Becoming A Better Athlete

How important is sports performance training in your quest to becoming a better player? Extremely important! Just ask Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops. The NY Times had a great article on the importance of the strength coaches for the Oklahoma and Florida football programs. The role that these strength coaches play within each program is ever expanding. At the college level an athlete will spend more time with his strength coach than he will with their position coach. How much time do you spend focusing on strength and conditioning? Many coaches at the collegiate level see the hiring of the strength coach as the most important hire they can make. If you get a chance check out the article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/sports/ncaafootball/08college.html?_r=2

If your looking to prepare and improve your strength, speed, and agility prior to the season now is the time. For information on Speed Boosters training and facilities visit www.speedboosters.net

How are you preparing for the season?

The high school baseball season is a little over 2 months away from beginning. The difference between making and not making the team will be an evaluation over the course of 3-4 days which is often indoors. You need to stand out as a player and be fully prepared by tryouts. How are you preparing for the season? Speed Boosters has teamed up with St. Louis Baseball & Fastpitch Academy to offer 90 minutes of baseball training for just $10. On Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning January 13th athletes will be able to compete in Nike SPARQ training for 40 minutes followed by 40 minutes of hitting (tee, soft toss, short toss, live). All sessions take place from 3:30-4:45 p.m. at St. Louis Baseball & Fastpitch Academy. For more information contact sean.erwin@speedboosters.net

Speed Boosters & Grizzlies Baseball Academy

Speed Boosters is proud to announce the addition of offering training at a second facility. For the past three years we have been training out of St. Louis Baseball and Fastpitch Academy (STLBA) and have traveled to many other facilities, practices, and showcases to not only train but to also SPARQ test nearly 4000 athletes. The involvement and development of athletes at STLBA has been outstanding. We will now be bringing our proven and innovative training to the metro east through a partnership with the Grizzlies Baseball Academy. On January 10th the Grizzlies Baseball Academy will open the doors to their new state of the art training facility at GCS Stadium. The facility will be a one stop shop for a players baseball training needs. The facility is a great place to get individual instruction from former pro players or to bring your team to practice. Additionally they have the Pro Batter PX2 which is a real life Major League pitching simulator that is the first of its kind in the St. Louis area. To finalize a players baseball training needs we at Speed Boosters will be offering multiple services including SPARQ training and testing, sports performance training (combining strength & SPARQ training), sports nutrition consulting, and sports performance training consulting. We are excited about this partnership and are looking forward to helping metro east athletes reach their full potential and achieve their goals. For more information on the Grizzlies Baseball Academy visit their website at www.grizzliesbaseballacademy.com

When To Begin Training

"When should my son/daughter begin training?" This is a question that I am often asked on a daily basis. With schools increasing time spent in Language Arts, Math, and Science time is being taken away from other areas. Unfortunately one such area is often Physical Education. Some students are now only getting Physical Education once or even twice a week. Where are these young students going to learn movement skills and how are they going to build a foundation and general understanding of fitness and sports related movements? Over the course of the past year I have seen a large increase of young athletes (7,8,9,10 years olds) coming to speed training. Through speed, agility, and explosive movement training young athletes are taught proper form and technique that will create a good base or foundation for all fitness or sport related movements. Learning proper form and movement patterns is also a great way prevent injuries. So when should your son or daughter begin training? Whenever they begin to compete in athletics. Giving your young athlete the proper foundation that all sport specific movements are based on will not only help in injury prevention but will also help them increase their athletic performance. The younger kids love doing SPARQ training. They see it as "fun" and not work and look forward to the training every week. Have your young athlete start off on the right foot by joining a Speed Boosters training sessions.
TRAIN BETTER, TRAIN SPEED BOOSTERS!

Speed Boosters Developments

Over the course of the past couple years Speed Boosters has greatly expanded. We are at an all time high for athletes participating in our programs. As athletes begin to see the importance of sports performance and SPARQ training and continue to reap the benefits of being involved in our training programs the numbers will only expand more. In a continued effort to offer the best possible experience and results and at the most affordable price for our athletes, Speed Boosters will be offering new services and a greater number of programs. Within the next week or two we will be announcing the new developments and opportunities we will be offering for athletes in the St. Louis and Metro East area. TRAIN BETTER, TRAIN SPEED BOOSTERS!

STL Softball Showcase

Myself and the Speed Boosters staff had the opportunity to work with ESPN Rise Magazine, Nike, and SPARQ at the annual St. Louis Softball Showcase last weekend. It was a great event attended by well over a thousand of the areas top softball players. Over the course of the weekend we had the opportunity to SPARQ test 1,323 players. It's always great to see young athletes compete and see the results of their dedication and hard work. There were several athletes that really stood out from the rest. What did these athletes have in common? They were part of a well designed sport specific training program to increase speed, power, agility, reaction, quickness, flexibility, and injury prevention. The gains received from training have carried over directly to the diamond and have put them at the top of their game. Below is a list of the "Top 10" from the weekend that can also be seen at http://myespn.go.com/blogs/highschoolsoftball

TOP OVERALL SPARQ RATINGS
Mackenzie Sykes -2010-2B-Originals (RE) -133.02
Brandee Bohr -2009-OF-S E Iowa Softball Allstars -126.75
Brianna Corwin -2010-C-Originals (RE) -120.27
Jenna Marston -2009-SS-St Louis Diamond Cats -120.12
Marissa Mersch -2011-OF-Lemont Rockers (DD) -120.09
Cynthia Miller -2010-OF-Illinois Bandits 18U Gold -118.65
Alyssa Smith -2011-2B-Oak Park Windmills (MS) -115.68
Allie Anttila -2010-OF-Illinois Chill (BE) -115.26
Staci Bonezek -2011-3B-Homer Hawks Black 16-U -113.82
Lauren Ackerman -2009-C-St Louis Diamond Cats -111.6

What are you doing to improve? TRAIN BETTER, TRAIN SPEED BOOSTERS

Speed Boosters SPARQ Team Challenge

What are St. Louis area high school basketball programs doing to prepare for the basketball season? Competing in the Speed Boosters SPARQ Team Challenge training sessions with Speed Boosters. Speed Boosters SPARQ training sessions consist of dynamic flexibility development, speed, linear and lateral footwork progressions, and explosive movement training that prepares the basketball player for the rigors of the high school basketball season. Check back soon for basketball specific development drills from the training sessions as well as updates on how the players are progressing.

TRAIN BETTER, TRAIN SPEED BOOSTERS.