"No days off." "No excuses." "If you're not grinding, you're not succeeding." Have you heard these words uttered before? From a friend, colleague, or teammate? Or, have you seen them on your Instagram feed as you are allured by your glowing screen? Nowadays, it seems everyone is hustling all the...
Dear Soccer Parents, I feel for you. The sports world is flooded with pressure, comparison, and chaos for your child. Driving to tournaments. Practices. Emailing coaches. Investing time. Paying team dues. Driving two hours to away games in the middle of Virginia. Hitting up the Chik-Fil-A drive through...
The hips are the foundation to high performance soccer. And as long as they are strong, injuries are reduced, and sport specific actions are improved. Shooting, cutting, passing, sprinting, decelerating and accelerating, and jumping all involve durable, powerful hips. And in order to optimize these, players must train...
Ask a group of youth athletes to show you how to make an Instagram story, and everyone volunteers with eagerness. Ask a group of youth athletes to explain the strategies of Fortnite, and everyone lights up with excitement. Ask a group of youth athletes to perform a...
Ever have a perception of something or someone, until you got a better perspective? Public perception in the fitness industry as a whole is driven largely by every form of media. Unfortunately, this leaves little difference in the public eye between a true professional and a hobbyist,...
“Run harder!" “Defend!" “Shoot!” “Sprint!” “Attack!” "Clear it!" “Shoot!” “Floss your teeth!” Oh. My. Goodness. Parents, shut up. In fact, back the heck off. Look, I don’t want to get belligerent in my writing, but sometimes, a feisty call-to-action is needed. And this is only because I care about the development of youth athletes. I...
"Blogging is dead." "You'll never make it as a writer." "Every strength coach is blogging. You're not that special." In 2019, I hear these all the time. And deep down, these declarations have their way of clawing at my soul. They make me wonder, 'is all of this tapping away...
As much as you think you know player development, you don't. Did I just trigger you with my opening line? Good. Let's trigger some folks with the hopes they analyze their actions and grow. And chances are, you want to grow. Isn't that why you follow my blog in...
I'm going to get right to the point: everyone needs to cut it out with the "I don't want to get too bulky" shenanigans. Female athletes, especially, utter these words upon entering my facility, and I'm quick to shoot it down. Why? I have a problem with it...
I wanted to avoid titling this post "Goalkeeper Specific Training." While I believe goalkeepers should have some degree of individualized programming, it becomes more about turning them into beasts. And by this I mean Hope Solo beasts. Briana Scurry beasts. Buffon beasts. Ochoa beasts. Casillas beasts. Van...