Archive for “Youth Fitness Business” Category

The Fastest Way to Get Quality Leads

Posted on: February 11th, 2016 by IYCA No Comments

We are all looking for ways to get new leads.

Look around, the people in your sessions are your greatest fans, they believe in you and what you do. They may even be, your ideal client. They should be. What if you could have more people just like them?

Is there any client that you would want to clone? Remember— it isn’t just about the kids here, it is about the parents too. How do you get great parents, great kids and long time customers that believe what you do, walking through your door?

Leverage the people you already have to find more leads like them. Here is this process broken down into steps.

Identify 10 Ideal Clients

Identify 10 of your Ideal Clients, these are the parents & kids who believe in what you do, they are walking-talking billboards. They may be other coaches, parents, or staff members. Write down these 10.

Schedule a Meeting

Block off time to spend with each of these clients. It shouldn’t take more than 15-20 minutes, but it needs to be private. It can be either on the phone or in person. Tell them in advance what the conversation is about.

“Hey (NAME) I was wondering if I could speak with you for about 10 minutes later today or this week? You are such a great client and member that I wanted to pick your brain a little bit about what we are doing here, but also if you had any recommendations of who would be a good fit for our (Gym/Facility/Family atmosphere)”

Note: If they say yes, schedule the time. If they say no, make a note of it.

Ask & Be Transparent

This is the most critical step.

It is as simple as asking. Be completely transparent about what you are trying to do.

Here is a script for you to tweak :

“Hey __(Customer Name)___, so I think you and (Athlete’s Name) are such a great fit for our business and what we are trying to do here. You have been with us for awhile now and I wanted to know how we can improve and what you think about our values and what we offer” (Let them talk first. Get their feedback and address it)

“Well, we definitely appreciate your feedback, so please keep it coming”

“Since you are literally our ideal client, and I really wish I could clone you and your family, I was wondering if you could possibly help me out? We really want to grow our business, but not with just anyone…with people like you…are you interested?”

“That is great, I was wondering if you could give us 3 names of people who you would love to see in this program with you, or maybe even a coach that you think would be open to what we have to offer” (Client gives you a couple names)

Note: It isn’t essential that you get the referrals contact information in this approach

“Thank you so much, would you be willing to bring them to a session in the next week, completely free? That is essentially all you would have to do” (Answer: Yes)

Note: A new lead could possibly bale on you the first time, but likely won’t bale on a friend- try to get them to come together for the first time

“You are the best, I will follow up with you in a couple days if I haven’t heard anything (Promotes accountability)– but I really appreciate your effort in this, and the great part is, when your friends come in we will do the rest of the work. If one of them (Purchase/join/etc) we will give you a gift for your hard work every time”

Note: A gift isn’t essential, but if you are going to give one, you need to know what it is in advance and pay it EVERY TIME

Follow Up

This is a critical component of every referral program, and many ‘drop the ball’ here. Schedule a time to follow up with this client. It can be days later, but no more than a week. If you haven’t seen their referrals in your sessions, it is now good to ask for contact information.

This process is just that, a process. Write it down and document it for months and years to come.

Do you have a referral strategy that rocks?

Share it with us on our Facebook Page!

Author: Julie Hatfield

Julie is the Executive Director of the International Youth Conditioning Association (IYCA). She grew up as an athlete and played collegiate softball at Juniata College. She currently owns and operates her own youth fitness business pouring into young athletes. Her areas of expertise are youth sport performance, youth fitness business and softball training/instruction. Julie grew up on a dairy farm and can challenge the best of the best in a cow-milking contest. 😉

Pushing Power in Athletics

Posted on: January 7th, 2016 by IYCA No Comments

Power in Athletics

When it comes to developing the ability to push someone around, a skill necessary for almost every team-based sport, there isn’t a better training tool than the push up.

I’m sure there are plenty of 5/3/1, Bigger Stronger Faster, or other weight room guys that will argue a big bench trumps someone who can crank out a bunch of push ups any day.

That’s when I refer to the great Earl Campbell and Herschel Walker, two incredibly successful and punishing running backs in the NFL, who reportedly were body weight training guys. They swore by push ups and body weight exercises and clearly had no problem pushing around the best in the world over and over.

Additionally, you have to look at the population of athletes in front of you. We have mostly late middle school or high school age kids who have a low training age and lack the ability to activate their entire body. The push up and its progressions give us an opportunity to teach that skill to our athletes.

More importantly, a girl that can crank out 10 full push ups and a boy that can knock out 25, in our experience, has a body well-prepared for sport and the contact typical of most team sports.

Finally, from a biomechanical standpoint, I look at the push up and see the direct correlation to pushing necessary for sport. The body stabilizes on the ground with four contact points, but the majority of the body MUST be active when pushing away from the ground. Otherwise, we might as well be doing the worm.

That pattern very closely resembles an athlete pushing someone on a field or court, with two legs on the ground and the entire body activated.

Conversely, when assessing the mechanics of a bench press, the back, glutes, and (sometimes) thighs are in contact with a stable surface. I don’t know of a situation in team sports where that much of the body comes in contact with a surface while pushing. The exception, of course, is being on the bottom of a pile of players after a tackle and pushing someone off you, which is not ideal for high performing athletes.

So let’s take a look at our progressions to get a young athlete crushing push ups on a regular basis!

Progressions:

Plank on elbows/hands

When doing a plank on the elbows or hands we are looking for rigidity of the entire body and will use various cues to teach each body part how to activate optimally:

Active legs (straight as an arrow)
Glutes (squeeze a quarter between the cheeks)
Trunk (brace like someone is going to punch your gut)
Shoulders (envision a towel between the elbows or hands and try to rip it apart)

The plank requires a lot of focus and should be difficult to hold for a long time. Therefore, we find it much more beneficial to teach athletes a plank by having them fire everything for brief periods (10-20 seconds) rather than hanging out in a plank for a minute with just enough activation to make it look good.

Mountain Climbers

Mountain Climbers, in our world, don’t differ greatly from a plank. The only difference here is that the athlete now must learn to stabilize in a dynamic setting.

By only moving one leg at a time, they get the chance to maintain full body bracing, like the plank, while actively driving the knee towards the trunk. Here, the athlete must be on his or her hands. Thus we implement a new cue, “push the ground away.”

By using that cue, the athlete now aggressively pushes his or her body away from the ground, giving the leg more room to move and activate the scapular stabilizers that are generally very weak and assist in poor posture with young athletes.

We also ask athletes to “torque the ground” with the intent of turning the hands away from each other. The hands shouldn’t move, but when torquing occurs, the arms become more active and better prepared for a push up later on in the progressions.

Once an athlete shows quality movement with the mountain climber, we will have him or her start to move the leg with aggression while stopping it at 90 degrees to the body. The exercise then turns into an excellent front leg drive drill for acceleration training.

Assisted Push Ups

We use two main variations of the standard push up to help young athletes progress towards completing a push up that is repeatable and consistent through fatigue.

Our first and most common assisted push up is completed via the use of a resistance band attached to the athlete’s body and a point well above the athlete’s body (typically 7-9 feet high on a rig or hook).

There are some significant benefits to this variation. First, the movement is quite similar to an unassisted push up from the ground. Second, the athlete can torque the ground with his or her hands and arms like we cue during an actual push up.

Once an athlete has developed sufficient assisted pushup strength and can perform the movement without the band, there is almost no adjustment necessary for a body weight push up.

There are, of course, limitations to any assisted pattern.

First, the core is supported during the assisted pushup and for many of our athletes who are stuck in anterior tilt, core strength is the limiting factor and sometimes allows them to continue doing the worm instead of a push up once the band is removed.

Second, we often miss full range of motion (ROM) with our younger athletes, particularly boys. They want to crank out 20 push ups because, “that’s what I did when I tested for football!” However, the only way their chest would touch the ground with their “testing push ups” would be if they had a 60-inch chest. And I have yet to see a 16-year-old that looks like Lou Ferrigno.

**We started using bean bags (like the ones used for bean bag toss) to force full ROM. Our athletes need to touch their chest to two bean bags stacked on top of each other and then progress to one bag before we take the band away and have them train the full push up. **

The other variation we use is an elevated barbell on a rack.

Again, there are both positives and negatives to this assisted push up variation.

First, it is great for younger female athletes who truly lack upper body strength. They can see gradual improvements in strength since the holes on our rack are 1-inch apart. They can make small gains, sometimes within a singular training session, and certainly over a 6-week training program.

Second, because of the height, those athletes who lack upper body strength can start to make significant gains in chest, shoulder, and arm strength since they don’t have to struggle through the pattern and can truly focus on form, positioning, and muscle tension.

But this variation also leads to some potential issues of which coaches need to be aware.

First, due to the angle the athlete is at, the shoulders tend to elevate once the chest and arms have fatigued. So you either need to stop the set before that point or cue the athlete’s “shoulders away from their ears.”

Second, since the hands are on the bar, not on the ground, torquing is nearly impossible. I am not going to lie to you and say I haven’t seen it done, but generally those just learning a push up can’t start pulling apart a bar plus do all the other things they need to do correctly.

Remember, this isn’t our end all, be all. Instead, it is a stepping stone from a mountain climber to a full push up from the floor.

Push Ups

The push up is our end all, be all. I fully believe an athlete does not need to train bench press unless they are required to test for their sport. For the sports required to test the bench, like football, there is enough contact and pushing involved in practice and play that it justifies working the bench press into programming.

However, no matter how advanced our athlete is starting out, I want to PERSONALLY see them do ten perfect push ups before they put their face under a bar and start benching. All too often we have athletes come in who bench and are stuck at a certain weight.

When they show me their push up, it’s evident they lack the full body activation necessary to do a push-up. Once we train the push up correctly, they go back to the bench and magically set a new personal best.

The things we coach in a quality push up stay consistent with everything taught in the previous movements, but we add additional cues to maximize pushing power.

Create rigidity through the body (body is one long piece of solid oak)
Torque the ground through the hands (rotate the hands away from one another)
Pull the body to the floor (rip the ground apart to give the chest space)
Push down as your body comes up (push the ground away)

Once an athlete shows the ability to accomplish this and get his or her chest to the ground for a reasonable amount of push ups, we may add resistance in the form of plates on the athletes back. We had some strong male athletes rep out ten push ups with 90+ pounds on their back, so if you don’t think you can overload the push up, you’re wrong!

By taking the proper steps in progressing a young athlete through the push up, you will create a powerful, stable athlete capable of pushing around anyone he or she chooses.

And when the athlete returns to his or her team and can crush all teammates in push ups, they walk a little taller. When we as coaches can create confidence like that, we win!

ADAPT and Conquer,
Coach Jared

About the Author: Jared Markiewicz

Jared is founder of Functional Integrated Training (F.I.T.). F.I.T. is a performance-based training facility located in Madison, WI. They specialize in training athletes of all levels: everyday adults, competitive adults and youth ages 5-20+.

The long-term vision for F.I.T. is recognition as the training facility for those desiring to compete at the collegiate level in the state of Wisconsin. Alongside that, to also develop a platform to educate those in our industry looking to make strides towards improving the future for our young athletes.

Find out more about Jared’s gym by visiting F.I.T.

Career Highlights

2014 Fitness Entrepreneur of the Year – Fitness Business Insiders
2014 IYCA Coach of the Year Finalist
Volunteer Strength Coach for West Madison Boys Hockey and Westside Boys Lacrosse
Helped develop dozens of scholarship athletes in 3 years of business
Instructed Kinesiology Lab at UW-Madison
Houses an internship program at F.I.T. that started in 2013
Member of Elite Mastermind Group of Nationwide Fitness Business Owners

Push Ups Help Develop Powerful Athletes:

Learn more power evolution techniques today.

Overworked and Underpaid

Posted on: December 31st, 2015 by IYCA No Comments

Overworked, Underpaid and…Exhausted?

If you are reading this, it’s fair to assume it is because you answered “yes” to at least one part of that question.

Let’s be honest here, most of us feel this way at some point or another, no matter what industry you’ve worked in.

Many sport performance coaches spend countless hours planning, preparing and delivering, only to fall short on financial performance and feel exhausted. After all, we wake up before the sun, and go to bed just before it rises again…right?

tired-418902_640 If you are like most performance coaches, passion got you started—persistence keeps you going—and pride keeps you from quitting when the going gets tough. If you are feeling that you are

overworked, underpaid and exhausted…well, the going has gotten tough.

What to do?

Take a few steps back, and figure out how you can turn your youth fitness business into a lucrative and successful place…afterall…the world NEEDS you!

Here are 3 Ways to avoid burnout as a performance coach:

Take a 30,000 foot view, quarterly:

Sometimes we can’t see what is really going on inside our businesses until we remove ourselves. It isn’t always physically possible, but what if you could look at your business from the outside…

… what would you see? Would you like it? What wouldn’t you like? Is it what you envisioned when you started? Would you come into your own gym as a client, and why?

These questions serve to spark your curiosity, knowing what your business is really about is probably the most important thing you can do when it comes to being lucrative.

If you lose sight of your vision, your dream and the reason you started in the first place, likely that passion will fade and so will your business.

Know your numbers, monthly:

Many youth fitness business owners hate showing their numbers. Knowing your numbers is a sure-fire way to gain insight into your business.

Numbers you have to know: office-620822_640

Gross Revenue
Expenses
Profit Margin
Leads
Clients Lost

There are more than these, but this is a good start. Do you know these answers? If you don’t, you need to. If you want to make money, you have to know what is coming in and going out.

Don’t have “time” to track them, then keep ignoring them and the result (likely not the one that you or I want for you) will come, or acknowledge them and have the power to create solutions and change the course…and WIN!

It is that simple. Numbers tell the story, get to know your business’s story!

Work ON the business, not IN the business, weekly:

Performance coaches are good at coaching…we are not always businessmen and businesswomen. Overlooking critical aspects of our business, like sales/marketing, setting goals, our numbers, strategies and systems, etc. can destroy a business.

By working ON your business, you focus on the strategies and systems that optimize your performance. Spend an hour or two every week (or a timeframe that works for you), focusing on your business.

What to think about?

Strategies
Systems
Priorities
What is working
What is not working

If you are only working IN the business, you have blinders on to most of these things. You may know them, but they get forgotten. Don’t let that happen…it’s a good way to burn out.

Written By:

IYCA-newsletter-julie sig-v1 (1)

IYCA– Executive Director
YFS, YNS, YSAS
Fitness Business Owner

Program design can require a lot of time.

Here is a free video and PDF resource for you to help save you some time (and energy) on program design for long-term athletic development.

Running Your Own Coaches’ Speed & Agility Clinic

Posted on: January 30th, 2015 by IYCA No Comments

As a coach and trainer, I spent years looking for ways to educate more athletes, more coaches and more parents. As my business grew, so did my reputation for being a softball coach and youth fitness specialist. Proof came in the results: athletes running faster and quicker and ultimately feeling stronger and confident.

It wasn’t long before I knew that I had to take my game to the next level and start educating the coaches of my athletes. After all, their athletes were only with me one or two times per week, but were with their coaches for 3-5 times per week. Sport coaches spend hours with their athletes, so why not join forces?

I found that my annual coaches’ clinic became a great forum to do this. Not only was it my direct link to hundreds of athletes (for every one coach there are 10-20 athletes connected to them) but it was also a way to bridge the gap between coaches and trainers.

We now work together for one common purpose: to give the most and the best for the athletes that walk into our programs.

Types of Speed Clinics

In this post, I want to talk about the two different kinds of speed clinics that you can host as well as when, where and how to go about getting your first coaches’ clinic underway. Essentially, I want to give you my coaches’ clinic template.

High school summer conditioning program - Coaches' Clinic There are many different kinds of clinics beyond these, but this is what I will touch on today.

1. Speed & Agility Clinic
2. Speed & Skills (Combination Clinic)

Personally, #2 has always been my choice, but #1 is effective as well. If you do know skills of a particular sport, you can usually play to that strength and draw more coaches. Here are some steps when setting up your own coaches’ clinic:

Determine What Kind of Clinic You Will Have

What Will You Cover in Your Clinic?

– Speed? Skills? Drills?
– Sport Specific? General?
– Olympic Lifting? Lifting Mechanics, etc?

Figure out where your strengths and knowledge are, and play to those. If you are an excellent baseball coach and know how to teach skills and speed, build your clinic around those two aspects. Coaches love sport specificity.

Naming Your Coaches’ Clinic

When marketing your clinic, you want to be able to relate the name of your clinic to your market. When naming your own coaches’ clinic, think simple. Here are some suggestions:

1. Game Speed Coaches’ Clinic
2. [Insert Sport] Coaches’ Clinic
3. Speed & Agility Coaches’ Clinic
4. Making Athletes Faster Coaches’ Clinic
5. Strength, Power and Quicker [Insert Sport] Coaches’ Clinic

Try to include a few things that play on the “needs” of your target market. For example, if you have softball athletes – “Increasing your athletes’ hitting power” plays to an aspect of the sport that all coaches want to coach to. Ask yourself, what does your target market want?

Picking a Date/Time for Your Coaches’ Clinic

When setting the specifics of your coaches’ clinic, remember that these are adults, not kids.

Many meetings for them occur between 7pm-9pm M-Th, so focus on those times. Providing a two or three week-long clinic is also valuable and can allow you to cover topics each session.

Be sure that you pick a day of the week that is not a holiday. Plan for at least two months of marketing for this clinic.

Duration of Your Coaches’ Clinic

2 hours. Again, if you have more content to cover, do it over a couple weeks, rather than a 4 hour clinic.

Rate of Your Coaches’ Clinic

Generally $10-$20 per hour for clinics is a good rate.

Example Details for Flyer/Email

So, you have decided on all of these things, here is an example of what it would look like:

Sport Specific Flyer/Email

Title: Softball Speed, Skills & Drills Coaches’ Clinic

Time: 7-9pm, Mondays in February (4 Days, 8 Hours of Coaching Instruction)

Location: Add your facility location name

Rate: $80.00 per coach/parent

Student Rate: (14+ athletes): $15.00 per athlete

Speed Only Flyer/Email

Title: Game Speed Coaches’ Clinic

Time: 7-9pm Tuesday January 13th

Location: Add your facility location name

Rate: $30.00 per coach/parent

Student Rate: (14+ athletes): $15.00 per athlete

Marketing Your Own Coaches’ Clinic

Now that you have the details of your clinic, it is time to start marketing your clinic. There are a number of ways to market your own coaches’ clinic:

Work With Multiple Local Recreation Teams

In this situation, if you connect with the president or director of the organization, you can offer organizational rates. In many cases, different leagues promote learning and education, so if that director feels that their coaches can benefit from your clinic, they may just do the marketing for you.

If you have a parent of an athlete that plays in an organization, this is one of the best ways to leverage your efforts.

Email Your List

Allow all customers 14+ to join, this includes parents. Many parents just want education on this, so do not limit your clinics to coaches only. Open the door to athletes, parents, and coaches. Again, this helps bridge the gap.

Create a Press Release

Reach out to your local media channels, including local newspapers, television stations, and any other outlets that can possibly grab this story and run with it.

Offer Group & Early Bird Discounts

The great thing about this is that there are a number of ways to offer discounts. If a league brings multiple coaches, they can get a discount. Early bird discounts are possible, too. This will help you determine your baseline, as well.

Be creative here. Give incentives (especially for your first clinic). Once you get them in the door, then you can work your magic.

Structuring Your Coaches’ Clinic

clipboard They walked through your door.

Whatever way it happened, you now have coaches sitting in front of you, waiting and willing to learn.

What do you teach them?

Well, that is up to you, but this is the template that I suggest.

Remember to keep it interactive. Get them up and get them moving. Coaches need to “feel it” to “get it,” too.

Template 1: Speed-Focused

1. Introduction and Overview of Clinic and Your Business (10 Minutes)

2. Prepare to Move by Moving to Prepare (10-20 Minutes)

Perform and teach a thorough team warm-up (let coaches participate).
Allow for Q & A during this time.

3. Foundations of Speed (10 Minutes)

Discuss the importance of mobility, range of motion, etc.

4. Mechanics of Speed (10 Minutes)

Break the mechanics of speed down in this section. Take them through drills, as if you are first teaching your athletes about the mechanics.
Have attendees do it/feel it.

5. Speed Drills (Pick your #) (60 Minutes of Content)

Name it.
Demonstrate it.
Break it down and teach it.
Have attendees perform it.
Show 1 or 2 variations.
Indicate application to different sports (or specific sport that you are doing the clinic for).

Repeat this process for as many speed drills that you would like to cover.

6. Q&A (10 Minutes)

Template 2: Sport/Skills-Focused

1. Introduction and Overview of Your Business (5 Minutes)

2. Prepare to Move by Moving to Prepare (10-20 Minutes)

Perform and teach a thorough team warm-up (let coaches participate).
Allow for Q & A during this time.

3. Teaching Speed (10 Minutes)

Briefly discuss the mechanical breakdown of speed (have attendees do it/feel it). This is foundational to any sport, so allowing your coaches to learn HOW to teach it (focus on cue words and form) is key.

4. Drills & Skills (Pick your #) (75-90 Minutes of Content)

Name it.
Demonstrate it.
Break it down and teach it.
Have attendees perform it.
Show 1 or 2 variations.
Indicate application to different sports (or specific sport that you are doing the clinic for).

Repeat this process for as many speed drills that you would like to cover. Allow for Q&A during this time.

5. Q&A (10 Minutes)

These templates can work with almost any coaches’ clinic. Be sure to fill in the blanks with activities, skills and drills that are unique to your facility and business. Give the coaches and parents a “taste of your culture” and I would highly recommend giving them an offer at the end.

In our businesses, it is important to get kids through the door. Offering a team training session, a discount and/or something specific to that clinic will allow you to successfully get more athletes through the doors.

Tips/Tricks

Be sure to collect all contact information for your list.
Extend a “Thank You for Attending” email after your first clinic.
Plan an annual clinic to add consistency and enable time for growth (I have little league directors that expect coaches’ clinics annually).
Have your “plan”.
Have opportunities for their athletes (make the offer at the clinic).
Find what works for you in terms of duration: one day or multi-day clinics are effective.
Elicit the help of your young athletes to help demonstrate in real-time.
Bring your “A” game to every clinic.

Good luck,
Julie Hatfield

About the Author: Julie Hatfield

Want to Develop Speed and Agility in Your Athletes?

If you want to develop speed in your young athletes there is no better resource than the 15 Free Agility Drills. Learn Jim Kielbaso’s secrets to improving your athlete’s coordination, balance and speed.

3 Fitness Marketing Ideas When Working with Elementary Schools

Posted on: June 25th, 2014 by IYCA 1 Comment

3 Easy-to-Implement Fitness Marketing Ideas for Working with Elementary Schools

By Nicole Tegeler, MS, Head Coach at Xcel Fitness & Sport Performance

Youth fitness professionals I know often ask themselves, “What fitness marketing ideas for working with elementary schools actually work?” Today, I’m going to provide 3 easy-to-implement programs that can get your foot in the door at local elementary schools, exposing you to hundreds of prospective clients.

BIG IDEA: Do you want to be known as THE youth fitness expert to over 600 potential clients under one roof? This three-step fitness marketing tool will break down the guarded walls at your local schools and help you become exposed to over 600 potential clients!

WHAT: Three fitness marketing programs for youth fitness professionals to use at your local schools with the kids and teachers.

WHY: These marketing programs will help you gain youth and adult paying clients by helping the youth and teachers of the school first. This method breaks down the barriers at schools so you are welcomed in and can be trusted and known as the youth fitness expert in your area.

FOR: Elementary schools—these first two programs are for teachers to use to benefit the kids, and the third program is to benefit the teachers.

PROGRAMS:

Supercharge the Brain to Learn with….”JumpStart Fitness for Kidz”
This is a 10-minute program performed at the beginning of the school day in each teacher’s classroom. This exercise program is based on research that shows exercise before schools helps students be better learners at school and helps them test better.
“DeCharge, ReCharge, Recess”
This is a program to help burn up some energy during recess time (in-doors) and recharge their brains to settle back down and absorb more information after recess. This is an extended version of the morning routine to keep it simple yet effective. Teachers have enough stress. These programs are designed to help alleviate some of that stress, help the kids learn more, and help the kids become more physically fit.
Free Lecture to Teachers on Express Fat Loss and Stress Reduction
The youth fitness professional would go in for FREE, do a clinic with the teachers, and go through programs 1 & 2 (above). These would be very useful tools to help their students be better learners, receive fitness benefits, burn up some energy, make them be more alert in the classroom, and help the teachers during rainy/cold recess days. I have the format of the program designed and have tested it on all 600 kids. It works! I also give the teachers a handout and access to a video to view the routines.
Next, you should offer a free lecture to the teachers that will explain how to lose fat fast and reduce stress. During the lecture, offer them your program on fat loss and stress reduction.

UPSELLS: Once you get your foot in the door, you can start looking for ways to begin generating revenue. Here are some ideas:

3 fitness marketing ideas when working with elementary schools: upsell a teachers bootcamp

Teacher’s Bootcamp: On-site or at your location
Fit Kids Club: For the after-school daycare program, this is a captive market, and they are already using soccer, gymnastics, etc. You can also host at your own location.

And there you have 3 fitness marketing ideas when working with elementary schools—a missed opportunity for most youth fitness professionals that could potentially revolutionize your business.

How to Become a Strength and Conditioning Coach

Posted on: May 25th, 2014 by IYCA 1 Comment

Opportunities Abound—Consider Your Strengths

By Jim Kielbaso

The field of strength and conditioning has exploded over the past 10-15 years, and more people are wondering how to become a strength and conditioning coach than ever before. Unfortunately, most young professionals simply don’t know what options are available, where to start, or what it will take to get there. Because of this, many professionals end up moving on to other career pursuits. The purpose of this article is to give you a basic understanding of the strength and conditioning profession, what is available, and which paths are typical for each scenario.

Opportunities Available to the Strength and Conditioning Coach

Strength and conditioning job opportunities are typically found in four main career areas:

Professional sports
Collegiate sports
Private setting
Volunteer or part-time positions

Entrepreneurship has become an ever-important aspect of this profession, and having a great business idea can open up additional career paths such as speaking, writing, web-sites, product development, product sales, and more. Those areas are not the typical paths, so we won’t be spending much time talking about them. Keep in mind, however, that an entrepreneurial spirit can open the doors to a wide variety of additional opportunities in this field.

The Power of Networking

Most strength and conditioning coaches who have been in the game for more than a few years have worked very hard to get where they are. Almost all have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a related field and at least one major certification. Many coaches have a master’s degree, own multiple certifications, and have done internships or graduate assistantships to gain experience and connections in the Strength and Conditioning world. Like any other profession, some coaches simply fall into incredible positions and may even be ill-qualified for the job. Most, however, are “connected” to another coach. When that coach gets a new job, he often takes “his people” with him.

University of Tennessee Strength Coach Ronnie McKeefery puts it best: “Networking is an absolute must when you’re trying to break into this field. Knowing the right people can move your resume to the top of a large stack or even let you know about job openings you otherwise wouldn’t have known about.”

There is no objective way to determine who the best strength coaches are—there are no win/loss records attributed directly to the Strength and Conditioning coach—so “who you know” plays a big role in how many opportunities come your way. Unfortunately, many good coaches lose their jobs because they are connected to a sport coach who loses his/her job. That’s part of the game, and it’s the state of the profession. If that’s not appealing to you, you may want to find a job outside of college or pro sports.

More and more, sport coaches are learning about strength and conditioning and developing their own opinions about training. If you hope to work with a sport coach like this, your training philosophy better match his/her opinion of what works: The sport coach is in charge of the team and he/she may carry a lot of weight in the hiring/firing process; if you do things in a way that contradicts the coach’s beliefs, you’re probably not going to be hired. This reality has gotten many coaches to reevaluate what is important to them, and compromises have been made in order to keep jobs. This is not necessarily a good or bad thing, but it is a part of the profession.

Nearly Endless Options

If you’re just starting out and have a real passion for strength and conditioning but haven’t gotten too far into the business, you need to know that there are many options and paths to choose from. If you just want to be part of the scene, there are endless opportunities. There are a lot of schools, teams and athletes that would love some free or very inexpensive help. If you want to get paid, however, there are fewer opportunities. And, if you want to make a lot of money, your path is even narrower. That’s not to say that there aren’t good jobs out there, but there are a lot of quality coaches vying for a relatively small number of coveted jobs, so it’s very competitive. No matter which path you choose, you’ll probably have to pay your dues, unless you’re one of those lucky people who fall into a perfect situation.

“Putting in a lot of hard work and spending time developing as a coach is an absolute requirement,” says McKeefery. “This is a tough job, so you have to be willing to work. If hard work and long hours are a problem for you, this probably isn’t the job for you.”

You also need to keep in mind that not everyone is a good fit for this profession and different personalities fit better down certain paths. You don’t want to be the square peg trying to fit into a round hole, so it’s a good idea to figure out which path presents the best opportunities for your strengths. As you read through the rest of this article, you may connect with certain aspects of each job. Try to be very honest and objective about which environment you are best suited for. The coach who is perfectly suited for college football may be the wrong person to work with professional basketball players. An incredible Olympic sports coach may be terrible in a business setting.

You also need to understand that each situation has pros and cons. Working with professional athletes may be your dream because you love Sports Center. That dream could be completely shattered when you find out the realities of the situation. You may start out being driven in one direction, but don’t be surprised if your outlook changes as you mature in the profession.

Let’s take a look at some of the opportunities available in the field and the most common paths taken to get there. While you read, think about which situations you’re best suited for. Also keep in mind that there are always combinations of these positions available, and you may have an opportunity to create your own job in certain situations.

How to Become a Strength and Conditioning Coach in Professional Sports

(Salary range: $500/month–$300K+/year)

To some people, this is the pinnacle. To others, it’s a terrible situation. There are a very limited number of jobs available in pro sports, so you’ll certainly have to pay your dues, get to know the right people and be in the right place at the right time to make it happen. Professional sports have evolved to the point that the athletes often have more power than the coaches, and some coaches aren’t right for that environment.

The path to success in professional sports is generally to pick one sport and go full tilt in that direction. You’ll probably get pigeon-holed early on as a hockey guy, football guy, basketball guy, etc., so be sure you like the sport you’re dealing with. That’s not to say you can never switch sports, but once you’re in, you’re kind of in.

Like college coaches, many pro coaches start out as a Graduate Assistant or intern for a collegiate program. From there, they often intern or volunteer for a pro team to get a foot in the door. Sometimes a player you’ve worked with puts a word in for you to get you into an organization. Once you get a foot in the door, it’s much easier to move ahead. It’s pretty common for a part-time coach or intern to be promoted to assistant coach if he/she is doing a great job. From there, many assistant coaches move up to a head coach spot when one opens.

MLB seems to have the largest number of opportunities, but many of them are internship positions with minor league teams. Inexperienced coaches have the opportunity to get jobs in pro baseball, and it can be a good learning experience if you are lucky enough to work under a good coach. It can also be frustrating because moving upward in an organization is difficult and competitive. The people at the top of the ladder typically stay there for as long as they can.

In baseball, you generally go from being an intern with a minor league team to being a minor league coordinator and finally to MLB head strength coach. Many teams hire from within, so it’s often a game of attrition: How long can you wait for a good job to become available?

“I spent time in three different organizations waiting for an opportunity to present itself, but it never happened,” says Nick Wilson from the University of Detroit Mercy. “I stuck around baseball as long as I could, but when a college position became available, I knew I had to jump on it.”

Your ability to connect with coaches and athletes will often outweigh your knowledge, so keep in mind that you have to be the right fit if you’re going to make it very far in baseball.

The NBA, NFL, MLS, and NHL are a little different because there aren’t many lower-tier or minor league positions available. The path noted above (intern–>assistant–>head) is similar to the path taken in collegiate sports. The big difference is that most “farm” systems of these sports simply don’t have full-time strength and conditioning coaches… yet. That may change in the future.

To get into one of these sports, you typically have to pay your dues for a while, making very little money, working very hard, traveling A LOT, and connecting with the right people in order for it to pay off. More importantly, you typically need to ride the coattails of a coach or high-profile athlete to get into a good position. For example, you may be a volunteer coach for an NFL team just at the time that the assistant Strength and Conditioning coach gets a new job. If you’ve done an outstanding job, you might get the Assistant position. From there, you may become great friends with the Defensive Coordinator. The next year, that coach may get a head coaching job for another team, and he may bring you with him because of your relationship. That’s a typical situation, but it doesn’t always work perfectly.

You also need to understand that pro Strength and Conditioning coaches are often hired and fired depending on how the players feel about you. It’s not uncommon to see a coach get hired or fired in pro sports because a star player either loved or hated him/her. It’s also not uncommon for someone to get hired by a professional team because he/she had developed a relationship with an owner or high-level manager. That’s certainly not typical, but you just never know how things might work out in professional sports.

If pro sports is your true passion, you’ll probably need to start out by volunteering for a team. Call the strength coach and ask if you can be involved in any way. If you’re lucky enough to get your foot in the door, take advantage of that opportunity by working your butt off. Hard work will often impress someone, and that could give you the opportunity to take the next step in that sport.

You’ll almost always need a strong educational background to land a good pro job, but there have also been plenty of ex-players or personal friends that get hired.

The NFL typically has one head strength coach and one or two assistants. Many teams are going with a speed coach instead of an assistant. Because of the schedule, NFL jobs require the least amount of travel and often have the most authority over the actual training the athletes engage in.

The NBA typically has one head strength coach, and some teams have intern positions. Travel can be grueling because you’re on the road most of the year. Not many NBA strength coaches have the authority to “make” a player train, so developing relationships is very important.

Not every NHL team has a full-time strength coach; many are also athletic trainers, and most have additional responsibilities such as minor league training or making travel arrangements. The MLS is still in its infancy. Most teams have someone working on fitness, but the quality of the position varies greatly from club to club. MLS and NHL have plenty of room for growth in this area.

How to Become a Strength and Conditioning Coach in College Sports

Salary range: $500/month–$300K+/year

There are certainly more opportunities in college athletics than professional sports simply because there are more colleges than pro teams. Many colleges also employ more than one strength coach, and some employ several. There seem to be two distinct paths here: football and everything else. There are now several basketball-only Strength and Conditioning Coaches, but the majority of college coaches can be divided up by football and what they call “Olympic sports.”

In either situation, you always need a degree and national certification (usually NSCA or CSCCA), and most coaches now have a Master’s Degree and experience as either a Graduate Assistant or intern. If you want to get into college Strength and Conditioning coaching, you’re definitely going to need to pick between football and Olympic sports and work on getting a G.A. spot or internship. Getting a G.A. position at a large school is quite competitive, so you’ll need to make connections early and talk to college coaches about upcoming opportunities. Many G.A. positions are filled internally by former athletes, so you need to network heavily to get your foot in the door.

If you’re just starting out, try to get your experience at the biggest school possible, especially one with a good athletic program. That’s not to say you can’t get a fantastic experience at a small school with a great coach who gives you lots of responsibility; you can. Unfortunately, Athletic Directors (who are frequently doing the hiring) are often pretty uneducated about this, and they love to see successful sports programs on a resume, even if you didn’t do that much there. So, when choosing a Graduate Assistantship or internship, look for a big school or one that will give you plenty of hands-on experience.

“Having a resume is not good enough anymore,” comments McKeefery. “My last job listing, I had over 400 resumes, and 97% of them had a degree and certification. Having the education is a given. You must have practical application and experience.”

You may also want to look at the track record of the coach getting his people better jobs. Some coaches don’t help very much in this department, while others do everything they can to help people succeed.

Similar to pro sports, football Strength and Conditioning coaches often attach themselves to a coach and ride him as far as possible. With that in mind, a perfect scenario would be to become the assistant strength coach at a large school where the assistant football coaches have a good shot at being a head coach in the future. Keep in mind that when that coach moves on, you may be taken along for the ride.

If you really want to get into football strength and conditioning and you think you’re the right fit, contact as many football strength coaches as possible while you’re an undergrad so you can land a good G.A. position. G.A. positions are often filled a year in advance, so do plenty of networking by attending clinics and making phone calls to meet coaches.

Once you get a G.A. position, don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s going to be happy times for two years. On the contrary, most G.A.’s get worked to the bone, so get ready to put in some serious work. A Graduate Assistantship is basically a two-year interview just to get a recommendation. Of course, you get your graduate school paid for, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get a job. You still have to do a great job and impress the head coach just to be in the position to have a favorable recommendation.

In general, Olympic sport strength and conditioning coaches are more laid back and focused on teaching an intern or G.A. how to be a great coach. These G.A.’s still work their butts off, but it’s generally a different attitude. There are often more jobs available because many schools have multiple Strength and Conditioning Coaches working with Olympic Sports, but those usually aren’t the huge-salary jobs. There are many excellent opportunities for quality female coaches in this setting, because many female sports want a female strength coach. There is a lack of quality female strength coaches, so good ones can often have plenty of opportunities.

The road to a big-time job can be long and full of ups and downs. The big-money jobs are typically associated with college football, so you have to be attached to the right coach and be willing to make a move when the timing is right. A typical path to the top involves several moves, so your family needs to be on board early in the process. It is common for a G.A. to get an assistant coach position and work there for a few years before getting a head job at a medium-sized school. If things work out well at that school, and your head football coach wins a lot of games, you might get the opportunity to follow him to a big school and a big-time job. From there, the program better keep winning, or you can lose that job as fast as you got it. Some guys will win a National Championship one year and lose their job the next (yes, it has happened), so don’t get too comfortable in any position.

Keep in mind that head strength coaches often do the hiring of assistant coaches at large schools. Athletic Directors are usually involved and will probably be part of the interview process. A.D.’s at smaller schools are much more involved in the hiring process. In both situations, a call or recommendation from another influential coach can often go a long way toward getting you an interview. If you don’t know anyone at the university, it’s very difficult to get noticed in a stack of resumes.

Don’t be too discouraged if you don’t even get an interview for a job. Many jobs get posted but have basically been filled internally. It’s not often that a great job gets posted and the school has no idea who they’ll be hiring. Again, networking is the key here.

How to Become a High School Strength and Conditioning Coach

Salary range: $10/hour–$100K/year

The high school scene for strength and conditioning is very interesting and very different from state to state and region to region. There are some states such as Texas, California, and Ohio where strength coaching jobs are fairly common in high schools. In other states, there may not be any school-sponsored positions. High school jobs are often filled by volunteers, assistant coaches, or sub-contracted employees who fill part-time positions to help a school. Most often, physical education teachers fill the role by default. Still, there are schools in certain areas that have multiple full-time coaches with large budgets and the full support of the administration. Private schools usually lead the way in funding these positions.

Helping at a high school can be done for a single team or an entire school. If you’re volunteering your time, you need to decide how many kids you’re willing to work with or how much time you can put in. Interestingly, many high school sport coaches are even more controlling than college coaches when it comes to strength and conditioning, so you have to be prepared for different personalities.

“I believe High School Strength and Conditioning is a great opportunity for newcomers to strength and conditioning,” says McKeefery. “If you combine that with a teaching position, you have a stable income and time at your disposal. With that financial stability, you can use the extra time to network while being able to practically apply what you learn with your athletes.”

Unfortunately, the high school scene has been inundated with sub-par programming from poor coaches. This often happens because the sport coaches choose a program based on marketing hype or because an unqualified coach fills the position. With all of the information available today, it’s almost unbelievable to see what some sport coaches come up with, but it’s the reality of the situation.

Landing a Job

To get a job at a high school, a strength coach usually needs to win the respect of a sport coach or A.D. Sometimes a degree and experience are necessary. In other situations, you just need to be the friend of a coach. If you’re looking to be a part of a program and have the time to volunteer, it’s possible to get your foot in the door of many schools.

Some schools fund the strength coach through school funds while others pay with booster club money. If you think this is a setting you can see yourself fitting into, think about getting your teacher’s certification. It doesn’t mean you have to teach, but it certainly opens a lot of doors in public schools.

How to Become a Strength and Conditioning Coach in a Private Setting

Salary Range: $10/hour–over $200K/year

Over the past 10 years, more and more opportunities are springing up for strength and conditioning coaches in private settings. You can be a personal trainer who works with a few athletes, or you can run a complete business focusing exclusively on athletes. Entrepreneurs have established businesses like these all over the country, often focusing on a specific niche of the market. Some businesses focus on football combine training, while others are geared toward soccer or hockey players. Some deal mainly with younger populations, and others strictly run camps. You can pick your niche or spread out and train lots of different athletes. The key here is that you get to create your job and decide who you’re going to work with as long as you can get them to pay for your services.

You can operate an independent facility or be part of a large network of training centers. Athletic Republic is the largest chain in the world with over 160 centers, but there are also smaller chains. Athletic Revolution offers franchising opportunities for those who like control over how their business looks and feels.

Some training centers make good money, but most have found that this business does not have a very high profit margin. You can make a very nice living, but there aren’t many people getting rich in this business. Even the most successful facilities in the country supplement their income with personal training, nutritional supplements, or information products. It’s a difficult business, and the use of a consultant or outside expert is highly recommended when getting started. Many new facilities go out of business quickly because of bad decisions made early in the process. I have consulted with several facilities, and it’s amazing to see the mistakes that put people out of business. Again, Athletic Revolution (and personal training franchise Fitness Revolution) can provide business solutions to ensure you are efficiently running your business and allowing you more time to spend in the coaching aspect.

The surge of private training centers has created a lot of jobs for young coaches, however, and this segment of the field is expanding faster than any other. It is a great option for a young coach who may not fit into the college scene, can’t get a foot in the door in pro sports, or doesn’t have the demeanor to work with large groups of high school athletes. One of the most difficult aspects of this job is that you need to be nice enough to get people to pay for your services and stick with you yet demanding enough to get results. People who can talk comfortably with different athletes and parents and have the ability to make training somewhat enjoyable can just about write their own ticket in this industry. Many college and pro coaches lack these skills, so don’t underestimate how difficult it can be to run a successful sports performance business.

Most private facilities require a degree in the field and a certification from a nationally accredited agency such as the NSCA, NASM, or ACSM, but each business will have its own requirements. Doing an internship at a facility is probably the best way to get a foot in the door, but completing a graduate assistantship or internship at another facility is also a great start. These facilities often have a decent amount of turnover, so they hire on a fairly regular basis. When there is a job opening, the owners often hire coaches they don’t know very well, so opportunities abound, especially in metropolitan areas.

You’ll usually make the most money in the private setting when you own the business, but there is certainly a downside to ownership. The first, and most obvious, is the financial risk of spending a lot of money on a business and having it fail. Other downsides include having to do marketing, paperwork, accounting, and hiring and firing of employees. It can be difficult to find good employees you can trust, and this is a huge source of stress for many business owners. The upside is that you’re more in control of your career, and you can reap whatever financial rewards come your way.

It’s OK to be an employee if you feel that is where you fit the best. Not everyone needs to own a business, and the additional money may not be worth the stress.

Many gyms or fitness facilities have personal training programs, and these trainers always have the option of working with athletes. It’s a great option to do personal fitness training most of the time (to pay the bills) and train a few athletes as well; this is a very common situation. You don’t have to train athletes exclusively to make this work. You have to weigh your options and choose the best path for yourself.

Interning or getting experience at a private facility may also help you move into the college or professional setting. For example, Total Performance Training Center in Wixom, MI, has had several interns/employees move on to full-time college positions, paid college internships, or GA positions at major universities. Sometimes this kind of experience can really benefit you because you bring a different outlook to the table. Again, it all depends on your personality and determination.

How to Become a Part-time or Volunteer Strength and Conditioning Coach

Salary Range: Negligible

If you just want to be involved in athletics, there are a ton of opportunities to be connected without it taking over your life. A great option is to have another well-paying job that you enjoy and volunteer with athletes on the side. You may even get paid a little for your time, but it doesn’t have to be a full-time job. This can often keep things interesting for you and not turn training into a burden because you have to do it all day, every day. If you only spend a couple hours a week volunteering at a high school or with a sports club, you’ll probably continue to stay excited about it and keep the enjoyment factor high.

Many high schools, and even colleges and pro sports teams, love volunteer help from qualified coaches. Limited budgets often cause staffing problems for athletic programs, and a qualified volunteer can be a huge help in many situations. That doesn’t mean you can just call up an NFL team and ask to volunteer in the weight room. You still have to be qualified, and you need to network. Once you get to know a strength coach, you might have the opportunity to talk about being involved in some capacity. If you’re not asking to be paid, it’s always easier to bring this up.

Wrap-Up

I hope this article sheds some light on how to become a strength and conditioning coach, including the most common paths in the strength and conditioning profession and what type of person would excel at each. Of course, every coach has his/her own path, and there are many ways to achieve a goal. The point of this article was to show you the most common paths taken by coaches to get to each position.

To sum it all up, here are the things you need to do to become a strength and conditioning coach:

Get a great education: at least a bachelor’s degree, probably a master’s degree
Get certified by a nationally recognized organization
Learn from great coaches and hone your coaching skills
Network with as many coaches as possible
Seek opportunities and jump on them when appropriate
Work hard and put in long hours
Do an outstanding job training athletes day after day
Have a little bit of luck

If you do all of those things, you’ll certainly have opportunities in this field. If you have the right personality and meet the right people, you’ll probably get a decent job. If you work really hard, do a great job, and have a little bit of luck, you just might hit it big and become a leader in the field. Whatever you hope to achieve, I hope this article sheds some light on how to become a strength and conditioning coach and helps you choose the path that suits you best.

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Stop Focusing on Training Systems

Posted on: March 27th, 2014 by IYCA 2 Comments

relationship

By Alex Slezak – M.Ed, YFS, YSAS, HSSCS

I estimate that I have been directly coaching youth in some manner for 15,000+ hours and counting; hopefully I have many more years to go. My off time has been devoted to discovering the best systems and methods for my physical education and tennis programs. One day I came to a profound realization that it is not all about having the best system or newest fad, instead it really is about the interpersonal relationship you have with the students you are teaching. In my opinion the relationship is more important than the system. What I mean by that is that even the best methods and systems fail when the teacher cannot find a way to have their knowledge and message resonate with the students. Children are not empty vessels that teachers just fill up with knowledge. Kids are dynamic human beings and if you really want something to stick they have to engage in the teaching and learning process. The old saying, “no one cares what you know, until they know you care” comes to mind.

Some coaches jump on the next best program or piece of equipment and think it will be the solution for everything. Others look to replicate the system and drills other successful people are doing. But when they try to replicate the incredible results they witnessed the results are often disappointing. I know from experience; I have been there and done that. You see it is not the equipment or system that is the problem, these things really could be the best thing since sliced bread, but what really makes it successful is the interrelationship the coach has with the students. The tools and the system are the means but the real magic is in the interaction.

I am not saying that having a system or plan that works for you is not important, it is. You need to have a good base of knowledge and an organized plan of delivery. What I am suggesting to you is stop focusing so much on every detail of the system or chasing new equipment and start focusing on real teaching and coaching which lies in the interpersonal relationships between you and your students.

So the question always comes up, “how do you build this kind of interpersonal relationship between teacher and student?” In my opinion it all starts by earning trust and respect. Notice I said earning. I do not take trust or respect lightly nor do I mix them up with being liked. If you are doing the right things for your students and holding them accountable day in and day out, over time you will earn their trust and respect. You will not always be liked but you will earn their trust and respect. When you have it and open your mouth to teach students listen and are engaged in what you are saying. It is not about them liking you, be very careful not to mix the two up. In fact, one of the sure fire ways to lose trust and respect is to fail to do what you know you should in fear of not being liked. Children, even young children, are very smart. They know when someone is shortchanging them and taking the easy way out. I even think sometimes they test the boundaries just to see if you are willing to call them out. It is like a test just to find out how much you really care. They know you truly care if you will hold them accountable even if it means not being liked. As a wise friend of mine once said to me, “even the wildest stallions want fences.”

So go against the gain and while everyone else is changing to the latest system or buying the latest equipment focus your efforts on earning the trust and respect of your students. Then whatever system you decide to utilize it will be successful because you took the time to develop the real secret to teaching, the interpersonal relationship that allows teaching to occur.

Alex is a Physical Education teacher and operates a tennis & fitness training business in Pittsburgh, PA. You can learn more by visiting his website at www.AlexSlezak.com.

Giving Your Young Athletes Ownership

Posted on: August 30th, 2012 by IYCA 1 Comment

Giving Young Athletes Ownership Over Their Fitness Programs

By Dave Gleason

At times we speak about giving kids ownership over their fitness programs. Self efficacy, self confidence and a vested interest in long term health and wellness are all associated benefits of giving a little control back to the young athletes we coach.

With all of the documented and experiential proof of these advantageous rewards, why do we not allow for coaching in this manner on a more consistent basis? Once more, should we be digging deeper into the possibilities we could examine with our young athletes?

Many coaches may feel uncomfortable with giving up ultimate control of the sessions they run. Giving up control is not the point. The perspective must be that the session we run are theirs…not ours. The kids we serve are the owners of their sessions.

Yes, for the most part, we orchestrate the parameters and boundaries they are allowed to explore movement within. That said, coaches must trust in the fact that the opportunity to explore, discover and learn human movement patterns far outweighs the perceived advantage of the most technical of programs.

As stated, there are several reasons why we should allow for more engagement and decision making from our young athletes. Recently, I took this to the extreme, leaving positive lessons learned by myself, my staff and most importantly by the young athletes we serve.

If cultivating a physical culture in children is important…if physical literacy is lacking in today’s youth and we are charged with positively impacting lives…

Then consider this:

I gave full control of our 10-13 year old classes for one week…to the 10-13 year old young athletes!

We all know how difficult it can be to maintain focus and effort levels during the end of the school year, especially for our younger athletes.

So here is what we did.

Within the parameters of our programming templates our young athletes where asked to name the categories of movements and or activities we operate our classes within. Next they chose appropriate exercises, movements, activities or games within each category.

The individuals in each class were allowed to help each reach answers that were correct in category name and appropriate in activity selection.

The result was an astonishing realization that our young athletes were learning. They are learning how to structure an exercise plan – a life long lesson. Tissue quality, active range of motion, muscle activation, general preparation, systemic strength and game play were all nomenclatures they not only knew – they understood.

My staff and I would ask them, for example, what “systemic strength” means to them and the answers were miraculous and dead accurate.

“It means working the whole body coach. The entire system”.

“It means not to strengthen just one part of our body but to get all the moving parts working together”.

When asked what activities they would suggest for each respective element of training my staff and I were once again amazed.

Not only did they produce suggestions that were befitting the chosen category, some of our young champions remarked correctly that some of the activities could potentially be used for more than one category. Brilliant.

This was a lesson to us that if we truly want to empower our kids, we need to coach as such. Not just on special occasions or during times when traditional programming does not suffice…all the time.

Every session, every moment young athletes has in your program should be memorable, remarkable and exciting.

Start with giving them the ownership they deserve.

Keep changing lives!

Youth Fitness Resources From The IYCA

Posted on: August 28th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

Youth Fitness Resources

By Wil Fleming

I get a lot of questions regarding what IYCA product other coaches should buy. To my inbox, in person, and on facebook the question is always “I am thinking of buying Product X, and also product Y if you had to rank them what would it be?”

Continuing education is one of my favorite things to spend money on. I know that there is a big return coming on the money spent on products that help me improve as a coach. So in truth, any information gleaned from a text or DVD is valuable for me, but if I had to rank them here is how it goes.

Youth Fitness Specialist Level 1

This product really is what sets the IYCA apart. There is no more complete text about youth fitness and training athletes from ages 6-18. This text defined for me what youth athletes need when it comes to training. It underwent a recent update and has been improved even more from the original.

http://youth-fitness-specialist.com/

IYCA High School Strength and Conditioning Coach Certification

This was the first product I was ever involved in creating and is the most practical text I have ever read about training high school athletes. There are dozens of done-for-you high school training programs. If they don’t fit the bill for your training situation, there is a huge text book giving you the tools to replace movements with ideal choices. The fact that it was written by Mike Robertson, Eric Cressey, and Toby Brooks makes it even better. Normal texts talk a lot about theory but this one really does tell you how to apply theory to make great high school athletes.

https://iyca.org/highschool/

The IYCA Youth Speed and Agility Specialist

Written by Dave Jack, Latif Thomas, and Toby Brooks there is not a better text about speed and agility available anywhere. It is required reading for all interns with me, and for all the coaches that work in my facility. The section on lateral speed alone is worth the investment. That being said I have never read a more practical de-construction of the mechanics of acceleration and high speed running than what is provided in this text.

http://youthspeedspecialist.com/

IYCA Kettlebell/Olympic Lifts/Resistance Band Instructor Courses

I grouped these together because there is always a weak point in coaches arsenal that needs to be improved. The IYCA has provided 3 manuals that can help you eliminate those points to become a better coach. There are no better kettlebell instructors than Jason C. Brown and Pamela MacElree at teaching kettlebells in an easy to process way. When it comes to resistance band training, no one surpasses Dave Schmitz in his knowledge, I have seen him train elite football teams with only resistance bands, creating some of the fastest and most explosive athletes I have been around. The Olympic Lifts course is designed by me, and in my honest evaluation, it is the only product that comes from someone with an elite Olympic lifting background that uses the lifts primarily to train young athletes and not competitive Olympic lifters. Each of these products can help make you a better coach in a chosen weak point.

https://iyca.org/kettlebell/

https://iyca.org/olympic-lifts/

https://iyca.org/bands/

There are plenty of other awesome products from the IYCA. The Youth Fitness Specialist Level 2 and Level 3 products can only elevate your knowledge, and are the most thorough texts I have ever seen on a given subject matter.

Beat the Heat To Keep Fit

Posted on: July 9th, 2012 by IYCA 3 Comments

exercising in the heat for young athletes tips

Exercising In The Heat Can Be Beneficial

By Phil Hueston

Ok. So it’s hot. Really hot. But you still want to get your exercise in. Is it safe? You’re asking “How do I know when to go out and play in the summer sun (and heat)? How do I know when I should stay inside and exercise in the AC? Or should I bag it all and just hit the pool?”

There are risks and benefits to exercising in the heat. More risks than benefits, I’m afraid, but we’ll talk about both.

First, the benefits.

Benefit #1 – No snow. Ok, just kidding. The first benefit of exercising is in heat that you will definitely break a sweat. This is really only a benefit if you intend to sweat, of course! Sweating is good for the body in several ways. 1.) It is a very efficient way to remove toxins from the body. Sweating helps clean the toxins out of your body, helping to somewhat lighten the load on the kidneys, liver and other “clean-up” organs. 2.) Sweating is said to be moderately beneficial to cardiovascular health. When we begin to sweat, our heart and lungs work a bit harder to take in and distribute the oxygen needed to cool blood and keep organs and other body components cool. This contributes to improved cardiovascular strength and efficiency. 3.) Sweating can make you more beautiful (or handsome.) Sort of. See #1 – sweating clears toxins. The pores of the skin are often clogged with toxins, so when you sweat, you clear them out and let them “breathe.”

Benefit #2 – Improved stress levels and management. Exercise helps manage stress under just about any circumstances (except, of course, gladiator competitions and being chased by a tiger – very stressful.) Benefit #1 may contribute to the increased stress management when exercising in the heat. Sweating more is said to trigger endorphin release sooner during and after exercise. No conclusive proof of higher endorphins in the heat yet, but there IS something to be said for how great you feel after a good sweat and challenging exercising in the heat.

Benefit #3 – Muscles tend to warm up faster. It just makes sense – higher temperatures lead to more blood flow faster. Since that’s a large component of how muscles warm up, heat helps.

Benefit #4 – Enhanced fat loss. While the majority of weight lost through sweating is water weight, heat helps in fat loss, too. Higher temperatures help heat the body. This makes fat more “fluid,” for lack of a better term. Essentially, it becomes more easily transported in the blood, making it available for use as a fuel.

Benefit #5 – This benefit is a bit more specific in nature. Apparently, training in high temperatures can improve athletic performance at lower temperatures. According to a University of Oregon study, the results of which were published in the October 2010 issue of The Journal of Applied Physiology¸

“Heat acclimation improves the body’s ability to control body temperature, improves sweating and increases blood flow through the skin, and expands blood volume allowing the heart to pump to more blood to muscles, organs and the skin as needed.” – Science Daily, October 25, 2010.

The study was conducted on cyclists and found that their performance improved by 7 percent after only 10 heat acclimation exposures. Doesn’t sound like much until you think about what a 7% reduction would mean for Lance Armstrong’s fastest Tour de France time. In 2002, Armstrong finished in 82 hours, 5 minutes. A 7% improvement in that time would make it 76 hours, 21 minutes. 7% indeed.

So heat offers some unique benefits relative to exercise and the results you can expect. However, there are risks. So before you go hopping on the bike or grabbing your barbells, let’s make sure you know what they are.

Risk #1 – Increased Cardiovascular load. In the heat, your body tissues increase in temperature, often beyond the normal range for average temperature exercise. In response, blood is sent to the skin to cool the body. Add to this the fact that sweat doesn’t readily evaporate (how we cool off) and the job is tougher. This leaves less blood available to travel to muscles. That makes the heart work harder, stressing it.

Risk #2 – Heat Cramps. Less blood to muscles means higher risk of cramping. Heat cramps are painful muscle contractions, most often occurring in the calves, quadriceps and abdominal muscles. While the skin and body temperature may feel normal, the muscles themselves may be firm to the touch or even somewhat swollen.

Risk #3 – Heat Exhaustion. In this dangerous situation, your body temperature may rise to 104 degrees. It may be accompanied by nausea, headache, vomiting, dizziness, weakness, fainting, and cold, clammy skin. If no action is taken to alleviate it, heat exhaustion can lead to heatstroke.

Risk #4 – Heatstroke. Your body temperature reaches more than 104 degrees. This is a life-threatening situation and must be addressed immediately. Without immediate attention you risk organ failure, brain damage or even death. While the skin may be hot, your body may stop sweating, preventing cooling from happening. Confusion and irritability may ensue. Seek medical help NOW!

Beware the warning signs. Know the warning signs of heat-related illness or conditions. Muscle cramps, nausea or vomiting, weakness, headache, dizziness and confusion are all signs that it is time to stop, cool down and re-assess the exercise session based on the risks.

How to get the benefits without needless risks. You can enjoy the benefits of hot temperature exercise while minimizing the risks.

Remember these guidelines for exercising in the heat:

1. Know the temperature – Be aware of weather forecasts and temperature expectations. Generally, temps or heat indices over 100 are signs that you should take extra caution when exercising. Reduce the intensity of your session or use a shorter duration during these situations.

2. Get adjusted and acclimated – Increase the intensity of your exercise over time, say 1 to 3 weeks. If you’ve been working out indoors or in climate controlled areas, start with a few short (20-30 minute) session in the higher temperatures and work up from there.

3. Know your limits – High heat is not the time to “jump back in” at full effort if you’ve been slacking off or exercising at low to moderate intensity. Also, stick with what you know while adjusting to the heat. Familiar exercise types allow you to recognize your limits – which will be tested in warm temperatures faster than in moderate ones.

4. Hit the fluids – HARD – Drink more fluids than you think you need. Don’t wait until you are thirsty. By then it’s too late – dehydration is beginning. For sessions longer than an hour, sports drinks may be a better choice because of the sodium, chloride and potassium they can replace. Choose drinks with lower sugar contents. Avoid alcoholic beverages during hot weather activity.

5. Avoid the mid-day sun – Morning or evening are best. Even better – a brisk swim.

6. Dress right – You may think your solar sweatshirt and the hot weather are a great way to drop a few pounds, but it’s really a recipe for heat related illness, even heart attacks and strokes. Light, loose fitting clothes in light colors are best. Think about a hat – especially those of you (me too) who are bald, shave our heads or have thinning hair.

7. Have an alternate plan – Go climb or run some stairs in an air-conditioned building. Exercise indoors in the air-conditioning. It’s okay, the weather will cool off and you’ll be outside again soon.

8. Know your risks – Be aware of any medical conditions that might be made worse through heat exposure. If you aren’t sure, speak with your doctor before beginning an exercise program in hot weather.

9. Sunscreen, baby – Because sunburned skin doesn’t cool off as well as healthy skin.

So the temperature has climbed into the high whatevers. Don’t let that stop you from “getting after it.” Just get smart about it and you’ll be able to benefit from exercising in the heat and your hot weather workouts while avoiding the potential dangers.

Evaluating Yourself As A Coach

Posted on: June 13th, 2012 by IYCA 3 Comments

Become The Best Coach You Can Be

By Wil Fleming

There are a lot of great coaches in the world, and this newsletter reaches plenty of them. To become an even better coach evaluation is really important.

I think that coaching breaks down into four categories and seeing where you are an expert or could need some work is a helpful tool to become a better a coach.

Anatomy and Kinesiology
This category is first as it is likely the first thing we learned in school that actually pertained to our development as coaches. For coaches that changed careers or don’t have a classic background in this area, this is typically the weakest. Coaches that are strong in this area, can do wonders in assessment, analyzing movements, and innovating new ideas.

This is by far my weakest area and something that I strive to get better in everyday. Brushing up on anatomy, kinesiology, and biomechanics through reading is my primary way to get better in this area.
Program design
Designing great programs can really make your athletes better. Putting the wrong exercises in the program can make your athletes unprepared for their competitions, or even get them injured. Incorrect rep schemes and volume can leave your athletes under or over trained. The right program can give each athlete a chance at giving their best effort when it counts.

I think that I am fairly strong in this area, but could definitely use improvement. The easiest way to improve in this area is to observe and interact with coaches that are preparing athletes on a daily basis and glean what you can from their programming secrets.
Practical Coaching
Practical coaching is what I have named the actual coaching on the floor. Seeing movements and cleaning them up to get the best patterns possible. Being a problem solver on the floor coaching the technique at every step.

In my perspective, this is where I am strongest. I am able to identify issues in movements and make the modifications on the floor or to the technique that are necessary. Again watching good coaches in action is a great way to improve in this area, as is completing the movements yourself. Working through your own technical problems is a great way to get a feel for what you need to coach.
Impact
Impact is all of the non-programming stuff. Are you making the environment fun? Are you setting the athletes up for life-long success by associating positive emotions with training?

Also one of my strong suits, but probably the area in which I worry about the most. I want to make sure that the athletes love the experience and are excited to train. To improve in this area there are no secrets, it is always making sure that your energy is higher than the athletes’ energy and focusing on bringing them up with you through their training session.

Don’t be afraid to evaluate, and don’t be afraid to focus in on your weak points. You as a coach and your athletes will get better because of it.

Change Lives,

Wil

Your Youth Fitness Business Operating System

Posted on: June 11th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

Youth Fitness Business Systems

By Pat Rigsby

To run a youth fitness business that functions at a very high level you need the following Business Operating System components in place:

An Overall Business Growth Plan – Most fitness businesses approach growth very arbitrarily. They randomly try to do things and don’t really have a plan. It’s very much like the difference between designing a program based on a client’s assessment and goals versus just giving them random workouts.

It might work out ok – but the odds of it doing as well as the planned approach aren’t very good.

This plan should include:
Knowing who you want to serve
How you intend to reach those people and get them to become clients
A Marketing Calendar to put this into action

Specific Business Targets – You need to have targets for the number of leads that you need each month, the closing percentage for those leads actually becoming clients, specific revenue targets and specific profit targets at minimum. There are any number of other target metrics that you can (and should) track, but those are the basics.

Trackable Lead Generation System – For you to grow a successful and sustainable business you need to have several lead generation strategies that you can consistently execute and track for effectiveness. You need to be able to know that:
You’re getting enough quality leads per month.
Where those leads are coming from.
The cost of getting those leads, both from a money perspective and a time perspective
This way you can focus on what’s working and improve or replace what is not.

Trackable Lead Conversion System – You must know how effective you are at turning prospects into clients. You should know which prospects are higher quality (convert better and stay longer) and which aren’t.

Client Value Maximization System – You can call this what you want, but you must have a systematic way to:
Retain clients
Maximize their value to your business
Provide them the most complete solution for their goals possible
Most fitness professionals do not have this System in place and leave up to half of their potential revenue on the table.

Business Operations Systems – The systems for what go on ‘behind the scenes’ in your business, from how you answer the phone or respond to emails to how you clean your facility. A business might get away without these when it’s a one person operation, but they’re critical if you have a staff or want to.

Finance Systems – You must have systems to address:
Automated billing
Bookkeeping
Accounting
Taxes & Payroll (if you have staff)
Financial systems routinely either get overlooked by fitness business owners or are handled in a way that eventually costs the business a lot of revenue. Remember, it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep.

Hiring & Staff Training Systems – Almost every business owner aspires to have staff, whether it’s adding more trainers or coaches or it’s hiring someone to handle some of the administrative tasks that go into running the business.

If your going to have staff, then you need to have systems in place to hire the right people and develop them to do the job that you need done at the highest level possible.

Hopefully this gives you some more clear insight into the components of the Business Operating System you need to have in place to run your business at the highest possible level.

Obviously, there is far more to it than what I can address in an email, but these components should be present in your Youth Fitness Business. If not, you should immediately start working to build each of these systems.

They’re that important.

If you’d like to discuss how we can help you with your Business Operating System and in providing you all of those components, click on the link below and let me know. That’s exactly what Athletic Revolution was built to do:

Help great coaches build great businesses.

You can learn more about Athletic Revolution here:

Youth Fitness Business http://www.myathleticrevolution.com/more/

Also – with Athletic Revolution you can maintain your own brand while leveraging the best business systems in the industry. A true WIN/ WIN.

https://www.myathleticrevolution.com/more/

One Shell At A Time

Posted on: June 7th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

Coaching Young Athletes: One Shell At A Time

By Dave Gleason

When we are educating prospective parent members about the value of long term athletic development we often use very poignant and effective analogies. This is paramount in guiding parents to a better understanding and, at times, a paradigm shift as to the optimal way to train their child(ren).

Once more, it is imperative that our parents as well as our athletes comprehend the inherent risk of early specialization in sport… and the 6 week “bigger, stronger, faster” quick fix.

A common analogy that has proved advantageous to these efforts is that of our educational system.

We can quickly draw a parallel between the progressive and cumulative effect of our school systems while explaining that learning physical skill sets is no different. We speak to building a solid foundation before specializing in any one subject. We offer the example of not excluding other subject matter because a child has an affinity or increased aptitude in one particular subject.

“If Trevor was brilliant in the subject of math in 1st grade we certainly would not skip to 7th grade algebra”.

As coaches we need to take heed as to how we observe our young athletes from a standpoint of skill acquisition and movement economy. More importantly we must pay close attention to each athletes well being from a humanistic perspective.

I offer this analogy to think about how you may become a better coach and mentor to the young athletes in your program.

One shell at a time.

When walking the beaches of the south shore in Massachusetts I have often collected sea shells. Far too easy to pick up the shell that catches my eye because of its outstanding shape, size or varied colors. The thousands of shells I have walked passed without a second thought.

Half buried.

Pale in color compared to the shells.

Jagged and unpleasing to look at.

How many shells were bypassed that were in fact the most unique and wonderful shells on the beach?

What have I missed as an observer and collector of shells?

What have we missed as coaches?

What kids have we looked past to see the athlete who is the “better” athlete?

What child needed to be picked up so we could see the true value of them?

As Athletic Revolution franchisees we are all on a greater mission to change the way young athletes are coached.

This is why we will continue to set ourselves apart from from others in our industry. THIS is why will we change lives…one athlete at a time.

Keep up the great work!

Blueprint to Building Your Ideal Youth Fitness Business Video

Posted on: May 26th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

Youth Fitness Business Building Success

Do you wake up each day excited to go to work?

I’m sure you are passionate about helping your clients or athletes achieve their goals but are you doing EXACTLY what you want to be doing?

Well, if your answer isn’t an enthusiastic YES, then I have something special for you.

IYCA Expert Dave Gleason did a presentation where he shares the exact plan he used to dump an unfulfilling career as an In Home Trainer to open his dream facility and build an ultra-successful business serving the hottest market in the industry: Youth Fitness & Sports Performance.

http://youth-fitness-specialist.com/

In this Free Video you will discover the secrets to never having to work with another single client you don’t love again while building the business or career of your dreams!

I wish most fitness pros would enjoy what they do half as much as Dave enjoys what he does… and in this video he’s going to share exactly how he turned his passion into a thriving youth fitness business.

Remember why you got into this industry and start loving your career again. Here is a blueprint to how Dave made that happen for him and how you can do it too.

Turn your fitness passion into profits starting with this video ->

http://youth-fitness-specialist.com/

Dedicated to Your Success,

Pat

P.S. – Check out Dave Gleason’s youth fitness business presentation where he shares his story on how he went from an In Home Trainer who didn’t really enjoy what he was doing to building one of the top youth fitness businesstraining facilities in the U.S. while loving every minute of it.

http://youth-fitness-specialist.com/

Becoming A Better Youth Fitness Coach

Posted on: May 23rd, 2012 by IYCA 1 Comment

Youth Fitness Coaching Tips From Dave Jack

By Pat Rigsby

It gets tough to access the credibility of coaches in this internet age. Many people that call themselves ‘coaches’ who haven’t actually coached anyone and there are many giving fitness advice that really shouldn’t.

So who do you trust?

That’s where the IYCA is here to help.

We constantly research and make sure to listen to coaches that are in-the-trenches getting great results. We know there is a lot of noise out there on the internet, so when we actually find quality information from a top-notch coach, we like to pass that info on.

I wanted to share a video with you from one of the best youth fitness coaches I know – IYCA Expert Dave Jack.

If you’ve never seen Dave present – it’s one of the most inspiring things you’ll ever see. The best part is, he not only talks the talk, he walks the walk.

Here is the link to the video -> http://youth-fitness- specialist.com

I know it’s a bold statement, but this one presentation will make you a better youth fitness coach.

Dave’s passion is contagious and this video will help you continue your mission on changing your client’s lives.

So, forget all of the internet ‘guru’ hype out there of pseudo coaches trying to sell you the next SECRET and checkout this powerful (and free) video and discover what a real elite coach does to become an even better coach.

Get the video here –> http://youth-fitness-specialist.com

Dedicated to Your Success,

Pat

PS – If you want to raise your level of coaching, I highly recommend you check this free video out by IYCA Youth Fitness Expert Dave Jack – http://youth fitness-specialist.com
pecialist.com

Outcome Based Coaching In A Nutshell

Posted on: April 30th, 2012 by IYCA 3 Comments

Young Athletes Coaching Style In A Nutshell

By Dave Gleason

The primary coaching style we want to use with our youngest athletes is called outcome based coaching. This style of coaching puts more emphasis on the outcome of the activity or exercise you have asked for from from your athletes.

Outcome based coaching utilizes very little cueing or technique modifications if any. Our 6-9 year old athletes can suffer from goal confusion, leading to frustration and a less than average experience. As athletic revolution franchisees our goal must be to provide an exciting, memorable and remarkable experience – EVERY TIME.

A communicative coaching style such as outcome based coaching is exactly what a young person needs to ensure the indoctrination of a healthy physical culture. At some point in life every athletic career ends. Our role is to provide an opportunity for their ability to move and exercise to continue long into their adult lives…no matter their current level of sporting success.

In addition, it is imperative that a young athlete discovers movement patterns on their own as much as possible. The central nervous system is considered more plastic for a young athlete. That is, a young athlete’s CNS is very sponge like or magnet like. Internal and external stimulus is more readily assimilated, learned from and transferred to movement patterns. This aspect of neural development is a crucial component of the natural development of a child. Let your young athletes “Discover” movement patterns on their own.

Here are some practical concepts to think about as you engage in outcome based coaching:

Be careful what you ask for. If you cue your athletes to skip across the length of your facility and what a few of them perform is a high skip in a zig pattern…they are STILL giving you what you asked for. Encourage their creativity followed by layering one or two appropriate boundaries with simple cueing. In this example ask the entire group to skip in a straight line on the next try.

Be a reflective coach. During and after your sessions reflect on the effectiveness of your coaching cues. Take note of what was successful and what you and your coaches need to improve on. Communicating more effectively with your young athletes will only result in more fun for them..and you!

Praise and praise often. When a child gives you their interpretation of what you asked of them praise them for it. If modifications or boundaries need to be communicated use simple cuing. For instance, a lunge walk with a pronounced forward lean at the hips can be corrected by saying “heads up, eyes up, or reach for the sky”.

Use names. Calling and praising a child by name will add tremendous value to the relationship building process and significantly increase the enjoyment your young athletes experience while in your care. In short, it makes it personal.

Take these concepts and coach your young athletes with your heart first, head second.

Keep changing lives!

4 Levels of Youth Sports Training Business

Posted on: March 26th, 2012 by IYCA 5 Comments

Youth Sports Training Business Success

By Ryan Ketchum

Training youth athletes can be hard.
It might be one of the most enjoyable experiences in all of coaching, but it can be difficult to gain traction in your community if you have no previous relationships with coaches or sports organizations. The toughest part, much like any other aspect of business, is getting started. Once you have a little momentum behind you all it takes is consistency to grow your youth sports training business at an incredible rate.

For some reason it has taken me a few years to figure out just how easy and simple building your youth sports performance business can be if you follow the right steps.

Over the past several months I have implemented this system into our business with great success. It is almost scary how easy it is to follow and how quickly it can have an effect on your bottom line.

The greatest part of this system is that it doesn’t require you to be great at marketing or selling. I modified this system so that any coach can sell with the experience of their coaching and the results that come because of their great coaching. All you have to do to make this work is be consistent and dependable.

The first level of building an incredible youth sports training performance business is leveraging your network to build relationships with coaches, parents and leaders of youth sports organizations. You should focus on an area that you already have traction in and put all of your energy into it. If you aren’t sure where you might have traction I suggest you focus on middle school or younger athletes and female athletes. Stay away from football unless you are established or have some great connections. Building relationships is easier than most people think, but it requires you to step out of your comfort zone. For a little while you have to take a back seat to being the expert and ask for advice. Call up coaches, parents and organizational leaders and ask their advice on what they see a need for in their sports training. Take them to lunch, grab coffee and don’t step on their toes!

Once you have established a relationship and secretly found out what the biggest need in that sports community is (that is why you asked for advice earlier) you can offer a solution. The next step is offering a free clinic to help the coach or organization’s athletes better prepare for their sport. This clinic should be catered to meet the needs that were unveiled by those in your network.

To make this clinic extra successful you should have as much done for you material as possible. Write the emails for the coach, set up times that are convenient for the entire team, create the fliers and deliver the copies, etc. The easier you can make it on the coach or those in charge the more likely it is that you will get access to a lot of athletes.

When selling this free clinic idea to a coach you must explain how it will help them. How is this going to make their life easier and their athletes better? How can they use this in their practices and training?

Once you have established a date and set up the clinic your only job is to show up and be ready to wow the parents, coaches and athletes with your knowledge and coaching ability. Connect with the kids, make it fun and give them what they want. If you can show immediate results and improvement with the kids speed, agility or strength you will have won them over.

At the end of this free clinic it is time to move onto the third level. We must speak the language that coaches and parents are used to hearing, we have to do the unspeakable when talking about long term athletic development, we must offer a short term sport specific and skill specific academy!!!!

You might be wondering why we would offer a short term program if we have already won these athletes and their parents over?

The reason you offer a 6-8 week program to start is because that is what they are conditioned to believe will produce the best results. Create an offering that will help get them prepared for the season or improve a specific skill. The goal for the 6-8 week program is to educate them on the long term athletic development model and continue to build a relationship with the athletes and those in charge.

You can offer this program on site at the team’s location or at your own location. Many times it is easier to take the athletes off site to your location. We have got the athletes in our funnel now and we should do our best to move them into our long term training programs.

This 6-8 week program should be low cost, with a specific purpose. Our goal here is not to make a lot of money, but rather to gain the confidence of the athletes and the community. It is a great way to “slow cook” your leads and earn their trust. This works particularly well if you are new in the sports performance community.

Towards the end of the 6-8 week program you will now attempt to move these athletes on to level 4. This is your long term development program, your core offerings and strength and conditioning program. After 6-8 weeks of education and a phenomenal experience it should be an easy sell to get them into your programs so that they can continue their athletic development with you.

The key to transitioning these athletes from the short term to long term program is understanding their needs at the time of the conversion. If they are going in season it would be silly to recommend a three time per week training program, however you could offer a one-time per week program to ensure they maintain their results and continue to make progress so that come playoff time they are in the best condition. If they are going into an off season you will want to make the most appealing offer, which is a complete off season solution for them.

To recap here are the 4 levels of youth sports training business success:

Build and develop relationships

Set up FREE Clinics

Convert into low cost short term programs with specific training focus

Convert into long term development program

If you follow these simple steps you will have no problem becoming the go-to resource for athletic development and youth sports performance training in your community.

Youth Training: Give Your Programs a Boost

Posted on: February 21st, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

Youth Training Program Boosting Tips

By Ryan Ketchum

Every so often you need to give your Youth Training programs a little boost. The numbers might be slowly declining, it seems like you cannot generate interest from parents or athletes and you don’t know where to go. Today I am going to give you three ways to give your youth training programs a boost of new athletes for the coming spring seasons.

1. Attend sport registrations- I was sitting at the doctor’s office the other day and picked up the local paper to pass the time waiting for them to see me and I noticed a huge opportunity that we could have missed out on. In the Sports section we have an activities section in which local sports leagues post their registrations and other events, in that day’s listings were two youth baseball league registrations.

I could have breezed through this without much thought, but immediately the thought came back to one of our Athletic Revolution marketing strategies. One of the easiest ways to get more athletes is to be present at events they attend. The registration is an event that will promise to have every parent and athlete that wants to play in each league in attendance.
These families obviously spend a little money on their kids’ sports and they want them to be the best athletes possible, no matter their age. Our business can be in front of hundreds of parents with an incredible offer to get them ready for the season.

2. Reactivate all of your previous winter sport athletes- With the winter sports season coming to a close in late February and early March now is the time to start compiling your list of inactive athletes who participate in winter sports. Create your list and make notes of when their season may end.

Within the notes for each athlete you will want to note if they make the playoffs, the season ends as scheduled or if you know they are injured. You can send a handwritten note to those that make the playoffs congratulating them and letting them know you can’t wait to see them in the offseason.

Dear Athlete,
I am very proud of all you have accomplished this season! Congratulations on helping your team make the playoffs and best of luck in all of your upcoming games. I will be routing for you the entire way to the championship. I can’t wait to see you as soon as the season ends to start your training for next year!

Signature

If the athlete is injured or missed the playoffs a simple phone call will work wonders.

These simple follow ups and contacts with your previous athletes are a step above and beyond what any of your competition is doing and will show them how much you care. It is up to you to reach out and invite them back in to your programs.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming your previous athletes will return automatically. Be proactive and set up some calls!

3. Hold a preseason academy- In Athletic Revolution we call one of our short term programs academies. One of the best ways to get new athletes in is to start them in a program that involves a short time commitment, helps them get ready for their upcoming season (the one thing that is on their mind at this moment), and can be sport, age, gender and skill specific.

With spring right around the corner now is the time to set up your 4-6 week training programs for baseball, softball, tennis, golf or any other spring sports that you would like to work with. The great thing about these programs is that you can upsell your current athletes into them for more specific training and you can get new athletes in door for your programs.

To market these programs you should look at your networking list first. Find any coaches or parents that you have a relationship with and ask for their help in putting you in contact with the coaches, athletes and their parents. Starting off with a free 1 hour clinic for them is a great way to get them to buy into your new program.

You can also use your leads from the event registrations (hint, hint) to fill these academies.

Once you have the athletes in the academy you will be able to continue to develop a relationship with them and their parents so that you can be their trusted athletic development resource.

The key to making any of these ideas successful is having a great youth training program that gets the results you promise, creating a system for developing your leads, and having the discipline to follow up consistently to develop relationships.

Make sure that anytime your program needs a boost you look for places that have a captive audience, seek out athletes in which you have already formed a relationship, and cater to the current needs of the athletes.

Coaching a Large Group of Young Athletes in a Small Space

Posted on: December 28th, 2011 by IYCA 7 Comments

Young Athletes Programming in a Small Space

By Dave Gleason
At Athletic Revolution South Shore we have 2500 sq feet in total.

Our usable space is approximately 1600 sq feet with an open

turf area of only 1300 sq ft. We max out our session at 16-18

athletes per session. As the kids get older and can cover more

ground quicker – it is imperative to prepare our programming

with this in mind.

Here are a few strategies that have worked extremely well for us as we program for our young athletes 6-18 years old.

Staff – As skilled coaches we can certainly run large groups very

effectively. However, beyond merely executing a great session

we need to remind ourselves of the immense gravity of connecting

with our athletes. Once more it becomes increasingly more difficult

to observe all of your athletes to make recommendations, set

cues, regress or progress the movement. We have a minimum

of 2 staff on the floor at all times.
Cascading – We will have the athletes form 2-4 lines (especially

the Exploration because we try to avoid lines for our Discovery

classes) to perform the activity. When they reach the far end

of the turf they turn to the left and continue back to the start.

This can work very well for ambulating active range of motion

and general preparatory exercise.
Rows – For movements such as accelerations, skip loops and

bear crawls we form two rows, one behind the other. When

the first row reaches half way, the next row begins.
Circle up – Our Exploration classes are now accustomed to

engaging in MFR and active range of motion activities as our

classes begin. With a class of 16 kids they will form one large,

or small circles. Discovery athletes always enjoy circles…they

know it means something fun is coming!
Spread em’ out – Another very effective way to observe your
young athletes is to have them spread out so you can view each and

every one of them during the activity. We use spot markers

(agility discs) for our Discovery classes to add some continuity

to where they are. Be cognizant of the child trying to hide

behind another athlete or in the corner.

Split the room – Lay out cones down the center of the turf area.

Half the athletes at one end of the turf and half at the other.

You can instruct them to stop at the center line, turn around at

the center line and return to the start, or even pass each in the

middle during some activity (great for spatial awareness and

kinesthetic differentiation).

As you create your programs, contemplate how the activities and

movements you have chosen fit into these mechanisms of

organizing your young athletes. It will provide the context for fantastic

classes and remarkable results!

5 Steps To Getting In With Coaches

Posted on: December 15th, 2011 by IYCA No Comments

Coaches for high schools and teams need specialists…

coaches
by Ryan Ketchum

The biggest obstacle that arises with youth fitness and sports performance coaches and business owners seems to be figuring out a way to gain the approval and access to high school or team coaches. Honestly, 99% of you are probably doing it the wrong way. If you laid out your plan of attack (this is exactly how it will be taken by the coach) for working with the team or the coach’s athletes I would bet that for almost all of you it is being done the wrong way, ineffectively and you are running into a lot of dead ends and bruised relationships.

The problem with most of coaches and business owners is placing too large of an emphasis on getting the coach to let you work with the athletes right away or trying to get paid to train the team. I hate to break it to you but unless you are well known in your community for training high level and well respected athletes, have a pervious relationship with the coach or can sell a ketchup popsicle to a lady in a white dress you are not going to have any success in getting your foot in the door.

Here is your five step process to working with teams and getting coaches to give you your seal of approval:

Disclaimer: This is not a get paid quick or only work a few hours a day plan. This will require patience, effort and some ground work. If that isn’t something you are willing to do I encourage you to stop reading now as it will be a waste of your time.

Step 1: The first thing that you should do is look at your current athletes and your networking list. I know it seems obvious, but most people try to skip this step. Make a list of all the coaches that you already know, people that might know coaches you want to work with and a list of all your current athlete coaches.

The list of your current athlete coaches are the easiest to get in touch with, so start there!

Step 2: Set aside some time each day to make phone calls. Do not email, do not send letters and brochures, and certainly don’t send marketing material to the coaches.

One this phone call your main goal is to start building a relationship with the coach and get him or her to let their guard down a bit. The call to your current athletes’ coaches should be focused on finding out what the coach feels the individual athlete needs to improve on and what type of training they think will help the athlete succeed in their upcoming season or get better in the off season.

I know what you are thinking…. These coaches don’t know what they are talking about and probably will give me terrible training advice.

You are probably right! However you need to let them tell you what they think and start to build the relationship. If you ask them what they think they will feel as if they are giving advice and feel like the expert. This is important to get them to let you into the inner circle of coaches that you so desperately want to be involved in.

Step 3: Once you have the advice given by the coach you will ask if they have to meet so you can talk training and find out more about what they are doing and what trends they see in these athletes. Take them to coffee or lunch, invite to a training session, simply find a way to get in front of them.

During your conversations you will work hard to ask the right questions to find out what they are good at in their training and what they are lacking in providing to their athletes. The goal is to find an area that you have a lot of expertise in and that will add value to having you work with their athletes.

Step 4: After you have built up the relationship and you have found your “in” (the area that you are strong in and the coach is lacking) you will leverage your skill set!

Offer to come in during one of their workouts to help with a short 60-90 minute clinic on the area of you have the most traction in for their athletes.

This might be Olympic Lifting, Resistance Band Speed Training, Agility Training, or any other number of areas. Invite the other coaches to come to the training session so that you can help them with coaching cues and teach them how to get the most out of their athletes when you aren’t around.

You will do all of this for FREE!

The keys to this being successful are free, you will do all of this for FREE!

The keys to this being successful are free, you go to them, and finding an activity or skill set that you are very strong in and the coaches are weak in.

Step 5: Deliver an amazing clinic for the athletes and let the coach know right before you start that you would like to invite any of the players that would like to attend to a 6 week training program for the skill set you are teaching. Let them know it will be highly discounted and you just want to have the chance to help out the athletes further. You can also offer a trial or other program if you feel that is a better fit.

You must ask for the coach’s permission before doing this or you will burn the bridge you worked hard to build.

Once you get the kids in the door follow up with the coach let them know each athlete’s progress and keep them in the loop.

Bonus Step: If you really want to take your business to the next level you will call the coach 3 days after you perform the clinic and ask how the athletes and other coaches are doing with the new skills and coaching cues that they learned.

When you get a positive response you should ask the coach to put you in contact with other coaches in the same school or organization so that you can do the same thing. This will allow you to work through an entire school’s athletic department with relative ease and have access to hundreds of athletes.

This process will work with cold calling coaches as well, but the initial contact becomes a little tougher. Make it easy on yourself and go with low hanging fruit!
Give this system a try and let us know how it works.