SPEED & AGILITY
This program will focus on age-specific technical skills of accelerating, sprinting, changing direction, power production, and power absorption. In addition, this program will educate athletes on how to apply biomechanical principles (how the body moves) to teach athletes what quality movement looks and feels like. This well-rounded approach will allow participants to become more explosive on the baseball field and in other sports that they participate in. Our 6 week speed and agility program will be led by our Director of Strength and Conditioning, Tyler Dundore who has an extensive background in baseball performance training.
Program Description
Benefits
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Faster 60yd/40yd dash times
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Age-specific training program
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Increased acceleration
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Greater explosiveness
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Improved change of direction
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Better sprinting mechanics
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Enhanced force absorption to decrease injury risk
Age Specific Components
9-11 group: Athletes in this group are in a critical developmental timeframe for speed and agility improvements. At this age, there are rapid developments in brain maturation and neural plasticity. This allows for athletes to learn new movement patterns quickly and reinforce basic change of direction techniques. Repeated exposure to speed and agility training can improve visual scanning, knowledge of situations, and anticipatory qualities that are imperative to becoming a better athlete. Athletes in this group will participate in speed, form, agility, and plyometric drills and activities to improve rate of sprint speed, explosive strength, neural activation, and motor skill development. There will also be a large emphasis on having fun during the training process.
12-14 group: Athletes in this age group are in a transition period for speed development since growth is occurring at different speeds for each individual. It is imperative for athletes of this age to participate in speed and agility training that involves a multitude of methods to progress them. These athletes will continue to focus on motor skill development, improving rate of sprint speed, explosive strength, and neural activation. In addition, new strength and power training exercises will be introduced to build a foundation of proper movement that is critical for further gains in muscular strength and power as they continue to develop. All of these training components will be built into a program to continue progressing the speed and agility capabilities of the athlete.
15+ group: Athletes in this age group are in a key window for speed development due to the increases in muscle mass that are occurring rapidly. Increases in muscle mass are closely associated with increased force production capacity and thus increased muscular strength. Muscular strength is a key factor in running speed, change of direction speed, and plyometric (power production and absorption) capabilities. The speed and agility program for these athletes is focused on increasing muscular strength to in turn increase rate of force development. This program will also focus on sport-specific agility drills with an emphasis on quality movement and understanding the purpose of every training session to maximize the athlete’s speed and agility capabilities.