Slammers Athletic Foundations Summer 2023 Review
Ingredients list: fun, competition, creativity, and improvement.
As we head towards August, we are wrapping up our Slammers Athletic Foundations program. We had 30 kids participate between the ages of 7-14 across our two sessions every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday over the last two months. This program serves as a movement foundation builder and reinforcer. Keep reading and we’ll go into more detail on the what and the why on the curriculum; and, of course, the improvements we observed in our athletes.
The Curriculum
Goals
For every session, we had a few high-level goals: have fun, be competitive, and explore / be creative. We designed activities with these goals in mind.
Warm-Up
We kicked off every session with a consistent dynamic warm-up. The warm-up we taught the kids covers a lot of the same elements of the warm-up that our high school players do before they get their work in.
Balance
Following our warm-up, we worked on static balance - a staple of every session. The boys balanced on one leg with their shoes off so that they could feel the ground and we progressed from 45 second holds to 60+ second holds while tossing and catching a tennis ball for an added challenge.
In addition to static balance activities with eyes open, the boys progressed through a number of different eyes-closed balance activities - such as balancing in place on one leg, marching in place, and marching in line.
Balance, proprioception, and coordination are all key foundational competencies that every athlete should have a degree of proficiency in - no matter the sport, age-level, or skill-level.
Movement Education
According to the athletic skills model, there are 10 basic movement skills. For the Athletic Foundations curriculum, we tapped into:
Balancing and Falling
As we mentioned before, balance was an integral part of every session. It’s important!!
Moving and Locomotion
Moving and locomotion covers a lot of ground: sprinting, running backwards, hopping on one leg, bear crawls, marching, agility (seen above), change of direction, and sprinting in curvilinear patterns all had a regular place in our movement activities.
Jumping and Landing
You already know how much we love jumping and being able to jump is so important… Pogos, single leg pogos, box drops, and box jumps were all regularly programmed on the road to jumping higher - and producing more power with the legs.
Rolling, Tumbling and Turning
This one was a little bit tougher to work in because the turf was really hot on most days, however, we did somersaults and barrel rolls on select days. This is another critical area where most kids are lacking. It was a little bit eye-opening to see how many 7-14 year-olds couldn’t execute a somersault in 2023 - something we highly recommend exploring more at home.
Throwing, Catching, Hitting, and Aiming
All of the kids in the Athletic Foundations get plenty of this basic movement skill from regular baseball practice. While not a major priority of the program, we found ways to integrate catching and throwing into our balance and agility work.
Free Play and Exploration
We live in an age where kids have fewer and fewer opportunities to explore and invent solutions to problems in an unstructured play environment. That is the major problem when all physical activity is in a structured environment (like a baseball or basketball game).
Kids need to be able to try, fail, try again, fail again, and keep trying until they get it in a no-stakes environment.
When winning is the priority and your kid is afraid to fail, their development has stalled: welcome to America.
For each session, we tried to create opportunities for kids to explore unique solutions - it may not have been free play like recess or playing in the backyard with your siblings, but often times the rules were few and there was very little intervention or input from coaches. Variations of invasion games (like the one seen above) were a staple of Slammers Athletic Foundations.
Improvement
This is the part we’ve all been waiting for… the observed improvement! As with most all Slammers programs, key athletic metrics were measured and tracked using the Loden Sports Performance Lab App. Each kid completed a 30-yard sprint and a rebound jump test at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the program.
The Loden Sports Performance Lab App is the easiest way to measure and track jump performance - all you need is an iPhone. Available now on the iOS App Store.
For the kids that were present both in May and at the end of July - which was most of them - the trend was improvement. The average 30-yard sprint time improvement was .09 seconds and the average rebound jump height improvement was 1.1 inches.
For the kids who attended more than 50% of the sessions, there was a greater rate of improvement in comparison to the group of kids that attended fewer than 50% of the sessions (not surprising). This held true on both the 30-yard sprint time (.12 seconds vs. .05 seconds) and the average rebound jump height (1.2 inches vs. 1 inch). This can be seen in the graphic above.
Individual Improvement
These weren’t the only kids who saw improvement over the course of the past two months, however, these are some of the bigger improvements that we saw from May to July and, of course, we love to show recognition. A notable trend amongst those with bigger improvements? Attendance!!
Bradley Canter saw the biggest improvement in his 30-yard time - shaving off .25 seconds by the end of July - a full standard deviation better than May (for all you stat nerds). Charlie Stone and Mathias DeJesus tied for the biggest improvement in average rebound jump height - adding 3.3 inches each by the end of July.
Not all Improvement is Measurable…
While it’s fun to note the guys who got faster and those who are jumping higher, it’s also important to acknowledge what can’t be quantified: the marked improvement in balance; the ability to complete a single leg relay; and so much more.
Thank you.
We want to extend a thank you to all of the parents and guardians who made time to bring their athletes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday over the past two months. We understand that you’re juggling camps, vacations, and the routine of the day-to-day. Thank you for entrusting us with the athletic development of your children.
What’s Next?
Be on the lookout for more Slammers Athlete Development programs. We are looking to create year-round opportunities for our athletes to reinforce and build their movement foundations and push the ceilings for what they can become on a baseball field. While every program may not be identical, the core of our curriculum will be consistent. We have a plan and we are looking forward to raising the bar.