Long Term Athlete Development

This is an area where I've tried to lead by example with our
training model at Speed Academy. 

I'm not interested in running a group of 20 14-year-olds through
a bunch of agility ladders.  If we want the best long term results and
safety, our #1 job in a youth population is to improve their strength. 
And I don't mean  bodybuilding style muscle training routines either. 
I mean strength training with an end in mind. They type of training that
recognises the whole body works as a system and moves in 3 dimensions.

Then they will run faster, jump higher, and tackle harder - but they also
decelerate better and change directions more efficiently as well as get injured less. 

You can run all the "quickness drills" that you want with a young
athlete, but the truth is that you'll never improve speed or agility
unless you teach them to apply more force in to the ground. 

It's like polishing the alloys on a car with no horsepower;
you're studying for the wrong test.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of coaching programmes out there that are just about
finding a training model that allows one to run a ton of kids through
the same program without much concern for the actual benefits to be
gained (or lack thereof).  I'm not interested in babysitting.

Yours in speed

Rob