HARD WORK WITH A PURPOSE

Everyone can have a chance to reach high performance numbers. It takes hard work though. It also isn’t always accomplished by accident. Having some direction can make the world of difference.

Based on our data over the years and what we see on the playing field, our best athletes have most of these numbers in their player profile.

Vertical Jump

High School Male = 20 inches

High School Female = 15 inches

Sparc Sprint

Middle School Male = above 600 watts

Middle School Female = above 600 watts

High School Male = above 1000 watts   Top performers hit over 1500

High School Female = above 800 watts  Top performers hit above 900 consistently

Woodway Top Speed

Middle School Male = above speed 13

Middle School Female = above speed 13

High School Male = above speed 16 Top performers hit over 17

High School Female = above speed 15 Top performers hit over 16

Split Squat

High School Males & Females = able to split squat 50% body weight, 8 times each leg

Split Stance 1 Arm Cable Row

High School Males & Females = able to 1 arm cable row 30% body weight, 8 times each arm

Split Stance 1 Arm Cable Press

High School Males & Females = able to 1 arm cable press 25% body weight, 8 times each arm.

Athletes aren’t overly pattern dominant.

What this means is we don’t see a huge lack of movement competency in things like a hip mobility or multi segmental spinal flexion at any age.

They can hold a plank for 2 minutes (by our standard of a slightly posterior tilted pelvis and scapula protraction).

If you can meet these requirements, we are very confident that you will be one of the stronger/faster/more efficient athletes on the field. Regardless of skill, you can probably make up for it by being more physically prepared. This is extremely important in middle school and high school sports because the majority of athletes still have an average skill set to begin with.

What does this mean?

It means that even if you didn’t start playing soccer at 6 yrs old, you can still compete because you have invested in being the more physically capable athlete. Another thing to keep in mind, is that it levels the playing field. Some athletes might have a physical advantage because they hit puberty earlier. Others started playing the sport earlier, which means they may have a skill advantage. Maybe someone has access to better equipment. There can always be some advantage, gained or loss if we dig deep enough.

If you are a late bloomer, this doesn’t mean you are going to be left behind. If you work on reaching the standards set above, you can quickly be at the top of the team once you hit your growth spurt. We have 13-15yr’s that are still waiting to fully enter puberty and because they have acquired some of the standards above they are still super competitive on the field even though they are one of the smaller players.

If you are looking to play after high school or just want to have a spot on the team, the easiest way you can give yourself an advantage is to gain physical traits.

One of my favorite quotes is from Eric Cressey’s facility in MA:

 “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”

This is something we all have access too. We can all work hard and with the road map above we can reach high levels of performance.