The High School Athlete: A Resource in Need of Thoughtful Management

In my last blog post I discussed some of the problems with implementing training programs at the high school level. Young athletes, who have specialized in a sport for a few years prior to high school, usually do not have the basic fundamental movement skills that will allow them to improve their performances. This is due to specializing on a specific sport and it’s specific movement patterns to the exclusion of building a proper foundation for later athletic success with mastery of FMS and AMSC skills. 

In addition, those competing on traveling teams, AAU or Club Teams during the high school off-season run the risk of overuse injuries, overtraining and conflicts of coaching philosophies and high school program rules. Those athletes who have hired Personal Trainers often do not have their “total training” load taken into consideration by either the Personal Trainer or Club Coach. Without coordination of training and practice plans, athletes run the risk of injury due to overtraining and drop in performance due to residual fatigue of participating in two, separate training environments.

Once the high school season starts, the high school coach is faced with developing athletes who come out for the sport from a wide variety of developmental and physical quality needs. Those who have been on a travel team or club do not need pre-season or early season physical conditioning BUT, instead, need regenerative and maintenance activities.

Those who are coming out from participation in another sport are more likely to need a good amount of regenerative activity to allow for recovery from a previous competitive season BUT, may need more, low intensity sport skill movement training for the present sport. Athletes from these two backgrounds have to be carefully mixed into the pre-season training programs with those who have done relatively nothing and need more physical quality conditioning in addition to sport skill movement training.

A portion (depending on skill levels of athletes) of pre-season and competitive season training and/or practice time needs to be devoted to both FMS and AMSC skill development!  This is a point that cannot be emphasized enough. This can be done with 15-20 minutes per day, within the warm-up or as a post-practice routine. As noted in a prior post, athletes at all levels, including elite athletes, need to devote “some” time daily or a few times per week on either development of FMS and/or AMSC skills that have not been mastered or maintenance of these foundational skills.

This may seem overwhelming to many high school sport coaches and thus, many times, result in a “one size fits all” practice plan with the same amount of skill-development work and volume & intensity of physical training FOR EVERYONE.

 Coaches who want to implement an overall practice plan for the entire season that endeavors to meet the specific needs of ALL of the individuals within the current environment can apply the questions below to the individuals who are on his/her team this coming season to help in identification of how to best develop the players/athletes who will be on the team.

I am adapting these questions from a post by Henk Kraaijenhof, who is one the Athletic World’s brightest minds on coaching, teaching, training, research methods and athletic diagnostic tools and testing.

Development of a training/ practice plan necessitates that coaches view their individual athletes as RESOURCES. In this case, each athlete is a resource that must be managed according to his/her needs. This means considering developmental activities for both mental and physical improvement of the athletes that are specific to the performance of the sport and those FMS and AMSC skills that may be missing or in need of improvement.

First question:  What is the capacity of the athlete in the physical and skill categories most important to the sport?  

For Cross Country coaches, the physical capacity most important to assess would be that of endurance/ energy system capacity. For Football coaches, speed-power levels, starting speed/ acceleration and alactic power capacities would be the most important physical capacities to be assessed while agility, technical and tactical skills like blocking, passing and catching might the important skill capacities assessed.  WHATEVER THE SPORT, assessment of the total skill and physical capacity of each athlete would allow for a good plan to be designed to improve those specific qualities.

Second question: (is very much connected to the first): What is the power level of the athlete?

Regardless of the capacity, or amount of a skill or physical quality that an athlete possesses, it is important to know the power, or the amount of energy per unit of time that the athlete is able to produce. Athletes may have a large capacity but cannot use all of it within the time requirements of the specific performance skill. Individuals with large, brain-power capacities can be limited when fast decisions have to be made. Cross Country runners with large endurance capacities will be limited in the average speed they can produce per unit of time even though they may be able to run for a long time at a slower speed.

Third question:  Can this athlete be implemented within the competitive scheme?

Basically, this involves the assessment of whether the coach can practically use the athlete in all game/performance situations or just in proper situations (or…maybe not in the particular sport!).  An example of this is having an athlete with great maximal strength in Cross Country. This athlete could be implemented well within the sport of weight lifting, wrestling or shot put but not distance running.  Another good example would be an athlete with great explosive strength, jumping ability and coordination but greatly dislikes contact. This athlete might be well implemented as a long or high jumper or basketball/ volleyball player but could not be successfully implemented in Football.

Fourth question:  Can you utilize the athlete whenever you want or just in certain situations during the competition?

Many athletes have abilities that are best suited to certain situations within a sport. An example might be a sixth man in basketball or a football player who rushes the passer extremely well but lacks the ability to defend against running plays.

Fifth question: How efficient is the athlete?

Efficiency of performance skill means the highest possible performance with the least amount of energy expenditure. Many athletes have a lot of energy but they waste a lot with inefficient movement skills. Athletes can have large strength or power levels but lack efficient technique in the sport skill movements which keeps them from being able to channel their maximum strength and power into performance skills of the sport.

Sixth question:  Is there interference present in the athlete’s physical or skill qualities?

This assessment involves athletes who have many advanced skills BUT lack a certain physical quality, such as speed, agility, etc. THAT INTERFERES WITH SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE required within the entire competitive spectrum of the sport.

Seventh question:  Can the athlete recover his/her physical resources when he/she has lost it?

Of course this pertains to the ability of athlete to relax, & regenerate within rest periods, recuperate after illness, recover after games/practices, or repair their bodies after injury. It also applies the mental ability to recover from losses or poor performances in practices or games.

THINK ABOUT THE BASICS of your sport. Get the right foundation for all athletes within the program by providing for the WIDEST AND STRONGEST FOUNDATION required for successful performance by all individuals. THEN, THINK ABOUT building your sport-specific Pyramid as high as the resources allotted to you WILL PERMIT.

Look at your athletes as “resources” but DO NOT FORGET THAT your sport is ONLY A PIECE of the total ENERGY PIE AVAILABLE to each athlete. Plan training and practice volumes with this in mind. Do not add to the stresses of the athlete and make it a part of your program to educate athletes on Sleep, Nutrition, Time Management and Stress Reduction/Management skills. These may be more important to their overall DEVELOPMENT than any of the sport skills or training that you can give them.

MY NEXT POST WILL EXPLORE SOME OF THE “LIFE SKILLS” THAT CAN ENHANCE SPORT AND  ACADEMIC PERFORMANCES FOR STUDENT ATHLETES AT THE HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL.

Below is a great article on the value of a focused practice from a blog by Olympic Champion/World Champion Karch Kiraly on USA Volleyball Website… I took the liberty to underline and highlight parts I thought were most important to high school athletes.

       The Fundamental Difference:  Competition vs. Practice

Karch Kiraly’s Volleyblog

Originally published in VolleyballUSA, Spring 2012 issue. 

Thinking is not always a good thing. I say that jokingly, of course, but when it comes to volleyball, there’s a lot of truth to it. Playing your best involves becoming solid enough at the fundamentals that you can perform each skill without thinking about how to do what you’re doing.

How do you get there? You guessed it - practice. Focused, mindful practice. And lots of it. I read a recent interview in ESPN Magazine with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers where he said that when he’s throwing a football the way he wants to, he’s not thinking about it. “That’s when it becomes fun – when you can put the ball exactly where you want it. You just react naturally and let all the fundamentals and the muscle memory that you’ve built take over.”

It’s obviously working for Rodgers. The Packers won the Super Bowl in 2011, and he was the game’s MVP. But even with that level of success, he talks in the interview about continuing to work on refining his throwing mechanics and trying to break old habits he learned as a kid.

One thing you’ll discover is that if you practice to the fullest and master the basic skills to the best of your ability, you’ll feel more comfortable in the pressure of a tight match. It may be match point against your team, and staying alive may depend on you making a good pass. But if you’ve performed that very same pass 500 or 1,000 times in practice, it’s just another pass. That’s the way I always looked at it when I played, even if it was the Olympics and my team was behind. Just one pass. Just a good platform, angled to the target. Nothing more. If you think beyond that, it’s easy to get caught up in the magnitude of the moment and harder to just play that one point.

In the USA gym, both when I was playing and now in my role as coach for the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team, we strive every day to match the intensity level of tournament matches. That’s another way to make actual competition more fun and less stressful. If you’re treating each training session like a match, matches become little more than an extension of practice, and the familiarity of that environment helps you perform at a higher level.

Another thing Rodgers mentioned in the interview was the importance of narrowing the focus of your training. He said he learned this from Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who has played in five Super Bowls and won three. After each football season, Rodgers said, Brady reviews his own performances and is extremely critical. He identifies a couple of things that he wants to do better, then he works on them in the offseason.

I see this as important for two reasons:

1. It again highlights that elite players never stop working on improving their fundamentals;

2. It underscores the importance of targeting one or two specific things, not trying to improve everything at once.

That’s what I mean by focused, mindful practice. For example, your practice theme for today shouldn’t be, “I’m going to get better at hitting.” Instead, it should be, “I will go to the ball with my third step,” or “I will get my elbow up and back fast before I swing.” If you focus on particular details within your whole game, you’re more likely to make lasting improvements.

Ultimately, your goal is to get so good at the basics that you’re thinking about how to exert pressure on your opponents rather than thinking about your own game. That’s higher-level volleyball, when you’re playing smart enough to force opponents away from their strengths and out of their comfort zone. It’s not a destination, though. As you can see from studying the habits of championship athletes like Rodgers and Brady, it’s a journey that is ongoing, season after season, week and after week, practice after practice.