What Does Hockey Specific Training Look Like?

This is one of the most important questions a hockey player or parent should ask. What does it mean to train for hockey? Does that mean doing a lot of push-ups or doing bicep curls in the weight room? Not really. Those are okay exercises, but they are not hockey specific. Hockey specific exercises are almost always conducted from the 90 degree angle position. That is, the thigh and the calf make a right angle at the knee. Below is a one-legged squat hold. It's a simple position. A lot of times I'll extend my other leg forward. If you are a parent, see if you can do this. Better yet, see if your son or daughter can do this. For most, they can't do it correctly. Their knees will extend right over their toes because they have never done anything that resembles true hockey training (or they're too young and simply haven't developed the strength yet)

Hockey specific training consists of two main types of training: 1) explosive plyometrics and 2) skating form training. In the first, we start in a squat position (most of the time) and explode up in the air. We are working on training those fast twitch explosive muscle fibers. Getting low and exploding - that's huge in hockey. An exercise that is good for skating for training is above, the one-legged squat hold. I use tons of variations of squats, lunges, etc to help teach athletes to get into the 90 degree angle, into what I call "the pocket" when squatting. Would you rather get checked from a squat or standing straight up? Will you jump high from a squat or from standing straight up? Do you skate faster from a squat position or when you are upright? It's simple right? Everyone knows the answers to these questions. The low athlete always wins....

Developing a Good Stride: Part II

First of all, let me state that I am an open-minded individual and that my views in regard to skating technique could change tomorrow if someone provided me with evidence or reason to do so. Personally, I think the arguments and techniques put forth by Jack Blatherwick and Barry Karns are the best.

Anyways, let's get to the topic at hand. Developing a good stride requires perfect repetition of perfect form over a consistent period of time so that the athlete's muscle memory memorizes the movement. This memorization must become instinctual. You can't think about your stride during a game.

When an athlete is young (12 years or younger), I recommend that he or she do simple off-ice technique drills. This might include doing skating lunges, lunges, wall-sits, etc. These movements and exercises are not so much for strength as they are for coordination. Below is a picture from my website demonstrating one part of the skating lunge:

This exercise is literally just skating on a dry surface with shoes. Working with youth players on their stride by utilizing this exercise and one's similar to it is an easy and inexpensive way to teach good skating form.

You'll notice that in the picture my leg extends at something like a 45 degree angle. Depending on the body type and player the angle at which the player skates most comfortably may be a little more or a little less than 45 degrees. But the basic idea is that the athlete pushes outward, toward the side and slightly back, in order to force his or her momentum forward.

Now, some argue that a skater should flick their toe at the end of each stride, digging it into the ice. I agree with Barry Karn that this should not be done. Instead athlete's should keep their entire blade on the ice. If you've ever skated before, you know the difference between skating with a full blade and trying to skate on the first half of the skate. Those players that do the later have short, choppy strides. They move their feet fast but look like they are moving no where. The best skaters always seem to be moving effortlessly. When you watch some on television they don't even seem to be trying.

When an athlete is young it is also imperative that on-ice instruction focuses on quality repetitions over quantity. Bag skates with squirt teams are counterproductive if done too often (perhaps even done at all, I don't know), because the skater will bend over at the waist and start to skate poorly. He or she will learn improper form.

To summarize:

-Utilize off-ice technique drills to teach skating stride and form

-Extend blade at roughly 45 degree angle

-Keep entire blade on the ice, do not cause unnecessary friction

-Quality repetitions at young age are imperative, bag skates can be counterproductive (be careful coaches)

Developing a Good Stride: Skate Less?

What's the best way to develop a good skater? If you listen to all the hype it's to do clinic after clinic, AAA leagues, and private lessons. Basically, what most skating coaches will tell you is this: "Johnny's stride is good, but he bends at the waist a little too much. He doesn't get low enough a lot." They might go on and on about a certain issue with Johnny's mechanics. He doesn't extend fully or doesn't use his full blade on his crossovers.

Now, as a skating coach, these are things that I tell my clients too! Here's the ticker though. Teaching proper skating technique is like learning a language. If you pronounce a word wrong, your teacher immediately corrects you because if you continue to pronounce it incorrectly, you will LEARN that word incorrectly Eventually, let's say you say the same word incorrectly 50 times, you will need to say it the right away a lot more before your brain fixes the mistake.

When kids go to clinic after clinic, AAA league to youth association season, to private lessons, they simply don't get any rest. A kid that is fatigued is like a language-learner that is continually mis-pronouncing words. Even if a kid performs proper repetitions with a skating coach, if he goes to two hour AAA practices that night, he'll be too tired that entire time to skate correctly. He'll shorten his stride, bend at the waist, lift part of the blade up, get sloppy on his edges, etc.

When this happens, parents and child alike get concerned. The natural tendency is to do more. It's to hire a skating coach and sign-up for some new skating clinics. This tendency may not be the right one. If a kid is skating a lot already, the issue simply can't be resolved by doing more. It will only be made worse because bad habits will be re-enforced. Even if the youth athlete works hard at skating lessons and performs repetitions correctly, they will mean nothing if he skates poorly throughout the rest of the week. The good will be erased by the bad.

Remember: Repetitions make permanent, not perfect. Developing a good stride requires an insistence on perfection and an attention to detail. It also requires proper rest and recover. Depending on the child, he or she may need more rest or more practice. However, in general I think we are seeing a trend where what kids need more quality less quantity.

The Weight Lifting Myth

Another post, another myth to correct. The most important years for training a future collegiate or professional athlete are most often between the ages 14-18 years old. Some kids mature earlier or later, but for the most, these mid to late teenage years are extremely important. Yet, most training programs botch these years. They WASTE them and actually often do more harm than good. I've seen this at three different high schools.

Students walk into the school weightroom in the summer prior to their freshman year , ready to hit the weights in anticipation for the upcoming seasons. They can't wait to start bench pressing and doing bicep curls (these lifts are generally more beneficial for getting a girlfriend than performing well in any sport). The big seniors and some juniors are in the weight room lifting heavy. The young kids walk in, the macho trainers approach them and scream, "hit the weights!" They throw them some pieces of paper with lifts on them and that's about the end of it.

Inevitably, the young athletes want to lift heavy so they sacrifice form and thus meaningful strength gains. Well, I shouldn't even have said that because guess what? Almost every single one of them isn't ready for strength gains!! They are too young. They've barely started puberty, if that, and aren't ready to put muscle on. They are ready to gain speed, to gain quickness, to gain specific skills, to become more coordinated. Essentially, they are ready to become more athletic.

Yet, ignorant training programs and 24/7 training programs neglect these principles. They think more is better. They think 15 year olds should run the same training regime as 21 year olds in the National Hockey League. They are ignorant of the very science that a few letters next to their name claim to give them legitimacy.

If you want to have smart training, that's what Fortis does. Fortis realizes that young athletes are ripe for athletic gains. In our camps, we have taken unathletic and slow athletes and transformed them. We have seen them make huge gains because they put in the hard work. That is, they didn't just do bench presses, they did explosive exercises, they ran sprints, and they performed agility drills.

If you want to see these gains yourself, then come check out what Fortis is all about at www.thefortisacademy.com.

The More is Better Fallacy

The easy road leads to a hard life, but the hard road leads to an easy one. And so it is with hockey training. There are hundreds of different training facilities and opportunities for youth and high school hockey players. Many of their programs are time intensive and equally trying on a family's wallet. These programs offer more. They offer more training options, classes, sessions, routines, etc. Many offer programs that skate 5x a week. Some parents have their kids skate even more.

Believe it or not, but this is the easy road of hockey training. It is the 98% path, the path of mediocrity, and ultimately underachievement. It is a path that almost everyone these days seems to be traveling. The fact of the matter is that the human body can only take so much stress before it begins to break down. Studies have shown for instance that the power output measured in watts on a resistance bicycle will start to decrease after only 10 seconds! Lactic acid builds and breaks down the body's ability to go 100%.

For those unfortunate players that go into tons of different camps, AAA teams, and the like, they confuse more with being better. You might ask, what is the alternative? What is the hard road you have neglected to mention thus far?

The hard road is what I preach and what I expect from my players in my hockey camps. It states that every drill (that is designed for speed or quickness) will be done at 100% and that adequate rest will be given to players so that they can truly go 100%. It is much easier to continuously skate at 95% than to go 100% - 100% requires just as much physical pain. The pain is shorter, but more intense. But it additionally requires that an athlete have mental toughness. It requires a tenacity to improve and to persevere and to continue to skate at 100% through the final 20 meters of drill when your legs want to quit. This doesn't occur in the all consuming training schedules that are being sold to parents today. Instead, trainers are satisfied with 95% or they look the other way when their player's skating form begins to deteriorate.

The hard road also requires rest and recovery. It's impossible to go 100% every day without rest, diversity in training modules, and proper nutrition. Yet, many youth parents get sucked into the more is always better fallacy. They figure that the more practice their players get, the better they will become. Sure, this is true if we assume that every increase in training hours does not result in a decrease in quality. Unfortunately, this simply isn't the case.

Remember, practice makes permanent. A lot of youth hockey players are learning to train at 90%. Is that really the best way to develop youth players? No. The best way to develop a great hockey player is to teach 100% training, but to do so this will require a reduction in training schedules. That is what Fortis training is all about - 100% training with proper understanding of the need for athletes to rest and recovery.

On-Ice Hockey Training: Condition throughout....not just at the end

Conditioning is often seen as something separate and different from the rest of hockey practices. Typically, coaches use conditioning to get players ready for games and they typically put conditioning on the end of their practice plans. Why? Well, they think that there are a lot of other important things to do like practice the power play or work on break-outs. Now, those things are important, and we need to practice them. However, drills should be designed so that they simulate game activity. That is, players should do the drill, rest shortly, and then get after it again.

So we can condition two different ways:

1) Players can condition at the end of practice by skating in straight lines (like many coaches have them do...it's very game-like!)

OR

2) Players can go through drills that work all types of skills at high intensity, with short rest intervals, and condition THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE PRACTICE!!!

I'll let you decide which you think is the better method.

Why Template Workout Programs Don't Work

For some reason, it has been difficult for me to explain to some people why template workout programs are not beneficial and/or as effective as they should be. A template workout program is simply a workout program that is given to all athletes to promote strength and power. Template programs may have, for example, three workouts. Every week the same workouts are repeated with little difference - weights are increased or changed, repetitions lowered or raised, and maybe an exercise or two added or subtracted. The basic template of the program, however, stays the same.

What's wrong with this you might ask? There are two major issues with template programs: 1) they often don't reflect individual needs and 2) they become mundane, boring, and less effective over time.

The first issue is one I am extremely passionate about. We need to design programs based off of:

-Sport(s) played
-Gender
-Age
-Maturity level
-Body Shape Strengths/Weaknesses
-History of Injury

To demonstrate the complexity, let's look at one sport (Football), one gender (Male), one age (17), and one history of injury (none). So we are keeping everything constant besides body shape and maturity level.

We will need workouts that are specific to lineman and skilled positions. We can differentiate the skilled positions too between those who may need to sprint 60 yards (wide receivers or defensive backs) and those who may sprint 10 yards or less most of the time (running and full backs). We need to differentiate between those boys who have hit puberty and those who are lagging behind. We need to differentiate, especially now days, between those who are overweight and those who need to gain mass.

I haven't hit everything, but let's take this logic down to one exercise: the front plank. Lineman will have trouble holding their bodies up so we need to have them do the exercise for fewer seconds. They simply won't be able to hold it. The rest of the kids may be good for 1 minute so we can have them do that. But what about the 4-5 guys that have awesome cores!!? What should we do with them? Just like we don't want the 300lbs lineman doing a plank 1 minute when he can't yet, we don't want a ripped wide-receiver doing a 1 minute plank and being bored out of his mind. We want him doing it on a pseudo-ball or on one hand for 2 minutes or longer. We want to add in more instability to the exercise.

That's one exercise!! Within that one exercise we need at least 3 different variations to have an effective program.

Hopefully it is obvious that template programs don't work the best. If you're paying for them, I'm sorry. You might as well just learn the lifts and then do everything on your own. After a couple weeks you can do the whole program!

Early Specialization in Sports: God Help Us

So the idea lately has been to specialize in a given sport as early as possible and to only play that sport 24/7 for an entire year. There are obviously negative mental and emotional consequences of doing so. Players often lose the passion for the game they love because they're forced to work at it every day in the rink or field. Passion for the game is what takes guys to the next level, not coercion. Then there are the financial consequences for families. 24/7 sports training is hard for many families, especially in this economy. Many of the companies out there over-charge by doing some exceptional brand-marketing. The rich kids then get to train all year and the poorer families either suffer by reducing consumption elsewhere in the household budget or simply have to forego the opportunities.

There is another negative consequence of 24/7 specialization in one sport. To make this point vivid, let's think of a normal looking young athlete. Let's take that normal looking athlete and train their chest and the front of their shoulders only. Every day we take them in the weight room and they do chest work. Soon, as you can imagine, this person starts to get a giant chest. Everyone can see how big his chest is. Others start to think "I should start training like that guy! Look how big his chest is!"

Do you know what's wrong here? We've trained this athlete to have a big chest, but no one notices his weak back or inadequate leg strength. His chest is clearly visible and obviously bigger. But his overall athleticism and strength is terrible. The big chest/weak back will result in hunching over, his or her shoulders will rotate inward, and a host of issues can result.

This is exactly what happens with athletes that specialize in one sport. They train the same set of muscles and in the same set of movements. Over time, those muscles become disproportionally strong relative to the muscles which aren't worked. Athletic movements, however, require synergy between muscles. The abs have to be strong enough for an athlete to cut well, the back strong enough to support the shoulders, the legs built enough to leverage the upper body strength, etc.

By playing several different sports, and especially at a young age, athletes learn a host of movements. They work their hamstrings in soccer, their eye/hand coordination in baseball, their speed in track and field, their leg strength in hockey, and their footwork in basketball. At some point, a refinement of skills in each sport is required. But that refinement must have a strong foundation, one that is grounded in multi-sport play, and diverse sports training.

Unfortunately, the parents and players will confuse correlation and causation. Parents will see the best players going into year round athletics and sport specialization and they will think that it is because of specialization that the kids are so kid. They will not realize it's simply a correlation. And the kids obviously won't realize either.

A Counter-Cultural Revolution in Sports

Today, the cultural setting in which we play sports has been perverted by commercialization, gross acts of immoral behavior by professional and collegiate athletes, unacceptable parental actions, and irresponsible coaches. Sports are thought to help kids build character, but we can't possibly continue to think they are when increasingly we see signs to the contrary. (Research on this topic is showing similar results. Our athletes score lower on moral reasoning tests than non-athletes).

What we need today is a counter-cultural revolution. It needs to start with youth organizations in the community. From very young ages the framework for sports needs to shift from "me-first" to "team-first" and from "winning at all costs" to "winning with honor." For this shift to occur, youth associations will need to be at the forefront of change. That change will have to continue into high school and into collegiate athletics. This may be a dream, but seeing this in professional sports would be incredible.

What are the components of this counter-cultural revolution? I am not entirely sure, but I think these are the main components:

-All coaches at the youth level need to be trained and certified through a process which emphasizes the values above.

-Leadership and team training activities should be incorporated into every sport.

-Coaches should see themselves as teachers of character and strive to "win" at teaching character well.

-Youth associations should affirm the principles of good character and sportsmanship and then actively incorporate those principles. It's not enough to say you are for sportsmanship. Kids need to hear and know how to act out good sportsmanship. Its emphasis must permeate the organization.

-High schools need to incorporate leadership training.

-Coaches need to re-orient to a different coaching model. Right now, many coaches are anti-democratic in how they view coaching. They are the dictator that delegates orders to the troops. This needs to change. Good character and leadership needs to be trained and allowed to flourish! That requires a level of autonomy that is not compatible with anti-democratic coaching model.

Banff Film Festival: Mental Toughness

My wonderful fiance and I recently went to the Banff Film Festival together here at Princeton. For those who don't know what the Banff Film Festival is, you can check it out here. The films show people doing amazing things like climbing up steep mountains or mountain biking from Alaska to Argentina. The one film that I really found amazing was of two Australian men who decided they were going to kayak across the Tasman sea from Australia to New Zealand. To put this quickly into perspective: they kayaked over 3,300 km and it took them 62 days. They accomplished this feat unassisted. You can read more about their trip at their website Crossing the Ditch.

The story is amazing but the lesson behind it is even greater. The idea of kayaking over 3,300 km in the open sea, with huge wave, sharks, and other dangers is just crazy. It seems impossible. But we know that it isn't. Throughout this journey, the two Australians encountered a lot of physical and mental fatigue. They persevered through it which is a testament to their mental toughness and strength.

If two guys from Australia can kayak across the Tasman sea, then it certainly is possible for any high school hockey or football team to beat any other high school team. It is possible for the underdogs to go all the way to top.

Everyone seems to start out the season with the belief that they'll win a state championship - or at least that is how I was raised to start out my seasons. But after a few loses and discouraging performances, most teams decide they won't win the championship. They re-adjust to more "ascertainable goals" like winning the next three games or going .500. Only a minority of teams stay the course through the tests and trials. Some teams lose and get back up with the same determination to win, others don't. Why is this?

We can talk about winning all we want and how badly we want to see it happen. That's the easy part. If you really want to find out the true answer, ask someone in the middle of a conditioning workout. Only in the dumps do you really find out if the team has what it takes. And even then, it is hard to mimic the mental toll losing can take.

Mental strength > physical strength.....plain and simple.

So why don't we train that?

Constant Variation Enables Constant Results

Creating a standard program where the change or variation is simply a few exercises and a change in repetition schemes is easy to put together. There is change and this does help, but I would argue that constant variation of a more extreme type not only avoids plateaus, but also helps facilitate muscle growth, strength gains, speed gains, athleticism gains, etc. Below is a graphical representation of what I'm talking about:


Without variation, our muscles become accustomed to the same movements. Sometimes, athletes may actually experience a decrease in strength because the monotonous program has left its toll on the psychology of the athlete. When formulating your training modules, remember to incorporate variety. It will be tempting to constantly re-use the same workouts, but try to think outside the box and incorporate radically different approaches to training. Go to Yoga or try Russian Kettlebell training. Maybe even try doing some Mixed Martial Arts training. All have benefits for all types of athletes.

Calisthenics: Important Exercises, Often Overlooked

What looks cooler: bench pressing 185lbs or doing 10 pull-ups? Well, bench pressing of course. The weights make noise, look really big, and make us look tough. Pull-ups are cool too, but they don't convey the same sense of strength and power. These perceptions have led many young athletes down a dangerous path. They have resorted to simply trying to lift the most weight on a predictable set of exercises: bench, squat, dead-lift, hang clean, etc. This is good to an extent. In many sports, we want athletes that can lift heavy weights. But we also want functional strength. That is, strength that optimizes performance on the field in all the dynamic ways in which strength can be applied. Imagine a wide receiver sprinting 20 meters, cutting, jumping into the air 2 feet, twisting his body to catch the ball, planting his feet, cutting to avoid a tackle, dropping his shoulder to break another one, etc. The movements in this sequence occur all the time on the field, but aren't even closely touched in the weight room (I don't think you really can, but we can at least attempt to make more dynamic movements and less stationary ones).

Calisthenics are good because they require stabilization of the body. For example, a tough pull-up workout will often cause athletes to get sore in their core. Why? Well, in order to move the body up and down without shaking requires a level of stabilization. After doing push-ups, the same can be said. The body must stay linear and so while the chest and shoulders are pushing the body up off the ground, the core must be activated and keeping the legs linear with the torso. The ability to keep one's body linear or to control it when working with another muscle group (the back and arms in this case) is enormously beneficial. In fact, learning to do this is exactly what a wide receiver must do in order to jump, maintain body control, and catch a ball!!

Besides the added dynamic of stabilization - which is a huge asset in contact sports - calisthenics are also good for younger athletes. Many young athletes come into the weight room wanting to lift huge weights because the older boys or girls are doing so. The older kids have gone through puberty and have the testosterone, however, to make significant strength gains. Younger kids often don't. They can get stronger, but the gains are minimal relative to the gains they will experience later. For example, if we gave a 8th, 10th, and 12th grade boy (let's say the same boy, same genetics, just three different ages) the same workout program, the 12th grade boy would get stronger and bigger. Often the 10th grade boy will lose his baby fat and gain some muscle, but often he will not be ready for much muscle gain. The 8th grade boy will get stronger, and will learn the lifts well, but he won't pack muscle on at all (generally).

This is where calisthenics are extremely helpful. They are safe exercises, they help young athletes become more coordinated, and more in tune with their bodies. Coupled with learning how to lift, calisthenics provide a great way to build strength and lay a good foundation for future growth.

Unfortunately, they stay overlooked and under appreciated. The fancy shiny weights are just too glamorous.

Being Wrong

I just watched a great Ted Talk about being wrong. Being wrong is not bad; in fact, we should embrace our fallibility and learn from it.

It's time to start training ATHLETICISM

We take a lot of things for granted. The tough thing, as Ken Robinson - a British speaker, intellectual notes, is that it is very hard to know what you take for granted. If you're a parent, a quick example may help you envision this. Do you have a wrist-watch on? Interestingly, many of you do. But most of your kids don't. The reason - well, it's a single-function device that doesn't really do much. Plus, I can use my Smart Phone to find the time as well as anything in the world on Wikipedia.

In athletic training we take a lot of things for granted as well. IF you notice most of the exercises done in the weight room, you will see that most of them are done relatively stationary. The objective is to lift the bar from Point A to Point B. Compound exercises use multiple muscle groups, but even lifts like the Squat and Hang Cleans are relatively stationary. In games, we are moving, using our mental abilities to attempt to see where the play is going, and when we do exert force, generally, it is not done just straight up and down, but at angles, off balance, etc. Hopefully you can see the picture I am attempting to describe.

We know that combines, for instance, are poor predictors of future success for NFL players. This from an article in the Wall Street Journal:

According to a recent study by economists at the University of Louisville, there's no "consistent statistical relationship" between the results of players at the Combine and subsequent NFL performance.

Why is this the case? I don't have scientific data on this, but I'd be willing to put my money on this answer: the 40 yard dash, the bench press, the squat, and the vertical jump are all tests that are, for convenience sake, simple to administer but not very game like. A wide receiver that can run a fast 40 yard dash but not catch the ball is worthless - the test obviously doesn't measure his ability to catch. The squat measures strength, but what about technique on the line or football sense?

What are the implications of everything I'm taking about? We need to stop taking for granted training methods which aren't the best. WE know that humans can innovate and change and that over time we ALWAYS come up with better techniques/methods. Today is the time to do this with athletic training. We want our players to become more athletic. How can you do this:

For example, you can have them do agility drills with their heads up and have them yell numbers according to certain commands by the instructor. Or you could have them run the 40 yard dash while making catches from 3 different passers along the way. Or you could design speed drills where athletes have to maneuver through each other, forcing them to keep their heads up just like the real games.

I don't know the answer exactly, but I do know we can always do better. Progress never stops.

The Overhead Squat

The Overhead Squat

It's much harder than it looks. The overhead squat engages the core more than a traditional back squat. It also forces an athlete to maintain good balance.

Stop limiting our kids!

In the spring of many high school seniors final year, they are still required to ask for permission to go to the bathroom. Yet, only several months after they graduate, we expect them to go out on their own, live with others, and take on a whole host of responsibilities. What changed between the spring of their senior year and college just three months later? I guess three months would be the answer.

For far too long we have placed our kids into little boxes and told them that they need to work within the confines or parameters of a system. Our school system is still set up on the factory-mill model: bells signal changes in shifts, classrooms are often linearly organized in rows, etc. The Horace Mann system of public education made a lot of sense in the early 1900s. We needed workers that had basic numeracy and literacy skills. The elites could go onto college and become the managers and entrepreneurs. Today, however, our economy is increasingly demanding more creativity, problem solving, and hypothetical/abstract thought skills than ever before.

To teach these skills we need to give our kids responsibilities. They need more autonomy over their education. In one of my education psychology classes, we watched a video of a Japanese pre-school. The teacher was inside the classroom, the kids outside were playing. One of the boys began to act out and was misbehaving. A young Japanese girl ran into the classroom and told the teacher. The teacher's response: "Go fix the problem, don't just tell me about it." It was absolutely amazing to witness this. After watching the video I concluded that Japanese pre-school students have more responsibility than the average American high school senior. If true, that is a sad reality.

Kids are going to make mistakes, but this shouldn't stop us from giving them responsibility. In fact, we should reward them with more and more autonomy, instead of simply punishing them for breaking rules, for breaking with conformity.

I know that as a high school student I felt trapped a lot. One quick and easy example will make this clear to the reader. When I was a senior I wanted to take Latin, but I didn't have room in my schedule to do it. I spoke with the Latin teacher who told me I could do all the assignments and take the tests; he would help me. I just had to get it approved by school administrators. You want to know what I was told? They said, "If we let you do this, then other kids will want to do it too."

To summarize:

1) Empower students by rewarding good behavior with increased responsibility.

2) Give students more autonomy over their education. We know from basic motivational psychology that autonomy is a key factor in motivating individuals.

Sprint Speed versus Vertical Jump Scores

The graph above has the 50 meter sprint on the horizontal x-axis and vertical jump on the vertical y-axis. As you'll notice, the higher an athlete can jump, typically the faster he can run.

Implications of this correlation:

1) Vertical jump training may be great for increasing speed. I don't have the scientific data, but I would venture to guess that the shorter the sprint, the more correlated vertical jump height is with speed.

2) Outliers on the graph may represent quick individuals who are not fast. What this means is that they are explosive and can reach top speed quickly, but their top speed is lower than less explosive individuals. This is reflected in their vertical jump being higher than the averaged line you see.

3) Outliers below the curve may represent individuals who are fast, but not quick. Their low vertical jump indicates a lack of explosion from the 0-15 meter range, let's say for example, but does not accurately indicate their top speed, which may be reached at 20 meters or 25 meters. They therefore run faster times with lower than expected vertical jump scores.

4) Outliers below the line should train explosiveness while outliers above the line should train to increase top speed.

**Always note that correlation does not mean causation! That is, although vertical jump and sprint speeds are correlated, it does not necessarily mean that increasing vertical jump scores will increase sprint speeds. Although I personally feel that this is the case, I have not presented enough evidence to ensure that one variable (vertical jump) is causing another variable to increase (sprint speed).

For more go to www.thefortisacademy.com

Random Thoughts from a Rugby Trip

This past weekend I went on a trip with the Princeton Girl's Rugby team to the University of Virginia. (I've been training them for the past 15 weeks or so). It was a great experience and along the way I learned a lot about the sport of Rugby. There were a couple observations that I did take away from the game and the experience as a whole:

1) We have so much to learn from other sports. As I was sitting up on the hill next to the field watching the girls warm-up. They got into a square, with a line behind each corner. They went through a set of warm-up drills where they run toward the middle and pass or hand off. As the warm-up progresses, more balls are added to the drill. Basically, by the end four girls are navigating through a small space in the middle of a small square. The drill requires intense communication, visual, and coordination skills.

2) Last week I had messed up on the F = M*A calculations. I wasn't measuring acceleration but rather velocity (speed). Mass * Velocity = momentum. So in terms of momentum the calculations were right. But we can also think of the difference between two athletes by looking at the power they can each generate. Power is determined by the following equation: (1/2(Mass)(Velocity^2))/TIME. If you work out the math, it is easy to see how influential velocity is in determining power output measured in watts. You will also see that gains made in mass alone are cut in half.

3) The low man (or woman) wins. Well, if it were easy then we would all just get lower. It's not easy, though. Getting into a low position (squat) is difficult because maintaining that position requires muscular endurance, strength, and coordination. We naturally want to stand up when we get tired, not squat down. Training for contact sports like rugby should focus on getting girls (and boys) down into a squatting position.

4) Sports should be fun

That's all I've got for now. Check back later for more! Or go to the website at www.thefortisacademy.com

Groupthink: The Silent Disease in Sports

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon where groups of individuals come together and make a decision in such a way that discourages opposing viewpoints, creativity, openness, and debate. This often occurs when the top echelon of leaders in an organization "force" their opinions upon their subordinates by making it clear that non-conformist opinions will not be tolerated well. We have seen this psychological process occur in many instances - one famous one would be with the Johnson administration in Vietnam. But without getting into politics, it would be wise to also look at Groupthink in the context of coaching or leading a team.

The problem with opposing opinions is that we often feel that when they are presented that they represent opposition. We equate a different opinion than our own as anti-us. This is the wrong way to think about coaching or leading! Different opinions are the life-blood of good coaching and of good leaders in all types of organizations.

Now, there is something to be said of time and place. An assistant coach shouldn't call to question a drill or comment by the head coach in front of the entire team (or anyone on the team for that matter). Differing opinions are valuable when they are done with confidence, but can destroy a team if done in a negative manner.

If you're a coach or a captain on a team, it is important to be aware of the trappings of Groupthink. One way to avoid this is to ask questions instead of stating facts. If I'm the leader of a team and I tell the team that I think we should do Plan A, it will be difficult for most to respond with a differing opinion, let's call it Plan B. But if I ask, what should we be doing to get better? The response might involve several methods which I had not even thought of.

It is also important to establish a culture that rewards dissent as much as conformity. Loyalty is necessary on a team. A coach can't have an assistant being disloyal and talking behind his or her back. At the same time, that assistant has to be able to speak his mind and let the coach know what he thinks! Often and especially when the chips are down, it is easy to revert to Groupthink postures. That is, it is easy to look for (subconsciously) people who agree with you. As the situation gets worse, we look harder for a rational behind our previous actions. The stakes to change become more costly because change means admitting failure (and the longer the failure, the higher the cost to admit it).

Avoid Groupthink at all costs. It is the silent disease that kills innovation, creativity, and progress in business, politics, and sports.

Core Training: The essential link

Core training is extremely important in football. I hope that the picture to the left clearly demonstrates why. The running back, Chris Johnson, is being tackled from the side, he is on one foot, and needs to break from the grip of the opposing player.

Think of two types of cars: a jeep and a low riding sports car. Which one will tip on fast turns? The jeep because it doesn't have a very low center of gravity. As athletes, we want to be compact and strong throughout our bodies. Many athletes, boys especially, like to build their chest and bicep muscles. They may look strong, but don't be fooled. Without a strong core, a player that is hit will have trouble balancing and leveraging upper body and lower body strength.

If a player gets hit at shoulder level, from the right side, his left leg should be planted into the ground to absorb the tackle. The leg muscles will exert force against the opposing player. If the core is weak, however, and cannot keep the player's momentum in the opposite direction of the tackle, the legs will need to compensate. And if the legs are weak, then all is lost. Yet, if a player has strong legs and a strong core with a moderately weak upper body, it seems perfectly reasonable that he could absorb a hit. Most of the force from the hit comes from power exerted through the legs and most of the force required to absorb the hit will likewise come from the legs.

Key Points:
- Core Training is essential to leveraging upper body and lower body strength. At Fortis, we believe that a stronger core increases overall strength on all lifts.
- Leg strength is superior to arm and chest strength.