End Zone Athletics

Without a doubt, one of the most commonly misunderstood subjects today in the world of athletic training and development is athleticism. What exactly is athleticism? What separates the average athletes from the great athletes? How is athleticism improved? How does athleticism relate to skill? While everybody can recognize a great athlete when they see one performing at the highest levels of their sport, few can describe what exactly athleticism is or how it relates to skill. In this article I will describe the EndZone Athletics model of athleticism and answer the many common questions surrounding this important topic.

First, we must understand exactly how we define athleticism and skill before we can discuss how they relate to each other or how to work towards improving them. Athleticism can be defined as, "the ability to use a variety of motor abilities (strength, power, speed, agility, coordination, stability, balance, etc.) to effectively and efficiently perform a wide variety of sporting actions." Less complicated than it sounds, this definition simply means that being a great athlete requires possessing a variety of athletic qualities (motor abilities) and being able to use them effectively to perform sporting actions. Although specific "sporting actions" are different for each particular sport, most sports also have many common sporting actions required such as sprinting, changing direction, and jumping. The difference between an average athlete and a great athlete is the ability to perform these things effectively, efficiently, and consistently. 

Now that we understand what athleticism is, it becomes relatively easy to understand how athleticism relates to sports skill.  Skill is "the ability to effectively coordinate the use of specific sporting actions to accomplish a particular sports objective."  Examples of sports objectives are hitting a baseball, setting a volleyball, shooting a basketball, kicking a soccer ball, etc. From these two definitions it becomes clear that athleticism provides the foundation for developing athletic skill.  Without a solid foundation of athletic ability, only a limited amount of sports skill can be developed.     

Now that we've answered the question of what athleticism is and why it's so important, the last question to is how to improve and develop athleticism? While this is a complicated subject that will be continue to be covered throughout future articles, the simple answer is to properly train the various motor abilities that make up athleticism.  At EndZone Athletics Our Program uses a variety of training methods such as calisthenics, strength training, joint mobility and stability exercises, plyometrics, coordination drills, etc., developed over the course of many years by our world-class coaching team after working with hundreds of athletes. 

As we can see by looking at the picture of our athleticism puzzle, it is absolutely essential to make sure that each of the athletic qualities are fully developed properly. If any areas are neglected or overdeveloped through improper training, the puzzle pieces will not fit together properly, performance will be compromised, and athletes will be more susceptible to injuries throughout their careers. A well planned program to improve athleticism will help to prevent injuries and improve performance by providing a solid foundation for sports skill development.  Athletic performance is the result of athletic ability, specific skill development, mental conditioning, and sound nutritional planning. Athletes at the highest level didn't get there by accident and they didn't get there overnight. It takes hard work, dedication, discipline, intelligent planning, and commitment to excellence. Only with a strong foundation of athleticism developed through proper training can the highest levels of sports performance and success be acheived.