Coming soon: Building The Complete Athlete

"You don't need to see different things, but rather to see things differently" -Vern Gambetta

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It's About Preparing People, not Preventing Injuries

ACL injuries do not happen in a void. People sustain injuries when their infrastructure is unable to manage a specific set of physical circumstances. To describe the mechanism of the injury without the context of the person and their level/type of sport, is to miss valuable insight. In sport, we prepare the person, to the best of our understanding, to meet the physical demands of that sport. We do not just work to prevent one particular injury; we prepare athletes to navigate the total sport physical environment. By "we" I mean the coaching and support staff -- specifically the athletic development staff.  Athletic development (AD) coaches prepare athletes through the development of physical literacy and movement competencies via movement progressions. It is more than strength, power, agility; it is the acquisition of knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors to manage themselves within the entire sporting environment. At the higher levels of sport, AD coaches coordinate wit...
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Strength: Overcoming Tradition & Assumptions

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The term "strength" comes with many images and stereotypes. The most common stereotype usually includes intimidating men who look like action figures, in spaces that look like iron jungles. Strength is associated with mass gain, limb girth increases, muscle hypertrophy and maximal force production against an external load. With regard to lower body strength, we speak in terms of multiples of bodyweight (BW), with the ratio of 2x BW historically viewed as necessary and desirable. We have historically trained in terms of 1 RM. There has been a trend recently to adopt a VBT (velocity based training) approach, as we know 1 RM changes on a daily basis and technology now allows us to more finely tune things with velocity as the target within each set. These things can be helpful as we initially learn to measure and document progress. But I think it is important to step back from this narrow outlook, because this view of strength does not serve all of us well, in either the rehab or...
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What is High Performance? Ross Tucker's 12 minute master class

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Over the last few years I have become a fan of Ross Tucker, mostly through his "The Real Science of Sport Podcast." He brings a measured, thoughtful approach to sport and sport science. In the latest episode  (Season 6, Episode 20, Oct 3 2024), he gives a 12 minute master class on what it is to do "high performance." The discussion starts around the 40 minute mark.  As a physical therapist, I am most interested in how all of this relates to rehabilitation and the return to sport process. Here are my key take-aways: 1.  Apply principles, not knowledge. With principles in place, you are better equipped to determine what knowledge to apply to your situation. 2. Performance science is implementing a "logical, systematic process" not just throwing technology, staff or money at performance questions. Process & Systems >>>> Stuff. Develop a "framework to understand your environment" that is free from bias and helps you systematically app...
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