Nike SPARQ Training

U-District is proud to announce that we are an official Nike SPARQ Rating Facility. The SPARQ Rating system is a tool to measure a person’s overall athleticism and stands for Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction & Quickness. There are 5 sport-specific SPARQ Ratings: basketball, baseball, softball, football, soccer, and track & field. Athletes can now come to U-District to complete the sport specific tests, receive their SPARQ rating, and have their information uploaded to Nike’s website. From there, coaches can track their performance against other athletes from across the world!

European Football

Soccer tryouts are just around the corner for the majority of soccer clubs and the boy's side of high school soccer, so I thought it would be fitting to write a post with a few interesting and important facts about soccer from a book I have been reading titled Conditioning for Soccer by Dr. Raymond Verheijen, who is Dutch and brings a unique European outlook to the game. European soccer is like the NBA or NFL here in the states, and Europeans have studied and broken down the sport in order to maintain the production of elite teams and players. Below are a couple things from the book that were quite interesting as well as encouraging, as we base our soccer training here at U-District on a similar philosophy in an effort to stay on the cutting edge and help our athletes improve and enhance their game and athleticism and strive for the elite level that players in Europe are trained for.

- "Soccer actions are never undertaken in isolation. The manner and the moment of execution are always related to the game situation. Drills must therefore incorporate elements of these game situations. In this way players develop fast reactions, linking ability, orientation, differentiation, balance, agility, and a feeling for rhythm."

- Here is an interesting excerpt from an interview with a player on the top Dutch club team Ajax. He says "It often annoys me how people compare soccer with other sports. Naturally long-distance runners, etc., have to go to the utmost, but you cannot make such a simple comparison. Soccer is more variable. First of all you have to use your feet and that is more difficult than using your hands. Then you have to use your brain, because tactics now play a large role. There is a lot of physical contact and you are regularly knocked to the ground or fall. On top of this there are 200 sprints. This demonstrates that soccer is very complex and very strenuous."

- On average, for elite players, defenders run 9.0 km (5.6 mi), midfielders run 12.1 km (7.5 mi), and attackers (forwards) run 10.4 km (6.5 mi).

Although soccer training in Europe is very successful, and as a country we could learn a lot from their approach, there is not one ideal way to train. Determining what is best for the individual athlete and helping them become better and enhancing their athletic experience, and life, is what training is all about.

Good luck in tryouts!

Coaching the big picture

Throughout the typical athletes career they will have many different coaches, as I did. Although all of my coaches growing up had great things to teach me about my sport, the ones that I appreciate the most now are the ones that took the time to teach me life lessons. Now that my competetive organized sports life is behind me, I carry on those life lessons that I was taught while a part of a team. Some, more in your face than others, like sometimes you will get your butt kicked but you have to stand back up and move on, and others more subtle and harder to learn like, learning to take something positive out of negative situations.

As coaches, it is important to take advantage of our (most of the time) captive audiance to instill lifelong values that our atheltes can use when they enter their "glory days" years!

The best example I can think of is the concept of mirroring people. If my basketball player wants to become a better shooter, then I will tell them to find someone who they think is a good shooter and mirror their actions. It's the same off the court, pick out things you like about other people and mirror those actions. It can be anything from how they organize their time to how them and their spouse treat eachother.

The athletic arena is such a great place to help instill great values and make great people. The options are endless and the opportunities are aplenty, so I challenge you to start coaching the big picture and not only, make students of the game but, students of life!

-KM

Minor League week 4

Travis Webb Week 4 - 3 sets
Rope Pullacross 37.5 kg x 10ea
Bosu SL Squat x 15ea
SL One Arm DB Row 30lb x 15ea
Burly Diagonal 20lb x 20
Barbell Side Lunge with OH Press x 10ea
Bosu MB Slam 10lb x 10ea
Coreboard SA Snatch 20lb x 10ea
Uneven Pushup x 10ea
MB Situp twists x 20