Introduction

Target Population: This program is intended for kids old enough to follow instructions that are looking to improve general strength and conditioning principles with an emphasis on skills and drills to benefit those primarily playing ball sports. It was designed to be easily implemented with large numbers of children such as in a youth sports league or school setting.

 

Objective: The primary focus of this program is learning how to perform basic motor skills commonly used in higher level strength and conditioning programs in order to prepare your young athlete/s for safety and success at the next level. 

 

Equipment:

• Necessary: medicine ball, jump rope

• Helpful: cones, mats, plyo boxes, heavier weights of any kind, large and small resistance bands

 

Implementation: This program and its progressions can be implemented in numerous ways. The sample program below is for those new to these exercises or new to sports. Some may be able to jump straight to the progressions rather than going through the 8 week build-up below.  Coaches make the call as to where to start the athlete. I would suggest starting and perfecting (as close as we can get to perfect, of course) the basics prior to moving to the progressions. 

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The recommended 8-week program is below, and then further information on warm ups, sport specific drills, strength and conditioning, and cardiovascular conditioning are in the sections further down.  These sections will help you build your own programming and/or learn about progressions of exercise.  The 3-day weekly split is recommended and is shown in this program, but the 2-day and 4-day splits are also viable options and this will be discussed in later sections as well.