The Essentials of Athlete Specific Training vs. Sport Specific Training

You want your young athlete to be successful in their chosen sport.

You may seek out the assistance of a sports skills coach to improve throwing, catching, hitting, shooting, defensive skills, or a golf swing among many others. Developing these skills is imperative to their success in sport but rarely is it the limitation.

All of these skills are built upon your young athlete’s general physical development.

The common mistake is to limit the athlete’s exposure to a single sport or set of sports skills in the hope that they develop a higher level of skill.

What actually happens is that they develop skills much more quickly resulting in early success. If your goal is to have a successful 13-year-old basketball player, baseball pitcher, or volleyball player, then by all means, this is the best route to take.

However, it’s important to understand that in raising sport-specific performance quickly you’ll ultimately limit the potential of your young athlete.

If you’re looking to develop an athlete for the long-term who is happy, healthy, and able to reach their true potential and a higher level of sports performance, the early development of an athlete must emphasize the improvement of their physical development in a broader, non-specific manner.

Athletes that participate in multiple sports tend to do this in a more natural way. Unfortunately, in the current state of youth and high school sports, it’s becoming more rare that athletes have the opportunity to play multiple sports. Instead, broad development is sacrificed and early success is emphasized.

The result is a lot of successful 13-year-olds, fewer successful 17 and 18-year-olds, and fewer scholarship athletes for colleges to choose from. Early specificity also results in athletes who show great skills but lack the strength, speed, endurance, and agility to tolerate higher levels of physical stress associated with sports. Epidemic levels of more adult-like injuries such as ACL tears, hip labrum tears, and the need for Tommy John surgeries in 14-year-old pitchers are becoming the norm.

We realize that we cannot change the current environment of the current youth sports systems. It’s also clear that the days of multiple sport athletes are dwindling.

At IFAST, we have developed a program that provides the solution to protect and develop your young athlete into a healthy and successful young-adult athlete.

Our Athletic Development classes are designed to be your young athlete’s second sport.

It’s a group atmosphere that encourages support and competition but with an individualized coaching perspective.

Each class addresses the development of broad movement and agility skills that helps young athletes problem solve movement challenges within their chosen sport.

Individualized cueing, strength, and speed development enhances each athletes physiology to allow them to tolerate greater physical stress associated with their sport.

Athlete-specific endurance development allows athletes to maintain their skills and demonstrate their full physical potential while exposed to higher levels of fatigue. This may provide the greatest buffer in preventing an untimely injury as well as maintaining performance throughout practice and games.

It is the physical foundation underneath the sport-specific skills that will assure the long-term success of your young athlete.

We think it’s so important to your young athlete’s health and performance that IFAST is offering you a week of our Athletic Development class for just $7.

Call IFAST today at 317-578-0998 or email us at [email protected] to reserve a spot in the next Athletic Development class.

Building a happy, healthy, and successful athlete starts today.