King Sports International

Five Steps to Success Training the Young Athlete!

By Miguel Charles, KING Coach

Athletes are influenced by the environment, coaches and parents. The younger the athlete the more we can have a positive influence on them. This is especially true with the physical quality flexibility. If you begin a child stretching it is easier to maintain their original flexibility. On the other hand, if an athlete begins stretching as an adult their level of flexibility will be greatly diminished. The athlete will be playing catch up.

I find this concept also works in the mind. By talking to and observing young athletes, I have witnessed the more positive their influences and experiences are the more positive the outcome. The more negativity that surrounds them the more doubt they have. Therefore, we have to teach the athlete how to think for himself not what to think, helping them to rise above any less than optimal situation they find themselves in.

When you teach the young athlete how to make these decisions they take more responsibility for the outcome. Here’s five tips for those coaching kids:

1.Let the kids play!
Don't force children to play the sport. Let them play. If they like it they continue to play and improve.

2. Remember the Stages
Age 5 to 10 Fundamentals
Ages 10 to 14 Train to train
Ages 14 to 18 Train to compete
Ages 18 & over Train to win

Too many times you see coaches and parents focus on winning at the wrong time. For the fundamental stage the key is fun. During the train to train stage teach them how to train (flex and speed should be more of the priority generally speaking). At the train to compete stage competition is the focus; working hard and smart in preparation as well as during the game. In the final stage, train to win, winning should be the focus.

3. Create the athlete, then the player.
Early in the athlete/child's life expose them to play, run, & jump – before getting sport and / or position specific.

The best sports for them to get an exposure to so they develop athleticism include soccer, martial arts, gymnastics and track and field. This will help with their athletic ability.

If you expose them to a sport or position too early then that is all they can play. That athlete may not be suited for that sport or position as they mature. Example teaching a 6 foot 12 year old how to play only the center position in basketball. If at 18 years old he grows to be 6 foot 5 inches he is not tall enough to play center in college. Some colleges have guards 6
feet 5 inches. I'm sure you can think of other positions and sports as well.

4. Always and only positive, positive, positive!
Encourage all the children with positive feedback. Especially when they are not as developed as they can be in any given area - this is when they will need more positive reinforcement. There is always an opportunity to turn a negative to a positive.

When more athletes are exposed to the right stages at the right times as well as optimal flexibility training we will see an improvement in athletic performance. So where do we start? Start with every athlete you have influence over. And remember, the younger we start with flexibility the more injuries we prevent, which means less athletes out of games. The more games they play the better they will get at the sport. Less visits to the doctor or physical therapy.

5. Give the impression of increase!
For those without children you can still influence the children you come into contact with by the following:
1. Spread the knowledge to your circle of influence to anyone you care about that have children or are competing.
2.If you are still competing, whether its weekend warrior, office team, college team or high school. A little more stretching and recovery plan could be what will take your game to the next level.
3. And for all you coaches don't just do what your coach did to you many years ago. There is a smarter way. For all our kids' sake.

Athletic Golfers?

by Jason Pobega

The game of golf was revolutionized in 1996 when a certain golfer came on the scene. Forever changing the way golfers, and the game itself was viewed, Tiger Woods not only gave a new look, but a new philosophy to the sport that many called a ‘pastime.’

But it wasn’t the lucrative endorsements or countless titles and trophies won by Tiger that made the most impact. Those were just examples of the fuel that stoked the fire. Sure Tiger was scoring better than the average Joe at the age of 3, but is it only talent that created this epiphany?

Never before had anyone treated golf as a sport, or a golfer as an athlete. Today, if you aren’t an athlete in golf, you’re not even a blip on the leaderboard. Competitors flocked to find the trainer, the perfect way to get into ‘Tiger Shape.’ But it wasn’t just the competitive golfer that saw this attention to physical preparation as an asset.

The average Joe saw an opportunity to improve their game as well. And so the commercial boom of Yoga for golf, Golf-Fit classes, and specialized DVD’s made their way into the world. But like a lot of things in the physical preparation world, dollars came before sense.

One of the negative sides to a unilateral sport is the imbalance it creates in the body. The force generated in a golf swing is incredible when you figure that the average speed of a swing is in the vicinity of 105mph! Like tennis or racquet sports, a lot of emphasis was put on strengthening the muscles used to create more force-but at the expense of rest of the body parts that were compensating for the tremendous movement that is the golf swing. In this, the expense turned into repetitive injury, which turned into surgery, which turned into therapy, which was unilateral in nature, which leads to….well you get the picture.

So I ask the question, if athletes are treating golf as a sport and taking the dedicated time and cost in preparing themselves in a way that sets them up for success, why would they want to subject themselves to a less than optimal program or system?

The answer is simple: education or lack there of. Many athletes, not only in golf, but other weekend warrior scenarios search for the quick fix to the symptom.

Example: A golfer has a wicked slice that keeps going right.

Solution: Let just compensate to the left so that it evens out at the end!

Now let’s say that by looking at the way the golfer’s body stood still, walked, and then swung the club, could we find any imbalances that may be causing the slice rather than just hiding the symptom just like in the Injury Prevention and Rehab series http://kingsports.net/products-ksi-dvd-injpre.htm. What if this analysis in the long run created a better and healthier set of habits that then created the golf swing the athlete had been searching for? Oh, and what if from that analysis the athlete, stood, walked and did anything in their everyday physical life that had an impact on their life in general?

Which route would you choose? If you are receiving this newsletter, I’d wager that you’d pick the latter.

By visually assessing an athlete that plays a unilateral sport, you would find imbalances in both joint and muscle. Eversion or inversion of the feet, knees locked, hips posteriorally rotated, and shoulders rolled forward, etc, etc. Addressing these imbalances is crucial to building an optimal foundation on which an athlete can build a blueprint of success.

Techniques used in Injury Prevention and Rehab, Flexibility Training http://kingsports.net/products-ksi-dvd-fletra.htm, and How to Write http://kingsports.net/products-ksi-book-htw.htm offer incredible insight into not only addressing the challenges that may be evident, but to also plan, and create a program best suited to getting your game on track and down the fairway.

Jason Pobega
KSI CMP Coach