5 Ways to Assist Athletes in Staying Fresh While In Season.
This is the 3rd of a series examining what is required to perform well in youth sports. This article focuses on staying strong, fresh. and moving well within the competitive season.
Spending time in the offseason getting stronger and faster has become the norm in youth sports. Not only at the elite level, but any competitive sport in the teenage years is now including training time to prepare for the demands of the competition. It is a sign of the times, especially for those post 14 years old who want to focus more on one activity over the other.
What often gets forgotten in a training plan is the time during the season. How are bodies maintained and gains of offseason not lost during a busy game schedule? This becomes especially important as we are seeing youth sports with a high number of games in a season and times of the year when there are many games in very few days.
In youth team sports, it is not uncommon for teams to play 3-4 games in 2-3 day stretches in baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, hockey, lacrosse and others. In individual sports, youth golfers, tennis players and skiers also compete often in condensed schedules.
The most important aspect of youth sports is to play. To be ready for competition, on the field and available for competition.
While each sport has some risk of injury that cannot be controlled, many can be. What also can be controlled is severity of an injury (should it occur) and recovery time when the body is ready. When you factor in the growing body and developmental rates of each athlete being different, staying strong during the season becomes critical for success.
It is not uncommon for young athletes to not be able to play due to injury. Often it is because preparation was not as planned or well executed as it could have been. This falls not only on the athlete but the coaching staff.
Tyler Soucie runs Velo Pitching in Kitchener, Ontario out of Playball Academy Canada and sees a major decline in use of the facility once the season starts.
“We see an almost immediate disappearance of the vast majority of clientele once the season begins. And although this makes sense from an outside perspective, it is seemingly the opposite from what would make total sense if athletes and coaches were truly concerned with performing at peak capacity throughout the duration of their season”, writes Soucie in a recent blog post. (link to full article is below).
“Once the (offseason) programs wrap up and they head off to compete for their teams, there is a significant decline in the amount of preparation, throwing and overall training that occurs”, continues Coach Soucie.
Baseball is like many sports which require a speed and power component in execution of specific skills. Power is the ability to move something with force quickly. Performance will decline if gains from off season training are not kept up during the competitive season.
5 ways to assist athletes in staying fresh while in season:
1. Plan. “Fail to plan, plan to fail”. Coach Soucie mentions having a plan as being the most important aspect to ensuring the athlete does not wear down through the season. This is where a guidance and coaching come into play. It could be initiated the team or individual level. A simple plan and routine around competition for keeping the body fresh and strong.
2. Address recovery time. Simplest form of recovery is sleep and nutrition. Compromising either of those, means not as fresh next game. While there is lots of marketing on recovery drinks and so forth, the most basic is making sure lots of water, balanced food intake and plenty of sleep. Foam rolling and using a tennis ball to work through muscular knots is also helpful.
Here are some examples of using a ball to work out some upper body hotspots. These hotspots develop from repetitive work and can lead to bigger issues if left untreated.
3. Have a preparation routine. Every day should have mobility training, on game and non game days. When watching athletes at the highest level, their daily routine is the glue that keeps them going. Mobility work is critical to peak performance and is different that flexibility training. Mobility the movement and stability at a particular body joint, in short the body’s ability to move. This is also referred to as movement training.
Some mobility examples here:
4. Empower the athlete on current training methods. How often have we heard that running for distance is critical for baseball pitching preparation. It is not uncommon to this day for well meaning youth coaches to send their pitchers on long runs after their performance. The research says that pitchers should not distance run. This article was written in 2012, so this is not info that is from the last couple of years.
5. Include strength training. As schedules get busier with the demands to heavy schedule, access to facilities might be more challenging. Finding portable, and accessible training tools that are body friendly are critical. Body friendly is a key aspect here, as training should build up the body and not beat it up. This includes tools like resistance bands for strength, light medicine balls for lower and no impact machines/activities for conditioning.
An example on how to blend in some simple strength work along with power (agility ladder) and some mobility with some lateral hand walks.
The demands of a condensed season of competition can wear a body down, even one blessed with the energy of youth. Having a plan and some routines will reduce the wear and tear and help keep the athlete productive on the field.
PLAY. LEAD. BE STRONG.
Velo Pitching offers remote and in person solutions for individuals and teams. It is based in Kitchener, Ontario and run by Coach Tyler Soucie. It is a great example of a program that can assist in the planning process.
Here is Coach Soucie’s article on in season preparation for pitchers.
https://velopitching.com/blog/2021/1/7/in-season-training-for-pitchers
