Final Blog #8

I have had such a wonderful time working on my project. I am so grateful I was able to work with Coach Lew in the strength department. It was truly an experience full of learning. I was able to learn from the coaching/trainer perspective which is vastly different from the athlete one. As an athlete, we show up and the plan for the day is laid out for us, but I now understand how much planning goes into our training and how much time, effort, and consideration is put into not only the plan for one day but for the entire annual calendar which is called periodization. I also learned a lot about athlete recovery. Recovery is so important to optimize one’s performance and the more proactive and attentive to it the greater one’s ability to benefit from it. Utilizing recovery can accelerate your progression as an athlete. Another major aspect of my project I learned about was the international framework of the Long-Term Athlete Development Model (LTAD). The LTAD is a structure used to enhance the development of adolescents and young athletes in order to ensure proper checkpoints based on training and skill development rather than just chronological age. It is very important to check in with where a person should be on the linear progression because if they skip a step or are pushed too fast through the progression this can lead to burnout. Burnout is a big focus is for kids because they should be having fun and enjoy their sport not just get through it or go through the motions. This is why I was inspired to create my project because I am very passionate about youth and high school athletics. For many, it can be an escape, and it can provide a sense of accomplishment, belonging, and commitment. I don’t know who I would be today without athletics and learning the valuable lessons it has taught me, and because there are so many others like me, who are passionate about their sports I wanted to attempt to make a guide to try and help give younger athletes advice/information that I would have loved to have had before/entering into high school. My advice to juniors/seniors who are going to be planning a project is to do something you are truly passionate about. I know this is talked about a lot but I still think so many people brush it off and just try to do something easier, but you have to spend three weeks doing it, and if you're doing something you don’t like and it’s not very engaging your not going to get anything out of your experience. Also, be on top of looking out for mentorship opportunities very early honestly the earlier the better. Overall, I am had an amazing experience that I hope will help me later on in life when trying to decide my career path.