Coach Excellence Day 30 - Learn what McCaffery and Clowney know about Speed
Dec 02, 2020 1:57 am
Coach ,
For many of us, it is the offseason. It is a time of development for us as coaches and especially for our players.
When I go back through my 30 years of coaching the one physical component I know there never is enough of is SPEED!
Having spent 30 years coaching, I can admit that unless a football coach has experience in track, he really doesn’t know how to train speed. I see the same mistakes made over and over, and utilizing track knowledge would be an incredibly smart decision.
There is a coach who is perfectly suited to learn from and apply his knowledge to your players’ development, and that is Tony Holler.
Tony Holler is the track coach at Plainfield North High School. He has 40 years of coaching experience in football, basketball, and track. He is a member of Illinois Track & Field Hall of Fame and Co-director of Track Football Consortium along with Chris Korfist. Holler created the revolutionary, "Feed the Cats" program in 1999.
If you don’t know Tony, here’s his background and some background on how he developed “Feed the Cats:”
So let’s get into it…
We are either here or we’ve been here...believers in the GRIND. It’s a concept that is in the psyche of football coaches and in many ways our country as a whole. You gotta GRIND! Holler identifies it as the “religion of football.”
2019 NFL 1st-team All Pro Christian McCaffery doesn’t think so as Holler explains in this video:
Holler explains how subscribing to the grind is like a 14-point turnaround. For everyday that you go out and do a bunch of senseless conditioning, you are missing out on an opportunity to train speed and power. It is like being on the 1 yard line and throwing an interception that goes 99 yards for a touchdown the other way. Prioritizing speed and power is a must. Watch:
The other mistake I see is equating speed training as something only applying to skill players. IT IS FOR EVERY ATHLETE ON YOUR TEAM! SPEED AMPLIFIES POWER. Holler illustrates this concept with video of JaDaveon Clowney in this video:
Clowney ran 4.53 at 266 at the NFL combine. Your players need to get off the ball and be explosive! They may not carry that explosion down the field for 40 yards like Clowney, but I promise, a big man with the explosiveness off the line will be winning his match-up often.
OK, maybe you are seeing the value now, but how do we get “in-shape?”
Holler explains how stacking anaerobic work will get your team aerobically fit. He talks about that and Brian Kula’s work with McCaffery in this video:
What does this look like for your team? Holler explains the “Performance Day” in this video.
There are so many things in football that are preference and style designed to fit your team, but the concepts of developing speed are universal. I can’t recommend what Holler has put together enough!
He has 4 courses he identifies as essential to upgrading your team’s performance this off season:
The other thing I highly recommend is the Football Track Consortium which begins tomorrow. Here is the lineup of Speed Experts and Topics
You will want at least one of your coaches to attend this consortium of 20 speed experts who have presentations designed for football coaches.
Warning!!
Many of these concepts will Challenge Everything you know about Speed Training. These will all be recorded and available till Dec 31
Demystification of Speed Training
Director Speedworks Training, University of Loughborough (England)
Designing Weight Training to Enhance Speed Acquisition
LSU Strength & Track Coach; Co-founder of SAC, 9 NCAA Champions; 11 Olympians; Legend
Unifying Concepts in Maximum Velocity Mechanics
One of the World's Top Sprint Scientists, Westchester University;
The Daily Structure of a Workout and Why?
Co-Founder RPR; Author "Triphasic Training", S&C Univ. of Minnesota and USA Women's Hockey
Feeding the Cats with Limited Space
TBD
Patrick Mahomes' Trainer, Athlete Performance Enhancement Center (APEC)
Total Speed Development
Christian McCaffrey's Trainer; Track Coach, Kula Sports Performance; Valor Christian HS (Denver)
Posture and Performance Through a Neural Lens
Football Coach, Neuro Training, Irondequoit H.S. (NY), Wanna Get Fast Training
A Targeted Approach to Resisted Sled Training for Speed Development: Assess, Prescribe and Coach
PhD from Auckland University (New Zealand), V.P. Performance and Sports Science at ATH
Ten Things Football Coaches Get Wrong and How to Fix It
Sprint-Based Football, Football Coach Camp Point H.S. (Illinois)
Five Advanced Distinctions in Plyometric Training
Author of "Speed Strength", Former S&C Univ. of Cal Berkeley; Just Fly Sports
Where General Meets Specific: Muscle Action Strength Development for Running
PhD; Former Aspire Academy (Qatar) Sprint Coach, S&C GWS Giants (Australian Rules Football)
Reverse Engineering Game Speed in American Football
Coached Pro Rugby in Five countries, Football Performance William & Mary
The D.I.C.E Method: How Adopting a Multi-Event Training Model Will Bring Recruitment, Retention, and Results to Your Program
2020 NCAA D-III Coach of the Year, Head Track Coach UW-Oshkosh
How Tracking Football Bridges and Connects Track and Football
Aaron Hunter & Brian Spilbeler, Football Scouting Service; Multi-sport Data, especially T&F Data
The Value of Max Outputs for Soccer Athletes
Sport Science Director, Pittsburgh Riverhounds (pro soccer)
Creating and Sustaining a Program of Excellence
Track Coach, Trabuco Hills H.S.
Thanks COVID! It Gave Me Time to Make a Whole Bunch of Exercises Work Way Better Than Before (and I have proof)
Co-Founder RPR; Slow Guy Speed School, Track Coach Homewood-Flossmoor H.S. (IL)
Feed the Cats: Debunking the Myths
Founder of Feed the Cats, Track Coach Plainfield North H.S. (IL)
Click Here to Register for FOOTBALL TRACK CONSORTIUM.
One thing about this offseason is undeniable. You can’t go wrong in making your team faster and more explosive. Do not let the opportunity pass!
Always be growing,
Coach Grabowski