By Mike Mejia, CSCS     Injuries & Prevention   read more

  by Carlo Alvarez Playoff Season  The high school football playoff season is upon us. Most team have played ten regular season games and are preparing to play another four to five games in their journey to the State Championship game. For those of you who coach or train high school football teams, I’m sure [...] read more

    by Wil Fleming   I remember vividly 3 years ago at this time Ryan and I were working our tails off to get ready for our grand opening that was only a couple weeks away. It was a really exciting time for us.   We were assembling all the equipment we ordered.   [...] read more

  by Wil Fleming   Medicine Balls   read more

    by Dave Gleason     read more

    by Wil Fleming   The other day a track coach that I really respect called me to discuss an athlete that we both work with and right away I knew he was excited. I could hear in his voice that he was just fired up. I asked him what was going on and [...] read more

    by Dave Gleason     read more

  by Ryan Ketchum Sports Coaches and Athletes     In the past 6 years of coaching athletes and running a youth fitness business there is one obstacle that always presents itself when working with older athletes. How do I get in with the coach? This is a question that I get frequently when helping [...] read more

    by Wil Fleming   The biggest mistake in training athletes to get faster.     Both speed and agility are critically important for athletes to be successful on the field. Unfortunately I see plenty of programs or services offered by coaches that are skewed in the wrong direction, they promise to "decrease your [...] read more

by Dr. Toby Brooks Sports Skill Acquisition   As a lover of all things sport since a child, my entire life has been shaped by decisions motivated primarily by how I might continue to play or be involved in competitive athletics.  It might come as little surprise, then, that my most recent (and with any [...] read more

Young Athlete by Toby Brooks, PhD, ATC, CSCS, PES, YFS3   Originally developed by Romanian exercise scientist Tudor Bompa for a number of Eastern Bloc countries in the early sixties, periodization involves the breakdown of the annual conditioning plan into specific training phases intended to maximize training effectiveness and sport-specific strength and skill acquisition. In [...] read more

by IYCA Board of Experts member Mike Robertson of Robertson Training Systems     As many of you already know, a huge section of our clientele at IFAST is young athletes.   With kids as young as 11, up to those finishing off their high school career, I can say without reservation the most enjoyable [...] read more

  Nutrition Q: What foods should you eat to start your day when you are going to play in an all day tournament?   A: First, I’ll assume that you’re planning to wake up early enough to have something somewhat substantial and are not just rolling out of bed and running out the door.   [...] read more

This past week the following article about ‘Elite’ youth sports was featured on ESPN.com:     http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/page/keown-110823/elite-travel-baseball-basketball-teams-make-youth-sports-industrial-complex   This is a topic I’ve had strong feelings about for 15 years, but I’m more interested in your thoughts.   read more

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post for all IYCA members on how to use bands to get involved with a high school:  Opening The Door To Youth Sports In Your Area   Youth Sports I recently received this email from a local trainer that I thought was very appropriate to share with all [...] read more

  Offseason Training If you’re a sprinter or sprints coach who starts getting ready for the indoor season during the fall (or for spring during the winter, etc.), here are my Top 5 Offseason Training Tips. Keep these in the front of your mind and you’ll set yourself up for another season of bringing shame [...] read more

Youth Football Three years ago I introduced a concept to our youth football organization which is nicknamed the Hawks.   The concept was originally presented as a fund raiser to earn money for what was at that time a very poorly equipped high school weight room facility.    What I did was go to the president [...] read more

Young Athlete Coaching Tip. I have a secret that I’ll be using with every young athlete I work with this summer…   It’s the difference between being a ‘Good’ Coach and a ‘Great’ one:young athlete read more

    Every year, I’m both honored and humbled to be asked to present at the annual Perform Better Summits.   As goofy as this may sound, I remember vividly being a young Strength Coach and receiving copies of the ‘Perform Better’ catalog in the mail… And having absolutely no money to purchase any of [...] read more

Okay, I already revealed to you what the incredible Eric Cressey will be presenting on at the 2011 IYCA International Summit…   Now here’s the rest of the unmatched speaking line-up:   read more