The hypocrisy of most sports trials…(and how to beat it)…
This is something I have strong views on…
Have you ever been turned down for selection by a sports team?
Have you ever been told your too slow or too weak to be in the starting line-up?
Have you ever been rejected at a trial because of your physical performance attributes instead of your technical/tactical/playing ability?
I was talking to some coaches recently at a nationwide UK trial for an academy and we were discussing the differences between UK and US athlete recruitment processes.
We discussed the prestigious NFL Combine which sees thousands of young athletes training for an opportunity to get a multi-million dollar professional contract in American Football.
We spoke about how these kids spend years and years rehearsing and training for so they can perform at required level in the following battery of performance tests:
- 40-yard dash
- Bench press (225 lb repetitions)
- Vertical jump
- Broad jump
- 20 yard shuttle
- 3 cone drill
- 60-yard shuttle
What seems strange though is…
If they do make the grade and get invited to the annual televised NHL Combine in Indianapolis (see the video below), they don’t get scouted playing an American Football game. They only get scouted from their scores on these performance tests and some position-specific drills.
It seems a little crazy doesn’t it?
In the UK most trials for a sports team usually consist of a technical drill/practice before playing in matches. A coach or scout will watch you and determine how good you are from seeing you play the sport. Generally little if any performance tests are performed at all.
These are two examples of different extremes along the sporting recruitment spectrum it would seem.
The frustrating thing though is in the UK players still get written off for their physical weaknesses. They often don’t get selected because they’re too slow or they get written off because they’re supposedly too small for the demands of their game.
So my question is…
“If these physical performance attributes are so important to the sport and they can determine if a player makes the grade or not, why aren’t more players, teams and clubs in the UK doing the training required to develop them (i.e. Strength & Conditioning (S&C))?”
As I’ve said time and time again becoming stronger, more powerful and developing a better energy system is simple because if you train, you will improve.
With that in mind athletes need to understand that fitting S&C training into their schedule is imperative to their sporting careers. This will give them the best opportunity to stand out and be selected along with their technical and tactical ability.
A recent success story from my “Young Athletes” sessions I run for 10-18 years highlights this. After being released by his football team Dylan attended my sessions at The Training Pod…
“I started training with Joe to get back into the Brighton Boys football team… Joe looked at how I moved & then helped me get faster & stronger, & in September I was re-selected for the team. On Saturday I scored the goal in the last minute of extra time that took the match to penalties. I also scored my penalty & Brighton won. Thanks for all your help Joe.”
(Dylan Little, Brighton Boys U13’s)
In addition to this, he’s also been selected for the Sussex County Football team after a successful trial.
Great work Dylan!
So if you want to be the complete athlete, have a look at your weekly training schedule and see what you’re not currently getting enough exposure to…
- Strength Training?
- Power Training?
- Fitness Training?
- Technical Training?
- Tactical Training?…
Joe Bullen MSc ASCC CSCS
(Here’s a link to a highlights video of one of those ‘kids’ at the 2015 Combine)