents a sense of newness. Not because of the color of his skin or the fact that his governmental policies are substantially different than any American leader in the past. Simply because for the first time in the eight years a new person sits at the helm of this country, directing our collective ambitions and providing a plan to.. More »
Your Passion is Revealing
In particular order, here’s what I’m doing with myself in 2009 – 1) Go 6 – 0 as a Boxer I’ve competed in martial arts since I was a kid, but haven’t boxed since I was a teenager. I decided in late 2008 to find myself a boxing coach and train hard. My first fight is scheduled for February and I will have my promoter book me for 5 more over the course of this year. 6 – 0 is lofty…. But I intend to do it! 2) Buy a Harley Davidson .. More »
Youth Fitness Industry Watch This Video
[wpfblike] Youth Fitness Industry Register now and stop making the mistake of waiting for success to come to you… http://www.iyca.org/2009summit ** Here are some essential Summit details to answer your questions below*** IYCA International Summit Friday, February 20th – Saturday, February 21st 9am – 5pm EST both days Louisville, Kentucky IYCA Bonus Workshop "How To Run Profitable Speed Clinics & Camps" Sunday, February 22nd 9am – 1pm EST Louisville, KY Click Here to Register for the Bonus Workshop The Youth Fitness Industry IYCA International Summit is being.. More »
Exercise Programs For Kids: Tip of the Week
[wpfblike] Exercise Programs For Kids From The IYCA I had a great conversation today with brilliant and passionate IYCA Member, Billy Corbett. He mentioned that while tooling around on the IYCA website, something caught his eye that he knew he had seen before, but never really paid close attention to – The photograph of me running around and playing with a group of small children. "It occurred to me that I should be doing more stuff like that, Brian" Billy told me over the phone. "Is that kind of coaching a good idea when working.. More »
Fitness Training For Youth: What More Do You Need To Hear ?
[wpfblike] Fitness Training For Youth Is Booming Short and to the point. I may even say something that offends you. But in the end, trust me when I say you need to hear this… You don’t make enough money. You simply don’t earn what you’re worth. That’s not a matter of greed or indulgence. It’s just a fact. The fitness training for youth and youth sport training niche is the fastest growing portion of our entire industry. Worth more than $4 billion annually in the United States alone. .. More »
Athlete Development Business Success Tips: My Training & Business Mentors
[wpfblike] Athlete Development Business Success Sometimes I enjoy writing about the ‘training’ aspects of Athlete Development, youth fitness and sport development. Other times I like writing about the ‘business’ angles. Today, I feel inspired to talk a little bit about both. Over the years, my philosophies and thoughts about training young athletes have changed significantly. These changes were the result of learning a new concept or trying a new idea. I read books. Watched DVD’s. Listened to speakers at live conferences. I continue to do so even to this day… More »
Kids Fitness: My 15% Rule
[wpfblike] Kids fitness Education Success I spend 75% of my time with resources from trusted names I know are great kids fitness trainers. I spend 15% of my time with resources from trainers I have never heard of. I spend 10% of my time with resources that I completely disagree with. This system has been the secret to my success. In my 10% category, I force myself to learn something about a training philosophy or exercise program that, at face value, I have no use for. How different is that from most.. More »
The Young Athlete That Changed My Life
[wpfblike] Young Athlete Inspires His Coach… This story is going to change your day. It may even change your perspective permanently. I’m going to tell you about Tom – the young athlete who changed my life. Exactly 7 years, 3 months and 5 days into my career as an Athletic Development Specialist, Tom walked into my training center with his Mom. I had been prompted on the phone the week before. “Tom had an accident when he was a child” I was told by Tom’s mother. “He is a very bright boy,.. More »