Personal training for high school athletes

If you train high school athletes this will get you thinking about your value to the high school athlete. I can understand both perspectives for the personal coach and team coach. At the end of the day, it is about what is the most beneficial for the student athlete. 

I have had the pleasure of working with quite a few high school athletes and teams over the years and I have seen the good and the bad. I have seen coaches who did not understand athletics training athletes inappropriately (in my opinion) and I have seen coaches poorly condition and prepare their athletes (in my opinion). I have also had overzealous parents who thought that this is what their athlete needed, when in fact that athlete needed a rest and not to train 7 days a week.

Any good coach or trainer will take the time to talk with the athlete about their goals, understand their personal and training history and observe their movements. I agree that a lot of schools utilize a cookie cutter strength program that is not appropriate for every member of the team. Whoever is running the program needs to understand human movement, and athletics in general, as well as how to assess a movement and progressions/regressions. Tossing a player into a poorly organized and controlled program is a recipe for poor results. If a personal coach is able to work with athletes and improve their form, movement, strength and speed then they have a role. But, let’s also keep this in perspective, great athletes will be great athletes regardless of who they train with. The main thing is to keep them healthy and gradually progress them. Too often these athletes are pushed farther and farther because of their raw athleticism and the basic patterns are ignored. In this instance, the training is inappropriate, regardless of who is in charge of it.

Is there a place for the personal coach, I think so. As long as they keep the long term health and goals of the player in mind when developing a program to maximize their performance and decrease their injury risk.

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/high-school/personal-trainers-for-prep-athletes-is-there-value-br.html?eid=277204494&bid=1156965

 

Military vs. Corporate leadership

This is a pretty powerful article that discusses why leadership in the military is different that leadership in corporate America. The big take-away? Sacrifice.

 

Military leaders put their team before themselves and the welfare of the team comes first. By showing service toward his followers, the leader establishes a feeling of trust and camaraderie amongst the group. When things are getting tough, they know that their leader has their back, and they have his (hers). 

 

In corporate America, too much stress is placed on competition among the team that leads to distrust, infighting and politics. When this happens, leadership has been ineffective. It has created a culture that detracts from the purpose of the group/department/organization and erodes trust. In this dog-eat-dog culture, the strongest, most manipulative survive and the cycle continues.

 

To truly become a leader means to stand in front of your team and take the hits. You are the one they are counting on to have their back and their best interests in mind. If you can’t do that, then don’t expect them to have yours.

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-managers-act-like-military-leaders-2015-8?nr_email_referer=1&utm_content=BISelect&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_campaign=BI%20Select%20%28Wednesday%20Friday%29%202015-08-14&utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select

 

Leadership tips

The state of management and leadership is, and has been, in trouble in the United States. One of the reasons why is a lack of communication from leadership to their staffs.

 

Take a few minutes to read this short article on the top 5 mistakes that leaders make. Then, use it as a guideline to do well in those areas. You will notice an improvement in communication, staff collaboration, and engagement. Don’t focus all your time on achieving goals, interpersonal relationships and a sense of belonging are important, too.

 

https://hbr.org/2015/06/the-top-complaints-from-employees-about-their-leaders?utm_campaign=Socialflow&utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet

Full contact practice and concussion risk

The research on head impacts continues to propagate, with this new study raising some interesting questions on the impact of full contact practices on concussion risk.

 

It seems that full contact practices produce head impacts that are equal to the ones sustained in a game. This means that athletes may be receiving hard hits to the head multiple times per week. The NFL cut back on the number of days that teams could have full contact practice and have noted a decreased concussion rate vs. college football.

 

While, this is not yet definitive, it does suggest that more studies should be performed comparing the injury rates of teams with different number of full contact practice days over the course of the season.

 

I applaud the researchers for trying to find ways to make sports more safe.

 

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/athlete-safety/study-full-contact-football-practices-increase-head-injury-risk.html?eid=277204494&bid=1143339

 

Role of athletics in academics

We take sports for granted in North America and it is an ingrained aspect of our high school culture. Now a school board is looking to determine just what the role is for the athletics program in the district, and I think this is a great idea. 

 

There have been several studies that have assessed the link between physical activity and higher test scores and attendance in school, but much less has been done on sports (or any after school program) and higher test scores. I applaud this district for undertaking the research to determine just what the culture of the sports program is, who is participating (or not participating) and just what the link is between participation and other quantifiable assessments such as test scores, GPA, etc.

 

The results of this should be illuminating, not only for the school district, but for others. Understanding what exactly occurs with the athletics program and the development of the students can lead to more funding, participation and appreciation for the role of athletics in high schools.

 

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/more-news/school-board-ponders-sports-role-in-academic-success-br.html?eid=277204494&bid=1138672