The Competitive Athlete Training Zone - CATZ Highlands Ranch- and Littleton United Soccer players recently teamed up for a training challenge. CATZ trained athletes made extraordinary gains in strength, quickness, and power; which translated directly to better play on the soccer pitch.
A couple of months ago the owner of the CATZ challenged several local soccer clubs to send them one team for sport specific strength and conditioning. The only cost for this one team would be a dedication to attend all the training sessions, the promise to work hard at each session, and to allow CATZ to run pre and post performance tests on them.
A team from the Littleton United Soccer Club, the Boys U12 Blue, accepted the challenge and started their two-a-week training sessions on November 12 th with a series of pre-training performance tests. After nine sessions, on December 20 th, Chad Jones (CATZ Performance Director) conducted a second set of tests.
As promised, Mr. Jones and CATZ Owner Russ Bergeman, compiled the results and shared them with the Littleton United's leadership. And now they share them with you...
The three tests were; the standing broad jump, the vertical jump, and the 5-10-5 spring (a speed and quickness event). The team improved their broad and vertical jumps an average of 7% on both events. The average team gain was almost 5 inches in the broad jump and 1.4 inches for the vertical jump. Results for the 5-10-5 event, which is usually completed in a time between 4 to 6 seconds, showed an average 4% improvement.
The athletes, coaches, parents, and club leadership are all very satisfied with these results. But testing results are meaningless unless in translates to better play on the soccer pitch. The first test for the boys was December 27-29 during the Holiday in the Bubble 4V4 Tournament where the boys played soccer games at the Parker Field House.
The team went undefeated during regular play and won the championship on the final day of the tournament. They won each of their regular play games by an average of 8-10 goals. Parents commented how quick and explosive the players looked during their games. They were as fresh at the end of the last game as at the beginning of the first.
None of these results or comments were a surprise to anyone who participates in CATZ training. CATZ is one of the most effective, dynamic, and fun sport specific training programs an athlete can do. The Performance Coaches at CATZ are focused on and dedicated to delivering better athletes to coaches of all sports in the Highlands Ranch/Lone Tree/Littleton area. Custom training programs can be designed for athletes of almost any age and for just about any sport.
To get a head start on your competition during the preseason, you can contact Russ or Chad at CATZ Highlands Ranch to set up your free trial session - 303.708.8600. Check them out at - www.catzsports.com.