What separates the average athlete from the elite athletes? It isn’t always about talent or genetics or how hard you go during practice and games- it’s about how you train outside of practice.
What is Sports Performance:
Sports performance isn’t just about physical strength or endurance it is a comprehensive combination of physiological and psychological measurements that aid in the individuals ability to perform efficiently not just within their sport but as a whole athlete. The physiological components of sports performance include strength and endurance, speed and power, flexibility and coordination. While the psychological factors that contribute to sports performance is motivation, concentration, and emotional control. Both components are just as crucial and success cannot be found without consistent practice in both.
Physical Component:
Strength is the foundation to an athlete’s performance.
- Speed – the force an athlete can apply quickly
- Power – force applied fast
- Acceleration – force placed into the ground
- Change of Direction – force absorbed and redirected
Without the ability to produce force you cannot move at an optimal speed or be explosive on the field, ice, or court. Without the ability to absorb force you are at an increased risk for injury. Movement occurs when force is applied – force is built in the weight room. But performance isn’t the only thing that grows with strength. Building foundational strength reduces the risk of injury by improving tissue capacity, strengthening surrounding tendons and ligaments and aiding in the ability for your body to absorb forces that occur during contact sports.
Psychological Component:
The mind controls the body. Without the psychological development of sports performance athletes will never reach their full potential. Sports are pressure – the crowds, the mistakes, the fatigue, the challenges. Average athletes crack under pressure, elite athletes thrive in pressure. Without the ability to manage pressure, talent falls, confidence drops, and performance fails. Confidence is built through preparation – it is built in the moments of pushing past your limits, finding a new level of resilience, discovering a new zone. Mentality is developed in how you train.
- Do you push when you get tired?
- Do you focus during each rep and complete to your fullest?
- Do you push past comfort zones?
- Do you allow yourself to be content?
- Do you hold yourself accountable?
Mental strength is the ability to stay composed, confident and relentless. Mental strength is built through repetition.
The Long Game:
Some may ask when to start. The earlier the better. Allowing young athletes to develop the ability to control their own body and build mental strength will fast track them to elite. Sports performance is about the long game, not just about the next game. It is training for where they want to go, to progressively develop through each phase of life and development.
You don’t need complicated. Just consistency, intention and the want to learn.
Keegan Caffrey, CSCS is a trainer at Merritt Clubs Eldersburg
Interested in sports performance training? Merritt Clubs offers Merritt Sports Performance at Eldersburg and Towson.
