Tag: Amanda Kephart

July 15, 2016

WYC 085 – Performance Training – Bryan Schwebke talks Building a Strong Base

Dr. Bryan Schwebke is the founder of Paramount Performance as well as a performance physical therapist, coach and consultant. Bryan has worked with some of the world’s best athletes as well as many college and youth athletes. He is dedicated to providing athletes and their parents with the guidance, education and tools to safely and efficiently reach their goals.

Website: paramountperformancept.com

Facebook: /ParamountPerformancePT

Twitter: @ParamountPfrmPT & @BryanSchwebke

Youtube: Paramount Performance

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘On the day of victory, no fatigue is felt’

Topics/Questions

  • What is the biggest problem you notice with the athletes you see on a daily basis?
    • Their base isn’t strong enough to support what they are trying to do
  • What do you think is causing this problem?
    • Throwing kids into strenuous environments too early – specifically travel teams
  • What happens if you don’t have a strong base ?
    • Performance is decreased and recovery time from injury is increased
  • How can you fix or build a strong base? How do you know if you don’t have a strong base?
    • You probably don’t. Have them evaluated by a physical therapist and create a gameplay. This could start around 5th grade.
  • What is the Athlete Centered Model and what is your Performance Team?
    • Instead of having 4 or 5 different people coming up with a gameplan for an athlete (physical therapist, nutritionist, skills coach, personal trainer) – have all of them work together to come up with a joint gameplan
  • What are the biggest restrictions to coaches and parents not being able to give their kids a good base.
    • Lack of education and understanding where to invest your time and money as a parent
  • Multi-sport athletes have advantages

Self-confidence & Peak mental performance

  • Visualization can be key to recovering from injury
  • It does NOT mean you are weak if you need to practice and work on the mental side of the game
  • Visualization – free throw shooters who had 60% average
    • Practiced 500 shots per day – improved to 70%
    • Visualized their shot for 20 minutes per day – improved to 83%
    • Practiced 500 shots per day and visualized 20 minutes per day – improved to 85%
  • Website: paramountperformancept.com

Functional warm-ups

  • Make sure it’s applicable to the sport you are playing
  • Needs to activate the muscles
  • A couple good examples:
    • Alan Stein’s basketball warm-up – Link
    • Amanda Kephart’s warm-up description – Link

Outside of practice:

1 – Forget your ego – You probably aren’t an expert in performance training – learn from others

2 – Promote multiple sports

3 – Promote education for parents and athletes on why it’s important

4 – There’s more to being a coach than just practicing – bring in other experts – nutritionists, personal trainers, sports psychologist

Favorite quote

  • Quote: ‘On the day of victory, no fatigue is felt’

Paramount Performance

–

Reviews are the lifeblood of the podcast!- If you like the podcast- please take 2 minutes to write a review! Click here

Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter:

Screen Shot 2016-02-23 at 10.16.08 AM

Continue Reading

January 8, 2015

WYC 030 Performance Training – Amanda Kephart from Akron General Sports Performance talks getting faster, stronger, and more powerful

What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Amanda Kephart shares stories and discusses her journey to becoming a successful sports coach.

Amanda is the Sports Foreman Supervisor at the Akron General Sports Performance center.  Coach Amanda Kephart, MS, CSCS, USAW, has been training athletes for nearly a decade. She has worked at the Division One level with hundreds of athletes at both the University of Akron and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her energy brings out the best in her athletes and allows them to reach their athletic goals more quickly.  Amanda played basketball in high school, then picked up racquetball in college, where she went on to become a 2-time All-American at Balwin Wallace.

Website: strengthcoachamanda.com

Twitter: @_coachamanda_ ; @akrongeneralsp

Facebook: /akrongeneralsportsperformance

Youtube: /AGSportsPerformance

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Coaching/Leadership Quote

‘Coaching is a great opportunity to allow the child to practice being what they want to be, not what their classmates think they are’

My ‘Ah-Ha Moment’

  • Sports conditioning is a science – there is a lot to learn about the body

Have Awesome Warm-up Routines

HUGE IDEA #1

  • ‘Why do you do what you do’ – Is this helping your athlete?
  • Your goal isn’t to develop better runners – you want better (fill-in-your-sport) players
  • ‘It’s 2015 – telling the kids to take a lap isn’t going to cut it anymore’
  • 3 core areas – the shoulders, the core, the glutes
  • No static stretching during warm-ups; after practice/after game static stretches make total sense (because the point of static stretching is to move your body into a range it normally doesn’t want to go, so your body is not ready before practice but it is ready after practice)
  • 10 minutes is a good amount of time for warm-ups – use this time to share something inspirational and transition the mind of the athlete from being in their ‘day-job’ or ‘school’ mode into ‘athlete/team’ mode

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • Know what the child really wants – some want to be a professional athlete, some just want to have fun on the team
  • When teaching any skill – demonstrate it visually AND explain why you’re doing it

What age should my child start working out?

HUGE IDEA #2

  • The biggest factor isn’t what age – the biggest factor is who is coaching your child
  • MetaStudy on strength training safety: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23015875/. Results:
    • Injuries occur because of:
    • Poor/no supervision
    • Improper technique
    • Improper use of equipment
    • Inappropriate amount of weight
  • There is NO research that shows strength training stunts growth plates.
  • When looking for a good strength coach, look for coaches that focus on the quality and form/ not the total amount of weight or speed of the reps.
  • Core stabilization exercises – Instead of sit-ups there a lot of better options – like planks

Sports Specialization

  • If your athlete absolutely loves playing just one specific sport – make sure they are taking breaks throughout the year to allow their body to recover
  • If you are playing year-round travel teams – when are you learning new skills?

Winning

  • ‘It’s not about winning at any level except varsity.  Your entire job before that level is developing the players’
  • ‘Your win/loss record as a parent coach does not matter.  The only thing that matters is that the kids had a blast, they learned, and they became better.’

Inspiring Story

  • Amanda loves to work with the athletes that come in shy, and she can build confidence in them and bring out their full personality
  • ‘Coaching is a great opportunity to allow the child to practice being what they want to be, not what their classmates think they are’ – Set up your practices and teams to be safe environments that are full of positive encouragement and build up each athlete.

Coaching Resources

Parting Advice

  • Get a system – write it down.  Have a exercise bucket- where you keep a list of drills/exercises to plug in.

Interview Links / Promotional Partners

strengthcoachamanda.com

 

 

Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter:

Continue Reading
Visit Us On TwitterVisit Us On Facebook