Speed Camps for Youth Athletes

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In an increasingly sport crazed community, parents everywhere search for ways to help their young athletes get faster. Every weekend, parents all over the country, especially in Fairfield County, flock to fields and courts and watch their kids compete, dissecting every moment of game action on the car ride home, and prepare for the next opportunity to get out on the field and put their best foot forward again. And time and time again, speed reigns supreme - every athlete wants to be the fastest, and every parent wants their kid to be the fastest. So, realistically, how does speed development actually work?

In a nutshell, speed is a product of how much force an athlete can put in the ground (force production) relative to their bodyweight, and limited or maximized by the efficiency of that force (technique). If an athlete has a strong, powerful leg drive, plus good sprint technique, they are going to be fast.

When most parents (and athletes) think of speed training, they think of cone drills and agility ladders. And, to a certain extent, this is not a bad starting point. However, it’s far from the complete picture, and eventually, the diminishing returns will drop to zero. Imagine a racecar driving around a racetrack - the car has a powerful engine, but by going around the racetrack as fast as it can, does the car get faster? Of course not; it still has the same top speed. If you want the car to get faster, you need to upgrade the engine. Speed development is much the same. If an athlete needs to get faster, cone drills and ladders will only get you so far; at some point, you need to address the engine, which is force production or leg drive. By creating stronger, more powerful leg drive, we’ll get more out of each stride, accelerate faster, stop faster, cut quicker, and run faster.

To add some nuance to the illustration of speed, we can really break down speed to three categories - top end sprinting, acceleration, and agility. These are all distinctly different, with different technique, optimal ground contact angles, and force directions. Each of those three types of speed can be further broken down into force production, technique, and biomechanical integrity.

Every summer, SportPerformanceU offers speed camps that address all three aspects of speed development - acceleration, top end speed, and agility. And, camps will dig beneath the superficial layers of cone drills and agility ladders, using appropriate resistance to perfect technique and increase force production. This will create real, sustainable change in how the athlete moves and leave them with a foundation for future development.

Camps are available for athletes starting in 5th grade all the way through college. Athletes can register online (https://www.sportperformanceu.com/camps-and-clinics.html), or visit www.SportPerformanceU.com to learn more. Or, call (203) 831-0130 and speak to a staff member to answer any questions, whether about speed development or upcoming programming.

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