The Problem With Sports.
Out of approximately 351 Division 1 NCAA colleges and universities, only about 3% of them are competitive. This translates into about 10 schools capable of boat racing the remaining 340. That’s a huge problem. Because it signifies that the majority of college athletes are nowhere near as good as they should be. Even worse, if only 2% of high school athletes go on to play D1 NCAA, that leaves some 7 Million athletes waaay behind the curve.
So, why are so many athletes behind the curve? Well, there are a few reasons:
- Before Triangular Training Theory (T3), sports training lacked an organized curriculum/ method capable of actually developing top-level athletes. Consequently, coaches were forced to rely heavily on more innate/ natural abilities. And, trainers were forced to rely on more fitness-driven concepts (SIFT). Athletes with more innate/ natural ability gave the impression that these fitness-driven concepts were effective, however, those without, prove time and time again that these concepts alone are nowhere near enough.
- Many people are under the impression that sports training and team practice are the same things. They are not. Sports Training is where an athlete develops METL Tasks (sport-specific skill), in order to, increase their Individual Scale Rating (ability to play). Team Practice is where METL Tasks are executed as a team and within the coach’s “system”, to create a more competitive team. When too many athletes show up without a high enough Individual Scale Rating, the team can’t get the required “system” work in. This creates an environment in which individual skill becomes the focus and athletes are unable to develop the key in-game skills required of a top-level athlete.
- Youth Sports has become more about winning than actually developing younger athletes. Consequently, recruiting, which once upon a time, was reserved for college-bound athletes, is now the team-building method of choice for elementary through high school-aged athletes. With everyone looking for top talent (as early as age 6), kids born without more innate/ natural abilities get left behind. That and, even the supposed “top-level” kids only ever learn a rudimentary form of the sport. So, as they get older, and things like testosterone and strength to weight ratios come into play, the fact that they were only ever taught to out-athlete kids who lacked their physical stature and or athletic ability, discover one of the most beautiful things about sports… it’s not checkers!
- Few trainers actually understand the difference between METL based development and, what we call, Sports Inspired Fitness Training (SIFT). Yes, there are parallels, but essentially, they are two different fields that yield two completely different results. We would like to think that most trainers utilizing SIFT practices are doing so with the best of intentions… meaning; they love sports, want to genuinely see athletes get better, and are just following a more fitness-driven approach until they come across a better, more effective solution. Unfortunately, not all trainers fall into this category.
- Training Scams. The Sports Training industry is filled with Scammers. Here’s how it works. Scammers find athletes who possess more innate/ natural ability and encourage them to participate in their programs for free. Then, these scammers deceive unsuspecting parents by making them believe that it’s their “training” that makes those more naturally gifted athletes so “good”. After that, it’s all about keeping the illusion alive. And, SIFT drills are perfect for that; they look cool in videos and are easy enough that ANY athlete can master them with relative ease. Even better, as long as an athlete looks good in training, most parents are easily manipulated into looking right past the fact that the training never seems to translate to the game.
There is also the reality that some athletes, even with the absolute best sports training, just aren’t going to do the work. But, for those who will… it’s time to stop playing and go to WAR. Work. Assert. Repeat. Welcome to Soldier Up Sports.
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