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The Leaders In
Youth Fitness & Sport Training Education
In This Issue...
> How Will Coaches
Argue Now? - by, Brian
Grasso
> Improving Your
40 Yard Dash Time - by, Chris Scarborough
How Will
Coaches Argue Now?
For years, I have had to put up
with youth sport coaches and parents echoing the words and mimicking
the behaviors of successful coaches such as Vince Lombardi and Mike
Ditka.
True.
You can't argue with the success those
guys had.
But do you really think that yelling at 10-year old
football players for making a 'bad play' or chastising 12-year old
soccer players for 'missing a shot' is the best and most sane way to
coach kids?
Unfortunately, my arguments have fallen on deaf
ears more than once over the past decade.
I just couldn't
make youth sport coaches realize that aggressive and negative
behavior can be damaging to young athletes, and that a primary
reason why so many kids drop out of sports at an early age is
because of the often abusive treatments they get from their
coaches.
"But", the coaches would tell me, "Look at how Ditka
treated his players... and you can't argue with his
success".
"You've got a point", I would grudgingly admit,
"But Ditka was dealing with adults, we're talking about kids
here".
Ha... I got 'em now. No come back on that
point...
Or so I hoped...
"Whatever, Brian. You show
me someone at the elite level who is as successful as Ditka,
Lombardi or Bill Parcels, and I'll change my ways. Until then, I
coach the way I know will work".
YOUTH SPORTS COACHES & PARENTS OF THE
WORLD...
I AM PROUD & HONORED TO INTRODUCE YOU TO
A COUPLE OF WONDERFUL MEN AND TRULY SUCCESSFUL HEAD
COACHES...
This past weekend saw two of the nicest and most positive coaches
in the world compete for the supreme prize of North American sports
- The Super Bowl.
Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith.
They
respect their players.
They never raise their
voices.
They look to try and make each and every one of their
players better - in both football
and life.
They are as
successful as it gets.
Sounds to me like every abusive coach
and parent just lost their final argument.
Speed Development – How to Improve Your 40 Yard
Dash
One of the most
common mistakes that kids (and adults) make in running a sprint is
that they do not start correctly. Perhaps the most common
error is a "false step".
This is where the runner actually steps backward instead of
forward.
The runner shifts his
or her body weight toward their back leg. Usually the lead leg lifts
off the ground as the weight is shifted. A young athlete will do this
in an attempt to take advantage of the leverage of the back
leg.
While the problem
seems minor, I have seen 20 yard dash times as much as 0.3 seconds
higher by stepping backward instead of forward. That may not sound like
much, but if you apply that to a 40 yard dash a 5.0 second 40 yard
dash is not considered that fast, but a 4.7 is pretty fast.
In fact, I know of
one athlete who did not get a college scholarship because he ran a
5.0 second 40 yard dash and could not get faster.
By simply driving
forward, over the front leg, the athlete can improve their 20 yard
dash time by 0.2 to 0.3 seconds.
Speed Development – Part 2
In part 1 of this
series we looked at the acceleration mistakes that many young
athletes make and how to correct those problems. This newsletter looks at two
things:
1. Finish the run, and
2. How to stop (very important
in landing and change of direction)
Finish the run:
Very simply, make
sure your athletes run “through” the finish line not “to” the finish
line. I see many young
athletes slowing down as if they are supposed to stop at the finish
line. Coach them to run
as fast as possible and only slow down after they cross the
line.
What if a football
player runs to the goal line and does not cross the p***? No points!!
How to Stop:
Don’t confuse running
through the finish line and learning how to stop, cut, and change
direction. I love to do
a game type drill with young athletes that involves stopping and
starting. The game is
Red light – Green light.
Perhaps you played it as a kid.
The only difference
between the athletic version and the game version is that the
athlete must run full speed, using good sprint technique and stop as
quickly as possible, using the proper breakdown technique.
To decelerate
properly, the athlete must flex the hips, knees and ankles to
dissipate the shock of the run. Think of going into a
crouch. When you run,
you extend the hips, knees and ankles. Body weight is forward. The opposite is true in
deceleration/stopping.
This allows the whole body to help out and no single body
part to do it all or get injured.
While it is fine for
athletes to come to a gradual stop on some occasions, it is also
important that they know how to come to a stop quickly and start
again. Going back to
our football player, if he lacks the ability to stop quickly, he
will not be able to cut.
This means getting tackled more often.
Speed Development – Part 3
In parts 1 and 2 of
this series we looked at the acceleration mistakes that many young
athletes make and how to correct those problems as well as the two
ways to finish the run.
In other words, I have told you how to start and stop.
This newsletter
addresses actual running technique. While there are many areas
that can be addressed, we are going to begin with the feet and move
up. In particular, I
will address the problem of running flat footed and the way to
correct it.
Most kids will run on
the entire foot and it sounds as if their feet are slapping the
ground. Their heels
strike the surface first, or they land with their entire foot. If you hear this sound, you
know they are putting on the brakes, not springing forward, as they
run with every step.
Instead, have them
run on the balls of their feet. This causes a spring like
action at the ankle and almost allows the athlete to bounce
forward. While it is
beyond the scope of this article, the athlete must be in the right
body position for this to work. The shoulders must be over
the toes with the feet landing under the body, not in front of the
body. In short sprints
(100 meters or less, depending on the athlete) the heel should not
touch the ground.
In the acceleration
phase, the feet are actually behind the body and play “catch up”,
but the feet should never land in front of the body (unless you want
to run slow).
Speed Development – Part
4
In part 3 of this
speed development series, we looked at foot strike, and the
importance of landing on the ball of the foot for top speed.
In part 4 we will
look at leg drive and thigh angles to develop speed.
If you look at many
young athletes run toward you, so you have a view of them from the
front, you will notice that their knees will turn in toward each
other. This causes the
joints to absorb the force of the sprint, rather than return it back
into the sprint.
In other words, it is
as if the body is running on sand rather than cement.
The problem is that
sand absorbs a lot of the shock when you land on it – and it slows
you down.
When the knees (and
thighs) turn in toward each other, the knees, hips and ankles absorb
the shock – increasing the risk of injury to the athlete.
To reduce injury
risk, and, even better, run faster, bring the knees up. And do not allow the knees
to turn in toward each other.
Issue 129 - February 7,
2007
brian@developingathletics.com - www.DevelopingAthletics.com
(c) Developing Athletics Inc.
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Brian J. Grasso
email -
brian@developingathletics.com
address -
109 White Oak Ct., Schaumburg, Illinois, USA
phone -
847.885.0493
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