I wanted to continue the drawing out of my philosophy for Strength and Conditioning. For those of you who have not read the previous two blogs over the past couple weeks I have expounded upon the philosophy for athletic training that I wrote for my position at King’s Ridge Christian School. The second piece that I expanded on last week was about our necessity and intentionality toward injury prevention. You can check that article out here.
The second point of three in our written philosophy is a intentional development of athleticism as primary. Many schools, gyms, and trainers can get caught in the trap of developing an athlete for one specific sport or one specific skill at the cost of developing them as an athlete. I have a couple of thoughts and opinions on this specific trend that we are seeing across our country over the last decade but first I’d like to give you all the entire paragraph I wrote for the schools manual.
“Develop Athleticism: Athleticism is a person’s ability to physically accomplish the task set before them with excellence and precision. During the formative years of high school sports, athletes need most to develop well-rounded, function athleticism. Specializing in specific movement at the cost of ignoring other key developers is both a recipe for injury and a poor foundation for their athletic life after high school. The strength and conditioning program aims to create athletes that are multi-faceted in their ability and capacity knowing that many of our athletes will need to excel in multiple sports year round. We will not train them to be specifically good at one thing and instead take a much broader view of sport in our development of the athlete as a whole. Athleticism is the necessary base excellence in any sport and thus our aim is always to develop athletes.“
I want to focus on two specific points as to why, in the weight room and in the strength conditioning department, we have decided to focus on developing athleticism rather than developing sport specific athletes.
The first and primary reason I have decided to develop athleticism is because developing sport specific athletes is a job that sits firmly on the shoulders of the sport specific coaches. At the middle school and high school level I have almost no athletes who are one sport athletes. Especially inside of GHSA-A private Christian high school most athletes play multiple sports. Therefore, developing them during season for their sport specifically always comes at the immediate disadvantage to the other sports they play. For that reason, balancing them as a whole athlete on a constant in-season program is the best way to see overall growth in the athletics program and in the athlete’s multi-faceted sport choices. If all I ever did was develop my athletes for the sport they were currently playing then their growth would be delayed and inhibited as I would have to change strategy, focal points, and workout styles pending the season they were in. Ultimately, this would put a regulator on the amount they could improve over the course of their high school and middle school career. On the flip-side, if I picked up a seventh-grade athlete and began developing his overall athleticism from seventh grade then by the time he graduated I can guarantee that he would not only excel at every sport that he put his mind to but he would be well-prepared to excel at any sport he was asked to compete in. Athletes make great players. Therefore, developing a school full of athletes makes that school’s athletic program superior. Not to mention one of the best developers of athleticism is the Olympic lifts and I kinda have a bias towards them.
This focus ultimately allows me to develop every athlete the same, give them a well-rounded base from which to be developed, and hand coaches extraordinary athletes, which allows those sport-specific coaches to develop their skills. We’ll talk more about this in next week’s final post but the overall development of an athletic program requires cooperation between the strength and conditioning field and sport-specific coaches. My job is to develop their athletes strength, power, and movement. Their job is to develop their skills. More to come on that.
The second reason I believe my time is best spent developing these students as well-rounded athletes focuses on the future. There’s a trend that has taken over this country in the last decade. Recently, parents have been specializing their children at a very early age and pigeonholing them into one sport. Obviously, these parent’s intentions are great as they desire for their kid to be exceptional at this one sport. The problem with this approach is that it is extremely shortsighted. Between the ages of 8 and 18, a child’s body is changing so much that it is an absolute necessity that they develop an ability to move and play in multiple anatomical planes. Developing a child to be really good at one very narrow, specialized sport prevents the development of their muscular and skeletal system and overall athleticism. Take a child who, for instance, was focused on baseball from six years old and was only ever focused on baseball. This child attended baseball specific strength and conditioning camps. He attended summer-long batting camps. He was personally trained by a baseball specific trainer. For 12 years of his life he operated and excelled inside of the baseball world.
What happens the second he is asked to use a skill or use a joint or use his muscles in a way that has not been developed? One of two things happens at this point. First, and most likely, he incurs an injury. The much weaker, less developed parts of his body could not stand up to the task required of it. This is especially true if he tries to move at the high intensity that he is used to competing at. Because of his narrow, specialized training his lack of development has led to an injury. The second scenario is a little less likely but also a reality. Instead of his body operating as it was designed and completing the task asked of it, his over-developed muscle groups and strength patterns compensate for the weaker ones. This creates numerous imbalances and allows for the perpetual weakness found in the underdeveloped parts of his body. Those imbalances will, later in life, come back to create problems as he ages. Well-rounded athletes live healthier lives for longer and because of their overall development are able to complete tasks required of them in a much more balanced manner for the longevity of their lives. I’ve chosen to develop these students as well-rounded athletes not only for their success now but for the quality of their life later. Athletes who are given a great foundation to develop from at an early age turn out to be the parents who are able to throw the football with their kids and grandkids at age 50 and the also grandparents who are going for a jog with their daughter at 70 years old. Not only is it important to look at the success of their athletic career in high school and college but also to look at the success of their life much farther down the road.
I recognize that some of you reading this are probably are shaking your head as you cannot just develop athleticism and expect athletes to adapt successfully on the field of play. They have to be developed with specific skills designed specifically for the sport in order to excel in high school and especially beyond high school. I recognize this and it was built into my philosophy. However that’s the third point. I will develop that piece next week.