Picking the Right Place to Train for the Student Athlete

The following is a Guest Post by former NFL Cornerback, Charles Dimry of Velocity Sports Performance Carlsbad

Less than 5% of high school athletes will ever play in college and those that want to must have a three part plan: They must be eligible; they must be visible; and they must be able. Effort in the classroom will make you eligible. Working with SportsForce will make you visible. To make sure you’re able to play at the next level, you must be willing to do extra training. Trainers appear to be everywhere. The key is identifying which trainers and facilities can provide the injury prevention and improvement that high school athletes need. Here are a few tips that will help you make an educated decision when choosing a trainer or facility:

• What is the background of the trainer? If you are going to trust and pay a coach, you have the right to ask about their qualifications. Look for facilities with degreed and certified speed and strength coaches. A personal trainer specializes in improving appearance. A speed and strength coach specializes in improving performance. These are very different things.
• Where does the training protocol come from? Be wary of companies or individuals who do not have a consistent methodology or training protocol. Just like an academic tutor, an athletic training program should follow a proven curriculum.
• Is technique priority number one? – Don’t worry about how much weight your athlete is lifting, worry about the technique they use. Good coaches always have athlete safety on their mind and an exercise done improperly is not worth the time spent doing it. Athletes should be supervised and corrected.
• Do they have a system for measuring results? Each company or trainer should have an objective way to show you gains made during their training program. Athletes use this data to gauge their own improvement and performance coaches use this data to measure the efficacy of their training curriculum.
• Can they provide you with testimonials? High school athletes need to improve performance, not appearance. Can the trainer point to experience doing what YOU need? College coaches want quick, powerful athletes. Make sure your trainer knows how to combine strength increases with speed increases.

Remember, the goal for high school athletes is to improve performance, not appearance. A health club trainer who primarily works with adults is not the most qualified person to train athletes. More than anything else, athletes need to be quick and powerful. Make sure you chose a trainer and facility that have a history of doing just that.

For a list of SportsForce’s Training Partners, including Velocity Sports, CLICK HERE