Davidson wins Again!

Wow am I proud of the men's Davidson Basketball team! Tonight was yet another storybook win for them and I can think of no better team that deserves it.

I have had the opportunity to work with Bob McKillop and his program during their preseason over the past few years. Bob is nothing short of the ideal example of a professional and an outstanding individual.

Bob actually took the Sports Profile, www.innertactics.com, back during the preseason of this year. I will post some of his numerous strengths tomorrow and will attempt to breakdown just why this coach continues to achieve success year after year.

GO DAVIDSON WILDCATS!

Making the Vertical Jump Relevant

We all hear the common question of 'how high can you jump?' but maybe this isn't the best question. Training for the vertical jump test is a solid indicator of being explosive so don't get me wrong here.

However, an athlete rarely just jumps for the sake of jumping. There is always another task that comes just after that. For example, catching a ball, blocking a shot, heading a ball, etc.

In the above picture is a player who is 5 ft tall and weighs approximately 100 lbs. And while she is well undersized she proves time and time again to be one of the best headers on the field!

It's not just about the ability to jump, it also is about timing, recognition, reaction, and vision!

When trying to improve your vertical jump, add a few extra sets of the sport specific task that the athlete experiences during the game. Not only does this make the task more sport relevant, but the athlete will have a lot more fun as well!

Intrinsic Coaching

I posted this today on the Innertactics Blog:

"If you want to get more out of your athletes, stop viewing them as performers and view them as people. Working with them on what you can see (physical) is the easy part. It is working with the part that you can't see that is ulimately the most rewarding."

Medball Scoop Throws

The Medball Scoop Throw has been a staple in my program now for the past ten years. This exercise is an excellent way to explosively develop the entire posterior chain.

If you have used this exercise try and put a stopwatch on your athlete when they throw the medball. The Carolina Panthers players did this exercise yesterday in our offseason program and the majority of them kept the ball in the air around 2.2 seconds.

So far the best time that I have seen in the past few years for using a 10lb medball is 2.73 seconds!

Try this with your athletes and let me know how they do!

'RFN' Runs

The other day I was grabbing lunch with my good friend Muhsin Muhammad just after we got done working out. We got to talking about how he is starting his 13th season in the NFL and what were some of the qualities that make for a great receiver.

Of the top five that he mentioned was something that he calls RFN Runs, or RUN FOR NOTHING Runs.

In other words, running routes during a game even though you know the ball is not coming to you. Why? Well for a wide receiver it sets up his opponent so just when he least expects it, a touchdown happens! i.e. Moose's Super Bowl 86yd Touchdown catch

How about your athletes? Do they go all out during RFN Runs? Do they 'sell the move' or does their opponent choose not to pay them any attention b/c he knows your athlete isn't a threat during the play?

Sometimes known as shadow runs, it is this type of effort that separates the good from the great!

When your athletes run routes in their sport (aka set plays, specific patterns,etc) during training or practice, do they still go all out?

If not, here are a few suggestions to prevent them from 'going through the motions':

• Paint pictures in their mind as to why this movement pattern is important, even if it is not designed for him/her
• Ask the athlete why they think completing the pattern is important for the play and the team?
• Ask the athlete what happens if they do not 'sell' the movement?

Have You Ever Asked Your Athlete's This Question...Part 1

Over the past several weeks I have had the opportunity to talk with quite a few performance coaches regarding testing and identyfying talent.

This has been an especially hot topic that comes up every year about this time due to the NFL Combine. And why should we test you may ask? Well the primary reason is to identify the athletes physical strengths and weaknesses.

After testing and evaluation is completed usually a common scenario goes something like this:

"Johnny let's sit down and go through your testing results. Out of these 6-8 tests here is where you stand, overall you performed very well. In fact, your agility times were one of the fastest yet!" Okay you get the idea from here.

The Coaching Trap

Now here is what's crazy, practically 100% of the time coaches will 'tell' the athlete what their strength is based on their testing results. However, this should not always be the case. What if the athlete simply just had a bad day? What if the athlete was not allowed to have a warm-up?

The point is, as coaches we need to be careful not to place too much emphasis on testing in order to determine an athlete's strengths. In fact, how about trying the following:

Before actually testing an athlete ask him or her what they think their own strengths are! Now there's a novel idea.

In my experience the majority of young athletes will just give you a blank face followed by wanting to ask what their choices are. They don't even know their own strengths! (another post coming)

Then there are a few who can answer you immediately with one or two specific areas.

Ask Before You Tell

The take home message is ask your athlete's what they think their own strengths are before telling them. Doing exercises such as this will encourage self-reflection which rarely occurs in young athletes.

One of the first principles that my athletes are taught is to 'know your own body'!

Try this with your athletes and I would love to hear some their responses as well as your thoughts!