I'd like to think it wasn't too long ago that I was in high school playing sports. I have clients that range from 8 years old and up. Each athlete wanting to get better for their sport, whether they realize that is why they are with me or not. All kind of accept (at some level) that my instruction is necessary for them to achieve a certain goal they might have.
Increase in playing time. Making the roster for their team. Cracking the starting lineup.
How the landscape has changed!
When I was playing sports, there wasn't such a thing as a specialty coach. If you take out tennis and golf (because they had pros that would instruct kids). There weren't any specialty coaches. Kids got better by practicing and playing over and over with some help from a team coach every so often.
If you wanted to have a better shot, you just shot at the basket a lot.
If you wanted to hit better, you would get someone to pitch to you or hit off a tee.
If you wanted to run faster, you hoped you were blessed with good speed.
What we did was go to camps. So, over the summer we would maybe play in a summer league, but we would also go to a camp for a week. You would get instruction, play some games, get a t-shirt when you were done, and hopefully apply some of the things you learned. That was it.
Now it is completely different. Camp is essentially organized scrimmages against other teams over the summer that is somehow approved by the high school association. Go over your plays, work on them with your team, and very little instruction. That is where the specialty coaches come in. To provide that missing instruction.
Now, people are paying good money for shot doctors, dribble kings, kicking coaches, soccer gurus, volleyball specialists, wrestling programs, speed coaches, and the list goes on. Each coach in their particular area thinks that they are needed. In some aspects that is true. Now more than ever a coach can help you with form that will help you improve your game probably faster than you figuring it out by just playing repeatedly.
I feel speed training is the same if not more. Before, people were either fast or you weren't. Now, with greater understanding of proper mechanics and how the body moves, we can make anyone faster. I will admit. I'm not going to take someone who is really slow and make them run a 4.2 40 yard dash. What I will do is make them faster and quicker than what they were before and that will make them a better athlete. This is something that you will NEVER be able to accomplish on your own. You can get faster as you get older, but all of the sudden understanding the proper movements of running is something that will not come fast, if at all.
Would I have gone to a specialty coach when I was playing sports? I probably wouldn't have had a choice. My parents would have signed me up and I would have gone whether I liked it or not. But, how would I have acted? Would I have just done it and accepted it? Would I have been ticked off? Or would I have understood the incredible opportunity my parents were giving me working with this specialty coach? I don't know and we'll never know.
It is just different now and because of that I have a job to help as many athletes as possible get faster and reach their athletic potential. My generation would have had no clue what a specialty coach was. This generation probably feels that without one they will not accomplish what they want in athletics. Whether that impression is right or wrong, I and my company have to be there for the athletes to fill that void. Specialty coaches are here to stay. I can't speak for the rest, but I can assure you that with my specialty you are going to improve your athleticism to the point that you WILL be better at your sport.
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