Velocity Sports Performance Official Website

The concept of sports performance training is relatively new.  When it comes to younger athletes there are many rumors and misconceptions regarding what athletes really require to improve.  Listed below are some common ideas and buzzwords used in sports training and the myths and facts behind them.

Sports Specificity:  Most parents and athletes want a program tailored to them.  They hear about how this MLS star or that NFL player has a personal trainer taking them through a sport specific routine.  The reality is sport specificity is the countless hours of practice you perform with the coach for your sport.  For soccer, there is nothing more specific going to be done in a weight room or training floor that is not getting done on the soccer field.  In contrast, the sports performance program should serve as your “cross-training” tool to help correct the imbalances created by sports participation.  The biomechanics of motion and the physiology of the body are constant regardless of the sport, where the impact of off-field training has the best influence is on injury prevention for sport and overall athleticism increases for participants.

Injury Prevention in Sports:  One of the main benefits of enrolling in a strength and conditioning plan is to reduce the risk of injury.  Strength and movement training has become a huge component of most athletes’ programs at almost every level of competition; however, injury rates amongst competitive younger athletes are on the rise.  There are several reasons for this contradiction: a rush to compete at younger ages without full understanding of basic movement skills, a lack of general “play” in younger kids, less physical education requirements in elementary and secondary schools, and unskilled trainers teaching inappropriate programs.  Basically, kids are not being taught how to run and jump, but we expect them to play national level tournaments for their sport.  Our program will focus on teaching proper biomechanics of motion which has been suggested by the NCAA as the most necessary component to programs to help reduce the risk of injury in young athletes.

When do you begin exercise programs?  Athletes acquire different skills at different times, movement patterns are set between 8-10; flexibility is set after puberty; strength comes with maturity – peak strength is usually early to mid 20’s, coordination is developed 7-10.  Our body is primed to learn movement skills when we are young and if we learn and utilize these movement patterns the athlete will be faster, more efficient and less prone to injury.

Each lesson taught by the coaches at Velocity Sports Performance emphasizes the core values of our program…speed, power and agility.  Each sports performance lesson consists of the following components:

 

Ø  Warm-up and Dynamic Flexibility

Ø  Coordination and Repetitive Running Drills

Ø  Assigned Speed Development Lesson

Ø  Muscle Conditioning

Ø  Core Exercise and Injury Prevention