Our main focus with Blades Fitness and Performance is online and private training, but we also have an avenue that focuses on athlete development and creating strength and conditioning programs for club sports and high school sports that may not have the ability to have elaborate programs.
With that, we always look at what makes a great client when it comes to private training, so now lets look at what makes a great athlete when it comes to athlete development, and it may not be what you think.
Let’s get started
Athletics is basically looking at the skill of not only the individual player, but also of the team as a whole. This includes things such as communication, trust, and overall skill in different aspects of the game. Looking at an individual athlete, and lets use a soccer player for this example, we want them to be both strong within the core and the lower body along with having the endurance to not only perform in short bursts, but also over an extended period of time.
So now when I say what makes a great athlete, you may think of someone who possesses all of the skills necessary to be great at the sport in terms of great dribbling, scoring, passing, and evading of defenders if we look at soccer. While all of these things are great for an athlete to have and will make or break someone, all of these things can be taught. What makes a great athlete in our eyes is a great mindset, hard work ethic, and being a team player
While this may be cliche to say in terms of what we look for, this is the exact truth and we are about to tell you why. For example, soccer is a team sport. Not only are you relying on your teammates to pass the ball to you, you are relying on them to do their jobs. What this means is that you all need to work together on your different jobs to accomplish one goal, and that is to score. So, individual athletes cannot allow themselves to be the sole focus of the team and do the jobs of everyone. If that were possible, soccer would not be a team sport. This is why we do not look at who is the best athlete, but rather who has the best potential plus who will work as a team to accomplish a goal.
Many times coaches and other spectators get caught up in creating and finding the “perfect athlete”. The one that has all of the skills and makes the most plays out of everyone on the court or on the field, the one they feel has the greatest potential to make it to the next level. The issue with that is that if we allow these impressionable students think they are the backbone for the team and that the team will not be great without them, then they work extra hard to prove that in a game setting, allowing for their own skills to shine rather than the team. This is where we take these teens and athletes and mold them into better people along with a better team.
Skills can be taught through proper coaching and guidance, and athletic performance can be taught through avenues such as us, but work ethic and a mindset cannot be taught along with trust and communication with a team. The athlete has to want to work hard, they have to want to work as a team, and they have to want to change their mindset. Having people already have those key skills make them ahead of the curve in my book because now they will work as a team and will work hard, so all we need to do is give them the physical tools in order to succeed.
Being a team player and being a great athlete takes great skill, but it also takes being a good, humble person to not only be at your best, but to also work as a great team. These skills not only relate to athletics, but can also be transferred into real life, which is or should be the goal of every coach.
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