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We want to congratulate the athletes that prepared for the 2009 NFL Draft with Velocity Sports Performance – Redondo Beach .  Executive Sports Performance Director Ken Vick lead the Redondo Beach coaching staff in preparing top college athletes from around the nation  for the NFL Scouting Combine and their college pro days.  

More and more, coaches and parents are asking the question, "When is it safe for my child to start strength training?" Several other questions such as "What exercises should young athletes perform?" and "How often should they engage in strength training?" quickly follow.  This article is designed to shed some light on these and other questions and dispel some common 'myths' surrounding youth strength training.

Last month’s article discussed how to choose high quality carbohydrates and their positive effect on sustained energy and increased metabolism. Sometimes, though, you are “on-the-go” and are in a bind about where to get high quality fast food. This month’s article will address some simple tips to help you when you are out and about and unable to prepare a home cooked meal.

This Camp Will Teach:   Proper starting position & leg action Deceleration & reacceleration Body control & posture Quickness

Tots will take part in activities that develop fundamental motor skills & coordination while introducing children to the sports of basketball, tee-ball, and soccer.  Each week features exercises, fun drills, and age-appropriate games.

Spring Break Speed & Agility Camp   This Camp Wil Teach: Proper starting position and leg action Deceleration & Reacceleration Body Control & Posture Quickness

Carbohydrates are the main source of fuel for your body. Each gram of CHO contains 4 kilocalories (calories). In general, around 40% of your total caloric intake should come from CHO. Athletes who are training and competing should consume around 6-10 g CHO/ kg of bodyweight.

Baseball and softball season is upon us and now is the perfect time to ensure you’re doing everything possible to keep your throwing arm safe and your performance at a maximum. The most common injuries to all overhead throwing athletes are found in the shoulder, specifically the rotator cuff. What exactly is the rotator cuff, you may ask.

Last month’s article outlined the three keys to nutritional success: quality fuels, proper timing, and maintaining consistency. While these keys are essential to creating a healthy diet and routine, trying to accomplish them all at once will become overwhelming. A great start to developing a healthy nutrition plan is to start with the most important meal of the day: breakfast.

Rachel Shotzbarger is an eighth grader from Arroyo Seco Jr. High who began training at Velocity Sports Performance six months ago to increase her strength and stamina to improve her performance when playing softball. Rachel’s continued hard work here at VSP has earned her the reward of being named Athlete of the Month!

Are you really training for speed?  Pretty simple question isn’t it.  But unfortunately there are a lot of coaches, parents, and athletes alike that while having the intentions of training for speed forgetting the reason.  I have talked with numerous coaches and when I asked them what they do for speed training I get answers that range from we do weighted sled work, to hill sprints, to running a mile or 110s.  All of which, depending on your training level and sport, probably have merit to be used at some point in time during the training cycle.  The key is however to know when, where and how to place them so that they have the greatest impact on speed development.  Below are a few key points to let you know if you are really training for speed or just running to run.

The importance of providing athletes feedback regarding their performance is without question. Unfortunately, a number of feedback traps exist that coaches can fall into. These traps reduce feedback effectiveness or worse, create unintentional consequences that can hinder performance. Here are five common feedback traps that should be avoided.

Once a month at Velocity we have a fitness week. The focus during fitness week is for the athletes to work hard but not have to spend as much time on the technical aspects of performance training. Our coaches’ want the athletes to get as much as possible out of every session, but it is nice for athletes of all levels to have the opportunity to think less and just push themselves and compete with each other.

We want to congratulate the athletes that prepared for the 2009 NFL Draft with Velocity Sports Performance

Our Athlete of the Month for the month of April is Dakota Taylor.  Dakota has been training at Velocity since the middle of January and consistently trains four days a week

The hurdle jump land drill is a designed progression used to improved exactly that, athlete’s jumping and landing capabilities. Landing is an important and frequently overlooked piece of an effective training program. Landing is a very basic form of deceleration, which an athlete must rapidly slow their body under control. Deceleration is actually one of the most used tactics in sports.

DeAndra' Cobb is the Athlete of the Month for the month of March.  DeAndra' is a former and hopefully soon to be again professional football player.  DeAndra' started his college career Antelope Valley Junior College playing football and running track.  DeAndra' then transferred to Michigan State where as a senior running back he played in all 12 games and gained a team high 728 yards on 96 rushing attempts.

The reactive box jump is an advance plyometric exercise that develops biomotor abilities such as reactivity, rate of force development and eccentric strength. These qualities are essential to sports with repeated jumps where it is important not only jump high, but also in a short amount of time. Volleyball, basketball and soccer players benefit from doing this drill, as well as track athletes like long and triple jumpers.

Ever wonder what it feels like to do the training your sons/daughters are doing as you peer past the glass in the lobby of Velocity Sports Performance? Ever think, "Oh I used to do that, that's easy!" or maybe you're thinking, "Wow, that looks really hard I could never do that!"  Whatever's running through your head, it can always be better understood if you've experienced it for yourself!

Over the last couple of years I have noticed a pretty disturbing trend among the athletes we train.  In more and more cases athletes come to us who are specializing in only one sport at such an early age.  Now, I know what some people may be thinking.  The longer they play one sport or position the better they will be at it down the road.  Unfortunately more often than not this is not the case.  Athletes who play only one sport at an early age tend to under-train and over-compete.  With practices numerous days a week and tournaments all weekend long it is no wonder why so many athletes burn-out before they reach their athletic potential. 

Some of you may remember a time when our heroes of the diamond showed up for spring training, overweight and out of shape, and played themselves into shape.  Much was the case on the gridiron as players reported to camp, and in the heat of two-a-days worked their way back into playing form over the course of four or five weeks during the exhibition season.  In my day, a common hockey off-season training program was bailing hay and playing recreational softball in Moose Jaw.  Very few North American players engaged in sophisticated training and almost no one ever skated in the summer time.

Women are more prone than their male counterparts to specific injuries — namely knee injuries like tears of the ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament. A prevention program at the University of Cincinnati is aiming to curb these injuries in women.