Summer of Speed

With summer quickly approaching, sport performance coaches across the country are turning their attention to designing and implementing effective speed and conditioning programs. For some coaches, this can be a stressful time for multiple reasons. Although we all (should) have the prerequisite knowledge and education to design and implement safe and effective speed or conditioning programs, there is no doubt this area of programming seems to cause the most debate in sports performance. In my opinion, the reasons can all be traced back to an overarching problem in sport performance: lack of resources. Whether it’s due to coaches being spread too thin, lack of space, time, staffing, or just calendar or logistical conflicts, many performance coaches are not getting the same amount of exposure to speed and conditioning work when compared to weight room time. This leads to a large imbalance in expertise and comfort in designing these programs. I’ve had roles where conditioning and speed training are a large part of what we do, and I’ve held positions where I do little to no speed or conditioning training. Let’s look at a few example scenarios to set the stage.

Scenario 1: Lack of Staffing

Division 3 and high school performance coaches are usually one-man shows. This means one coach can be responsible for 20+ programs with little to no support staff. Given the nature of this scenario, the primary focus is often given to the weight room (for good reason). Conditioning or speed development sessions are typically an afterthought. I can only speak from personal experience, but I know this always poses a unique challenge to find ways to implement these critical elements into our programs. Without going too in-depth, coaches are often forced to sacrifice quality for practicality. This may mean having sport coaches run conditioning, offering general conditioning or speed sessions open to multiple sports, implementing it during weight training sessions, or in some cases, offering no training at all.

Scenario 2: Logistical or Time Conflicts

My first experience in the private sector as a performance coach was eye-opening. Coming from the college world where we had our student-athletes year-round to the private world where athletes were in for breaks, summer, or even just a week at times caused major stress when it came to how I was going to incorporate speed training and conditioning. Private sector sport performance coaches are put under the gun during winter and summer breaks to prepare their athletes for both their sport and their return to campus. This means they have to take into consideration things like conditioning tests and collegiate strength coach approaches while trying to best prepare the athlete. Often times this means looking for high return on investment (ROI) activities. Personally, I spent the majority of my time on mechanics as I made the decision these would

have the best carryover and would best protect the athlete from injury. Despite building systems to provide the athlete with the best chance for success, I still found myself conflicted between what I wanted to accomplish and what was practical in the time-frame I was allotted.