Summer strength camp for teen athletes
Ryan McCracken and Patrick Assinck had their eyes opened when they reached the CIS varsity wrestling and football level.
The pair discovered many of their competitors had advanced speed, strength and agility training they had never been exposed to growing up in Peterborough.
Now as certified strength and conditioning coaches, they are trying to change that for local athletes through Next Step Athletic Training (NSAT).
This summer they are offering two training camps for athletes aged 13 to 17 who are looking to get an edge on the competition at provincial and varsity levels.
McCracken, a former Brock University wrestler, and Assinck, who played football at York, stress their camp is more than a training session, they also aim to educate their athletes not only on what to do but why so they can continue their training on their own.
“It was an eye-opening experience for us to realize there are high school aged athletes all over this country training with this top tier programming,” McCracken said.
“The smaller cities are missing a lot of the key speed and agility training and the introduction to proper weight lifting form, and further to that the education. I can take you into a weight room and get you to do a workout and you can leave having had a great workout but if you come in by yourself the next day, you're not going to be any better for it.
“Our camp is really based on educating our athletes on what we're doing, why we’re doing it and how you can adapt that for your sport. It's a real education process. It's intensive and will be hard work but, more importantly, it’s about them being educated.”
The camps will be held July 8 to 12 and July 29 to Aug. 2 at the Trent Athletics Centre utilizing the cardio loft, fitness centre, turf field and rock climbing wall to provide cross training opportunities. Registration will be limited to 20 athletes to keep a maximum ratio of one instructor to 10 athletes. The cost is $330 per session.
“We want to make sure the athletes are getting what they paid for,” he said.
In addition to being NCCP certified with university education in kinesiology, the pair are also teachers with the public school board.
“We
have
our
summers
to commit to something we are really passionate about,” McCracken said.
“It’s a program we believe in. We’re really hoping we can bring the new age of athlete training to the city. This is kind of our pilot project and depending on how well it goes we’d be willing to run as many as four sessions per summer.”
The pair are working with the Peterborough Wolverines foot- ball program and some Peterborough City Soccer Association teams as well as Trent’s varsity women’s soccer program.
So many athletes, McCracken says, don’t understand how important proper form and technique is for training particularly in running and weight lifting. Improper technique creates injury risk but is also inefficient. Once equipped with the proper technique it will help the athlete later in life when they become coaches.
“Everybody coaches the way they were taught which is that old style of the harder I run them the better they are going to be, rather than the smarter I train them the more we’re going to get out of it,” he said.
Included will be classroom sessions on sport nutrition and hydration, team building, a concussion seminar and introduction to training principals. All athletes will leave the camp with their own personalized training program set up for their age, sport and ability level.
NOTE: For more information contact NSAT.Camps@ gmail.com or visit www.facebook.com/NextStepAt hleticTraining.