One of the frequently asked questions that we get is if we can train your particular athlete for whatever sport they are playing.  My simple answer is yes, but it is more complicated than that.

If you want to do training for a particular sport, you should really do it for more mature athletes i.e. late high school athletes or older.  Their bodies have already gone through a lot of the developmental stages of an athlete – nervous system adaptations, muscular movement adaptations, etc.

But, for us, that isn’t the average age of our clientele.  Our average clientele are still growing.  They aren’t fully mature.  If that is the case then are we going to train them specifically for a sport?

Not really.

These younger kids (I’m talking 10 – 15 years old give or take) need to get as much exposure to as many different athletic moves as they can.  The muscles need to feel it all so their muscle fibers can adapt to as much as they can.

This reason and this reason alone is why sport specification at a young age is not good.  You don’t want these young athletes to start doing the exact same movement patterns 24/7/365.  If the muscles aren’t moved in as many ways possible, then strength and flexibility imbalances develop.

When this happens, it can affect your movement patterns and lead to injuries.

So how do we train the athlete then?

Basically, if we have a young athlete that is runner for example, does cross country and/or track, then yes, we will do some linear drills, but we will sprinkle in some lateral drills as well.  

Yes, when you run, you probably are not doing a lot of cutting or change of direction.  But, if we can start doing some change of direction with these runners, it will recruit muscles in movements that they aren’t used to doing.  

The hope is when they start firing in ways they aren’t used to, it develops them better.  When they go back to doing their normal events, the muscles will now be firing more effectively and powerfully.  Plus, by having them do different drills that they aren’t used to doing, it will help prevent injuries by limiting imbalance development.

I won’t specifically train them for a particular sport.  But, by addressing the athletic development and training them for drills that have no direct correlation to their sport, we feel it will make them better for their sport in the long run.

So, if your athlete is a young-un, then we won’* do a lot of drills specifically for their sport.  But, the way we will train the overall athleticism, that will in turn make them a whole lot better for their sport in the long run.  And any other sport that they will pursue.

Photo courtesy of Fort Rucker on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortrucker/