They need more physical preparation for sport (if they want to excel).
“Sport Specific Training is called Sport Practice.
Guru’s just branded the term so they could sell you something else.
Our kids don’t need more sport specific work. They don’t have the general base to support it.
General Physical Prep is what will get the cannon off the canoe.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
Have you ever heard the phrase “you can’t fit 10 pounds of sh*t in a 5-pound bag?”
Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t, but whether or not you’ve heard the phrase, you can’t fit 10 pounds of stuff in a bag that only has the capacity to hold 5 pounds.
Now you’re probably wondering what trying to stuff shit into a bag has to do with sport specific training.
I’ll explain.
Take a look at our youth sports landscape.
The kids (who haven’t yet quit) who are playing sports are playing more volume of sport now, than in any other time in human history.
School Ball, Travel Ball, Multiple Teams, Leagues, Practices, Games, Showcases, Tournaments, it’s non-stop.
All of the above is “sport specific”.
So let me ask you this simple question.
If our kids are getting a (massive) abundance of sport specific work as it is, do you honestly think the answer to the performance solution is more of what they already have too much of?
Sugar is tasty, but if you add 5x the amount the recipe calls for, your “good” thing just went bad.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are times when a high-level specialty coach can add value to hitting mechanics, or make an adjustment to throwing mechanics that can pay dividends for our kids on field performance, so I’ll certainly not live in absolutes, but I assure you the majority of “sport specific” training we know today is absolute garbage.
Sport Specific Training is a concept that was created by bro’s who don’t understand sport performance enhancement, but also recognize that you don’t either.
On top of it, they found out the consumer in the youth sports industry loves to throw money at things that don’t add value in hopes of “gaining an edge”.
Anddd this is why we have children tethered to rubberbands, dancing around cones and hurdles with a football, lacrosse stick, or baseball glove in their hands and grown adults exchanging currency for the theater that is (entirely) absent of value.
What our kids truly need to take their performance to the next level is an improved GENERAL BASE.
Our kids are quite simply UNDER generalized and OVER specialized.
No amount of specialization will ever replace the rich need for a quality base.
A buildings quality and safety hinges on the integrity of its foundation. The same can be said about your kid.
The answer to the performance equation is not MORE of what they already have too much of.
We have to cover the gaping holes in their development that their egotistical dad or coach brushed over because of his biased (flawed) perception of his kid’s “advancement”.
Remember this, dads, premature advancement is theft from performance potential.
We have to take a step back because regardless of where you put the cannon in the canoe, it’s going to tip over when it fires.
