At Sports Speed Advantage we have developed methods of consulting our out-of-state clients that will help make them become faster, more highly developed athletes.
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Evaluations
 
When Frank first meets with an athlete or group of athletes, the evaluation process begins. A battery of tests that include a variety of dashes and agility courses are given to see where the athletes rank against their peers. There is also biomechanical evaluation, a a process of looking at movement of the body as it relates to each sport. After reviewing an athlete’s movements, Frank can then decide what movements need improvement, and what drill(s) will help achieve the proper movement to get the most out of his/her athletic potential.
 
The following are example evaluations of one coach and three athletes who requested a sports consultation. Frank was provided with a brief video clip of each athlete, and from this, he made an evaluation of what weaknesses he saw that needed to be addressed first and foremost.
 
Coach:
A strong point of the coach is the brief demonstrations he gave before each dynamic task. It also looked good because he gave some feedback after each task. To evaluate the coach fairly, I would have to hear what type of teaching cues he was giving (either take this sentence out or make something up, it makes it sound like Frank didn’t follow up with the guy to identify his cues). Dynamic flexibility is the best time to teach proper motion and movement. The coach appeared to accomplish that.
The initial warm-ups looked alright. I would have liked to have seen them done a fraction slower. I would have also liked to have seen the athletes stand and gently stretch before going into the stepping movements.
I would have slowed it down a touch because the athletes looked fatigued. I feel it is very important to practice the proper movement when practicing dynamic flexibility, even if this means slowing things down to get them right.
 
Athlete “A” – Male:
The balls of his feet initiated contact and they were loaded coined dorsi flexed. I do not see a whole lot of room for improvement.
His knee action needs to be improved so he can become a more efficient sprinter and apply more force to the ground and a quick recover off of the ground. To improve his knee action, I would have him work on specific dynamic flexibility tasks that would help him become more functionally flexible in his hip flexors. This will aid in improving his knee action. I would also recommend working on min hurdles to force proper lift and knee action. Step ups one at a time stressing high knee lift on a 6" to 14" box, as well as running on the box, will be of great assistance.
From the brief video clip, I would work on speed mechanics and dynamic flexibility. I always prefer to work on speed mechanics when the athlete is not fatigued. I like to work on mechanics every day and with dynamic flexibility being focused on throughout the workout. I then would move to overspeed or plyometrics.
 
Athlete “B” – Female: 
The hips drop too much. There should only be a slight lowering of the hips. I would suggest cone drills that emphasize change of direction. This way the athlete could work on the proper hip movement.
The athlete does use the crossover step which is good for this drill. However, the over exaggerated lowering of the hips as well as the unaggressive arm action when changing directions gives this athlete a lot of room for improvement.
In addition to cone drills, I would focus on the sandwich drill using the viper because of the resistance you get in all changes of direction, or the pro shuttle run with the vipers using the sandwich philosophy. Using the viper, I would overspeed the athlete out of a crossover step getting her neuromuscular system used to that explosion coming out of the crossover step which is a significant part of the pro shuttle.
 
Athlete “C”: 
The athlete’s arm action looks good. It looks like linear hands are moving from the chin to the hip, and arm angles look to be close to ninety degrees and elbows are thrusting backwards.
The athlete’s posture looks good. It doesn’t look like she is trying to lean too much. It looks very natural, and she is getting her lean naturally from her acceleration.
This athlete looks pretty well conditioned with decent mechanics. I would use the stick or cone drills for one of my drills and the other would be overspeed to work on stride rate.