Way back when, I was working with a female basketball player who was going to play at an ACC school.  She had just finished her senior year and wanted to get a little prepared for college basketball.

She only gave me about 5-6 weeks to work with her before she was going to report to campus for the summer.  I had my work cut out for me, but I put together a gameplan and started getting this athlete ready.

After about 3 weeks, I decided to have a little chat with her.  Being a high level recruit for basketball, all she had done was play ball.  She got named to the All-State team, thus always better than her competition so she was never pushed.

I told her the effort she was giving me wasn’t going to cut it at this ACC school.  She was entering a conference where UNC and Maryland had both won the NCAA title and Duke had been to the Final Four.  This was not your typical country bumpkin high school athlete she was used to playing with or against.

She just smiled and mentioned something that her game will be good enough to get her to where she needs.  The training we were doing was just to get through the fitness testing.

She ended up having a nice college basketball career, just not at that ACC school.  She transferred after two years to a school more her speed and in a smaller conference.  And she thrived in it.

The point is that no matter how good you think you are at the high school level, you must prepare yourself for the better athletes and higher intensity at the college level.  But females especially have to be that much more prepared than their male counterparts.  Partly because during their high school career they never sniff the weight room.

One of my athletes currently runs for the Ohio State track team.  Anthony Glass is the head strength and conditioning coach for Olympic sports at OSU.  I talked with him recently and he had mentioned how it was refreshing that a female track runner came into college already knowing how to do the power movements.  And do them very efficiently.

Being good at the sport just isn’t enough for the female athlete.  In order to be ready to go at the collegiate level, she should be proficient in the following areas:

  • She should have baseline core strength and stability. This helps with other lifts, reduce injuries in that area, and help stabilize the torso in sprinting to keep proper positioning.
  • The female athlete should have a background in plyometrics. Knee injuries are occurring at a scary high rate for female athletes, especially those in basketball and soccer.  Plyometric training teaches the female athlete how to land properly which will help protect the knee during sharp cuts and change of direction.
  • The female athlete needs to be proficient in basic strength training movements. She can’t enter college having not seen a weight room before.
  • Once she is proficient in those strength training movements, she needs to have a baseline strength. Bodyweight push-ups and pull-ups and doing them correctly are a must.
  • To be able to do a lot of movements correctly, the female athlete must have a good range of motion in all directions. Meaning, she should have a fair amount of functional flexibility.
  • Finally, the female athlete needs to have a general level of fitness, not just for her sport, but in general. Doing different types of training from interval training, to short and long distance work, to acceleration and change of direction drills will benefit all athletes no matter what the sport.

It is great that female athletes are awesome at their sports.  There is no denying that is what got them the ability to play in college.  But, their athletic development is being hindered by not being proficient in the areas mentioned earlier.

Do your female athlete a favor and start getting her overall athleticism enhanced.  From the simple fact it could help prevent injuries should be the number one reason why.  Blowing away the competition would be icing on the cake.