Having a Plan

Having a daily plan is of utmost importance during the playoffs. Expectations are high, days are shorter and there are plenty of distractions. Daily communication with the head coach, athletic trainers, and nutritionist is vital as you make sure everyone is on the same page. Our scheduling starts the day after our last game. We make sure we get a handle on lifting and conditioning days, injured players, hydration strategies and pre-game meals. If everyone is on the same page it makes it easier to make adjustments throughout the week and it helps players feel comfortable.

Mindset

It’s not hard to get hyped up for your first playoff game. Athletes are excited about the possibilities come playoff time. Everyone has a shot at the title, but keeping the right mindset can help your athletes focus on what’s right in front of them. In our program, we like to remind our athlete that tomorrow is never promised. We ask that they give us everything they have as we prepare for our games. No excuses, no regrets.  By keeping the focus on the now, we can eliminate the distractions that are so easily infiltrated into a playoff week.

Attack Problem Areas

Our training program throughout the season is divided into three phases. First five games of the season, second five games of the season and playoffs. During the season, we make sure that we maintain our strength, power and explosiveness through percentage grading and progressive overload on a weekly basis. When we look at our injury reports throughout the week, we always have to make adjustments to individual programs. No team during this part of the season is 100%. So the teams that can get their players as pain free as possible by game time, is going to have the greatest chance at success. Make sure that injured or banged up body parts are attacked first in the workout. For example, if there are shoulder issues, prehab and maintenance work is performed first in the workout. This allows us to maximize specific work in problem area, while still attacking his good shoulder, torso and lower body. Make sure you have a look at the weekly injury report, as you plan your training for the week.

Lower Volume and Higher Intensity

The playoff season is not about gaining strength or breaking down muscle tissue. We focus on improving power and explosiveness every chance we get through systematic progressions in our sets and reps. At this point of the season, we make sure that we have a good grip on the total amount of football-specific fundamental work performed on the field with the coaches. Our job is to maximize our weightroom time and helps us maintain our power output on the field.  How do we do that? We cut our workload in the weightroom by 20% and focus on density training. Our exercise selection is limited to a total of three to four exercises per training session. We like to progress our lifting and plyometric drills to the point where we are complexing the areas necessary to keep improving strength, speed and power.

Just W.I.N

W.I.N is an acronym we use daily in our program. W.I.N stands for what’s important now and it represents how we approach everyday throughout the season. Focus on what you can control on a daily basis and you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish. Never take your opponent lightly. If you have a plan, follow it diligently and it will help you prioritize any issue that may come up. The right mindset is critical in keeping your team focused. Attacking problem areas and managing your volume and intensity, will allow you to adjust your programming as necessary.

Good luck this week to those who are lucky enough to be part of the playoffs. Bring home a win.

The consistency of your in-season program can determine the success of an entire season. The quote above is a great example of how we approach our in-season training program. You won’t win every game, but your training plan in-season needs to be consistent with the overall goal of building a great athlete and program that is resilient to bumps on the road throughout the season. Developing a consistent program during the season will allow you to make gains in flexibility, speed, strength, power and recovery. Don’t change your program from week to week and don’t deviate from your initial goals. It helps players and coaches understand that the plan is structured, well thought out and geared towards maintaing the levels of performance needed to survive a grueling season.

Success comes to those who are consistent and persistent. Allow your athletes the opportunity to experience a structured program with individual and team components. During the season you will need to make adjustments, but that doesn’t  mean that you make wholesale changes to the program. Use each day as an opportunity to coach your athletes and build consistent systems to monitor strength and weakness of each individual player. Now go forth and win your championship.

ESPNRise.com 

Team match-ups for the ESPN RISE High School Football Kickoff are: defending Florida 5A champion Plant (Tampa, Fla.) vs. Manatee (Bradenton, Fla.), Grant (Sacramento, Calif.) vs. Folsom (Folsom, Calif.), defending Alabama 6A champion Hoover (Hoover, Ala.) vs. Byrnes (Duncan, S.C.), South Pointe (Rock Hill, S.C.) vs. Northwestern (Rock Hill, S.C.), Steele (Cibolo, Texas) vs. Madison (San Antonio, Texas), defending Texas 5A champion Trinity (Euless, Texas) vs. Lee (Tyler, Texas), Good Counsel (Olney, Md.) vs. St. Xavier (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Moeller (Cincinnati, Ohio) vs. Wayne (Huber Heights, Ohio).

ESPNU 150 ranked players featured in the ESPN RISE High School Football Kickoff are: No. 1 Jadeveon Clowney (DE, South Pointe), No. 7 Malcolm Brown (RB, Steele), No. 8 James Wilder II (ATH, Plant), No. 15 Aaron Green (RB, Madison), No. 16 Braxton Miller (QB, Wayne), No. 96 Viliami Moala (DT, Grant) and No. 116 Mike Blakely (RB, Manatee).

Among the many benefits of USA Football Player Academies are the current and former NFL standouts who serve as keynote speakers. Eight-year NFL veteran Rocky Boiman is one of three who will be present in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Nike Sparq Training News

The Nike Football Tour is on the road in California, Texas and Florida with one mission – to build championship football players. The first step is to find out what kinds of athletes are out there. Select teams in each region will be put to the SPARQ test, and walk away with individual and team SPARQ Ratings. These ratings reveal athletic strengths and weaknesses, allowing coaches and athletes to identify a clear path toward improvement.

The only way to improve is through training, and every participating team will receive an introduction to The Nike Football SPARQ Training Program – a dynamic movement based training program developed in conjunction with Chris Carlisle, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Seattle Seahawks.

For a little added incentive, the team that puts up the highest SPARQ Team Rating in each region, will have the opportunity to receive the full 5D2F experience from Nike Football this fall.

http://inside.nike.com/blogs/sparqtraining-en_US/2010/03/12/the-nike-football-tour-hits-the-road