Fit to Print Volume 23 Issue 3 September 2014 | Page 12
SpeedSchool
By Jourdan Brown
Wicked Fast
Young Athletes Make Fast Strides in FI Speed School
Pulling the Chute: Carlie Mullin
T
his past spring, Chelsea Reimer and
I began our FI Speed School
venture. We met at Fitness
Incentive last winter and instantly
bonded over our shared passion for
sports, exercise and teaching. After
hearing Chelsea talk about her desire to
work with kids and young adults to train
them in speed and agility, we decided to
put our heads together and make this
shared desire a reality. After months of
planning and certifications, FI Speed
School was born.
When it came time to put Speed School
into action, we felt confident in our
program yet were nervous to see how our
students would actually respond. Our
first group consisted of three 14 year old
girls: Nicole, Tara and Shannon. Once
their lacrosse season had ended, we met
them at the Babylon High School track,
which is where Speed School training
takes place. Our initial session with
them, as it is with every group, consisted
of teaching them our dynamic warm up,
which is a series of exercises that warms
the muscles while simultaneously
stretching them, and an evaluation of
speed and agility. The evaluation consists
of a 40-yard dash to determine initial
speed, a 5-10-5 sprinting test, to
determine quickness and agility and an
evaluation of general running form.
During the eight week program, we
watched Tara, Shannon and Nicole make
12
Running the Ladder: John Franchina
dramatic improvements in their
coordination, speed, and agility. One
of the most impressive improvements
for all three of them was the speed
ladder, which is an excellent measure
of agility. In the beginning, they were
struggling to get their footing right,
often tripping over the ladder and
messing up their foot sequencing. By
the end, these three girls were flying
through the ladder (and the most
advanced ladder moves at that) with a
swiftness that was simply amazing. In
our last session with Tara, Nicole and
Shannon, it was time to re-test them
to get quantitative proof of the
improvements we had been witnessing
week after week. We were ecstatic to
find that each girl took at least two
seconds off their 40 yard dash time,
which is nothing short of amazing.
They also made similarly dramatic
improvements in agility and running
form. But their improvements went
beyond what we could measure with
numbers. What was even more
important Chelsea and me was
observing how dramatically their
confidence grew with each
improvement they made. We also
formed a relationship with each of the
girls that made us sad to see their
session come to an end. Hopefully
we'll get to work with them again in
the future.
Autumn 2014 FIT to Print
We were beyond lucky to have our first
group be Tara, Nicole and Shannon. All
three of them are athletes that possess a
strong desire to learn and improve. From
there we have been fortunate to work
with other kids, both boys and girls, as
young as 9 and up to 18 years of age. The
best part about the program is
witnessing each new kid we get progress
from week one to week eight. Every kid
that enters speed school is unique and
possesses different strengths and
weaknesses, which is what makes it so
much fun and so challenging for Chelsea
and me. Depending on their strengths
and weaknesses we formulate a different
plan to help them make improvements in
their speed, agility, coordination,
strength, balance and confidence. By
focusing on these factors we see
improvements week by week. Kids are
sponges at a young age and quickly
absorb the information we give them,
creating mind-muscle connections that
allow them to grow and improve at a
rapid rate.
Chelsea and I look forward to working
with new kids as our program continues
to grow. It has been a fun adventure for
both of us and extremely satisfying to
watch our students improve and grow
right before our eyes. We're looking
forward to creating new innovative ways
to improve young athletes throughout
the winter season.
If you're interested in FI Speed School,
you can call 631-587-5766, visit our
website:
http://www.fitnessincentive.com/person
al-training/fi-speed-school/
or email us at fit@fitnessincentive.com
Watch Tara, Nicole and Shannon (shown
below) and our other Speed School
athletes running through their Speed
School drills on Instagram:
http://instagram.com/fispeedschool
Jourdan Brown is a certified Group Fitness
Instructor, Youth Speed & Agility Instructor
and a Front Desk Manager at Fitness Incentive.