Athletic Revolution South Shore – South Shore Youth Fitness - Sports Training » In The News

Athletic Testing and Promotion Results

Coach Dave — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:23:42 +0000

There are no words to accurately describe the energy, emotion, and utter athleticism that reigned over Athletic Revolution this past Saturday! We are so proud of all of you!

Testing, evaluating and assessing young athletes is and should be a continual process. Those terms are all synonymous with each other. One overlooked commonality they have is that they are largely misunderstood. All to often the concept of grading young athletes is based solely on performance measures that illustrate how far, how far, how fast and how much. A key problem with this connotation is it lacks a the emphasis on the very skills required to perform any movement or exercise.

The Athletic Revolution Testing and Promotion System is based on 9 levels of achievement based on skill aptitude, character and fitness level.

This was our biggest Testing and Promotion Day EVER!!

Discovery Phase 1 (white)

Zach Phinney
Nathan Rossi
Matthew Wolf
Owen Mayer
Lily Jones
Matthew Buzalsky
Jillian Pillard
Meg Campbell

Discovery Phase 2 (orange)

Jack Willshire
Jacob Lyons

Discovery Phase 3 (black)

Andrew Gleason
Daniel Ellis

Exploration Phase 1 (white)

Sean Meaney
Matt Kreckie
Jenna Qualter

Exploration Phase 2 (orange)

Trevor Gleason
Bo Rinkus
Justin Troia
Serge Canepa
Cameron Maggiore

Exploration Phase 3 (black)

Tyler Mello

Thank you to all who participated! A huge THANK YOU to all the parents, grandparents, friends and neighbors who filled our facility to encourage, support and cheer on our young champions!!

US Congress Declares Pizza a Vegetable??

Coach Dave — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:59:10 +0000

United States Congress Declares Pizza Sauce a Vegetable
But All is Not Lost in Pembroke

Pembroke, November 21, 2011 – Congress recently unveiled a new bill
which includes language that will allow a serving of pizza to be
considered a vegetable if spread with two tablespoons of tomato paste.

The bill would deny funding to the new school meal nutrition standards
that were proposed earlier this year by the USDA. Those standards
include increasing the availability of fruits and vegetables on the
school lunch menu while limiting the availability of high sodium items
and starchy vegetables such as potatoes.

According to a statement from Margo Wootan, the Nutrition Policy
Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, “This
legislation may go down in nutritional history as a bigger blunder
than when the Reagan Administration tried (but failed) to credit
ketchup as a vegetable in the school lunch program. Pizza should be
served with a vegetable, not count as one.”

The bill comes in response to heavy lobbying campaigns from large food
corporations that wanted to fight the proposed USDA standards.

“Although many people are outraged by the bill, this does not surprise
me,” said Timothy Ward, Vice President of Operations for Athletic
Revolution International, the fastest growing youth fitness franchise
organization in the country.

“What we have to realize is that businesses are always going to try
and protect their own revenue streams. It is up to us as responsible
adults to empower our kids to make healthy food choices. We have the
power to change lives regardless of what the government decides to
do.”

Dave Gleason, owner of an Athletic Revolution franchise in Pembroke
could not agree more. At Athletic Revolution, kids and teens
6-18 years old are given the opportunity to learn the value of
physical activity and healthy food choices on their health and
wellness… as are their parents.

“All we need to do is take personal responsibility for the well-being
of our children our young athletes and the community. If we do that,
everything will work out just fine, said Gleason.

And it’s true. What kind of vegetables did you serve your kids at
dinner last night? When was the last time you enjoyed participating in
free play with your kids at the local park? If you aren’t ashamed to
answer those questions, your kids are probably happy and healthy.

In an effort to help parents help their kids, Athletic Revolution will
be giving away as a holiday gift 2 free weeks of fun and fitness
training to all kids aged 6-18 in the South Shore if they come
in before the New Year. To take advantage of this opportunity, email info@athleticrevolutionsouthshore.com or call 781-312-7808.

“With or without the government’s support, we will continue fighting
to keep the kids in our community healthy.”
###

Youth Winter Sports Speed Clinic

Coach Dave — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:34:19 +0000

YOUTH Winter Sport Speed Clinic

Speed Clinic: Friday November 11^th 10:00am

Boys and Girls u10-u12
ONLY $29.00

Developing game changing speed is a skill. Speed, agility and quickness can be learned just like shooting, dribbling and passing, skating, etc. Take your game to the next level with our cutting edge programs specifically designed for superior athletic performance. All winter sports welcome!

Speed and Agility Skills:

Acceleration
Lateral vs. Linear Speed
Agility
Cuts
Braking skills
Power and Explosiveness
Strength
Timing and Rhythm

Pre-registration required. All payments with the form below must be received by Friday, November 11th.

CLICK HERE for the registration form

High School Winter Sport Speed Clinic

Coach Dave — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:29:43 +0000

High School Winter Sport Speed Clinic

Speed Clinic: Friday November 11^th 11:00am

Boys and Girls 14+
ONLY $29.00

Speed and Agility Skills:

Acceleration
Lateral vs. Linear Speed
Agility
Cuts
Braking skills
Power and Explosiveness
Strength
Timing and Rhythm

Pre-registration required. All payments with the form below must be received by Friday, November 11th.

CLICK HERE for the registration form

Youth Hoop Speed, Agility and Vertical Leap Clinic

Coach Dave — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:05:09 +0000

Youth Hoop Speed and Vertical Clinic

Friday November 25^th 2011

10am – 11am

Boys and Girls u10-u12
ONLY $29.00

Developing game changing speed and vertical leap are skills. Speed, agility and vertical leap can be learned just like shooting, dribbling and passing. Get an advantage over the competition during this intensive 1 hour clinic!

Great news: I’m on the team. Thanks for everything, you’re a huge reason why I was able to make it, and I appreciate all you’ve done to help me.
-James Conor, AR Athlete and member of the Brandeis University Men’s Basketball team.

Hoop Speed, Quickness and Vertical!

Acceleration
Multi directional Speed
Side shuffling
Agility
Braking skills
Power and Explosiveness
Strength
Landing Skills
Timing and Rhythm

**Pre-registration required. All payments with the form below must be received by Friday, November 18th.

CLICK HERE to download and print the registration form.

The Best Sports Performance Workout EVER?

Coach Dave — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:40:43 +0000

Youth fitness and athletic development is much more that merely a program to make kids tired.

WATCH THIS to see what I mean!

See you soon!

Coach Dave

High School Basketball Speed and Vertical Leap Clinics

Coach Dave — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:19:02 +0000

High School Hoop Speed and Vertical Leap Clinics

Speed Clinic: Monday October 17th^th 7-8 pm

Vertical Leap Clinic: Monday October 24^th 7-8 pm
ONLY $29.00 or $50.00 for BOTH!

Developing game changing speed and vertical leap are skills. Speed, agility and quickness and vertical leap can be learned just like shooting, dribbling and passing.

Hoop Speed:

Acceleration

Lateral vs. Linear Speed

Agility

Cuts

Braking skills

Vertical Leap:

Power and Explosiveness

Strength

Landing Skills

Timing and Rhythm

Pre-registration required. All payments with the form below must be received by Friday, October 7th.

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE

Athletic Testing and Promotion Day

Coach Dave — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:27:45 +0000

Champion Promotion

Congratulations to the following athletes for successfully achieving higher rank on Saturday September 17th, 2011.

The Athletic Revolution Testing and Promotion System is based on 9 levels of achievement based on skill aptitude, character and fitness level.

We are proud to announce the 8 Champions that qualified and successfully achieved a new level this past Saturday:

Discovery-Level 1

Phase 1 – White

Kylee Dinneen

Kierstin Dinneen

Ryan Lebowitz

Phase 2 – Orange

Jack Rynning

Phase 3 – Black

Anthony Sulfaro

Alexis Rynning

Exploration-Level 2

Phase 1- White

Steven Cerventes

Phase 2- Orange

John O’Keefe

If and when you see these young champions…give them a high 5!

Growing youth dependence on technology

Coach Dave — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:47:01 +0000

Coaches Corner by Dave Gleason

Growing youth dependence on technology

As seen in Wicked Local Pembroke and the Pembroke Mariner

Children all over the US are returning to school next week, leaving houses empty for perhaps the first time since summer began. Recent research indicates that the number of children who remain indoors and “plugged in” to technology has been growing substantially at the expense of physical activity and free play.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 93 percent of American adolescents use the Internet, with 73 percent having a Facebook account. These values have increased significantly from previous years, as well as ownership of cell phones.

“It is scary that children are no longer getting outside, exploring their neighborhoods, and physically playing with others. This is a key link in the chain of childhood obesity and sports injuries,” reported Dave Gleason who was recently name to the Board of Experts by the International Youth Conditioning Association.

A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation lays bare the extent of the issue. Americans aged 8 to 18 were found to spend more time with media – TV, internet, video games, etc. – than they did at school, with a whopping 7.5 hours a day devoted to media.

That is a lot of time spent indoors.

Gleason who is also owner of the Pembroke youth fitness organization Athletic Revolution, points toward the solution. “Reestablishing a physical culture in today’s youth is a critical step to improving the health of our children.”

Inactivity is linked to increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and depression in youth.

“We teach children that physical activity is not only fun, but also a great way to make friends,” said Gleason. “And if kids are having fun, they are going to want to keep moving.”

For more information on Athletic Revolution or what you can do to get your kids more active, contact Dave Gleason at 781-312-7808

References:

Pew Internet and American Life Project:

http://pewinternet.org/Commentary/2011/July/Teen-Data-Resources.aspx

Kaiser Family Foundation: http://www.kff.org/entmedia/mh012010pkg.cfm

ACL Injuries: Trending in the wrong direction

Coach Dave — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:08:56 +0000

As see in the OLD COLONY MEMORIAL newspaper and Wicked Local Plymouth

Trending in the Wrong Direction

ACL injuries in female athletes on the rise

PLYMOUTH —

On a recent Saturday night, the U.S. Women’s National Team debuted its 2011 World Cup team in a pre-World Cup friendly match against Japan. Less than 30 minutes after coming onto the field, one of the top players in U.S. history, midfielder Lindsay Tarpley, tore her ACL for the second time in the same knee. She would miss her chance to play in the World Cup.

Across the globe, some of the fittest female soccer players continue to suffer ACL tears. Norway lost one of its top players – Melissa Wiik. The Asian Football Confederation Women’s Footballer of the Year, Australia’s Kate Gill, tore her ACL in early May. Both players will miss the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Chicago’s Leah Fortune, 20, who plays for the Brazilian Women’s National Team, tore her ACL just minutes into her first-ever match for the senior Brazilian team.

This year in Women’s Professional Soccer, two players – Jordan Angeli, 24, of the Boston Breakers and Lindsey Johnson, 23, of Sky Blue FC – tore their ACLs and will miss the rest of the 2011 season.

“The level of competition is only one of many factors that can contribute to an ACL tear,” said National Strength and Conditioning Association Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Dave Gleason, a former Silver Lake soccer standout who runs Athletic Revolution with his wife, Andrea. “Although their fitness level may be high, they may be performing with movement patterns that can be incorrect. When the body moves incorrectly, undue stress is placed on structures such as the ACL.”

If ACL tears can happen to the most fit athletes in the world, what about younger players, college and high school kids?

“I have seen ACL and other soft tissue injuries in young female athletes as young as 12 years old. Many of my colleagues around the country have reported ACL tears younger and younger,” Gleason said. “Unfortunately, many of our new members come to us because of a pre-existing injury. I worked with a women’s college soccer team in the summer of 2009, and I was shocked to see over half the team was either wearing a knee brace or had had an ACL surgery or two.”

Gleason was a four-year starter and co-captain of the Division 1 Silver Lake Regional High School soccer team that brought the school its first-ever state championship. In January 2010, Dave was inducted into his high school’s athletic Hall of Fame as an individual and as a member of the 1988 State championship team. As a Division 2 Second Team All-New England captain for Keene State College, Gleason capped his athletic career and began his professional career in Westchester County, N.Y.

Gleason, the 2010 IYCA Trainer of the Year, has coached young athletes for two decades, dating back to 1989 as a soccer coach to hundreds aspiring soccer players. In the mid to late 90s, he served as a strength coach for some of the most successful young tennis players in New England. He has served as a strength and conditioning coach for private swim club teams and has worked individually with hundreds of children 6-18 years old with a wide ranging ability level.

The youngest person Gleason has seen tear an ACL was a 16-year-old boys’ lacrosse player. On the girls’ side, the number of ACL tears in younger athletes has steadily increased.

“The rise in ACL injuries is due to a variety of reasons,” Gleason said. “The hyper-competitive nature of youth sports does not discriminate against any gender. The rush for more practice, more speed and better conditioning in the absence of proper warm ups, skill development and training programs to prepare a young female athlete for athletics are all contributors to the increase in non-trauma ACL injuries.

Preventative measures

Gleason is running a high school girls’ soccer strength and conditioning program this summer, specifically focusing on ACL prevention. The training program is designed exclusively for young female athletes and will focus on systemic strength training, muscle tissue quality, muscle activation, general preparation, strength technique/movement skill and proficiency, and power execution/systemic strength/movement execution.

“There are several ways to increase injury resistance,” Gleason said. “While no program can guarantee complete prevention, there are three top factors that are a must in order to keep an athlete safe.”

Gleason highlighted three areas – leg strength, warm-up, and jump technique.

“The hamstring (back of the thigh) and the glute muscles work together to help keep the knee joint in proper alignment during movement,” Gleason said when talking about leg strength. “These muscles must be strong for an athlete to stay safe and well-guarded.”

He pointed to an example called, “Lying Bridges.”

“Hamstring and glute muscles can be strengthened in a variety of ways, but one of the best places to start is by having the athlete lie on their back with knees bent,” Gleason said. “Lift their hips off the ground and ‘squeeze’ their butt muscles.”

For the warm-up, Gleason said, “A proper, well planned warm-up is essential prior to every training session, practice or game. Much more than just taking a lap and stretching, a good warm-up serves to engage the control centers in every joint.”

His example: Balance.

“Warming up should involve a lot of factors, including engaging the control centers of each joint,” Gleason said. “Have the athletes perform one-leg balance exercises as part of the warm-up to ensure that the knee joint is 100 percent ready.”

For jump technique, Gleason said: “Learning how to jump and land is an incredibly important part of keeping athletes safe. More than just doing ‘plyos,’ teaching the proper execution of jumping and landing in paramount. Although jumping is not seen as transferable to all sports, it actually is. Jump training done in the correct manner correlates to the acceleration and absorption forces the body has to deal with when sprinting, stopping and changing direction.”

His example: Instruction.

“As part of the warm up, teach the athletes how to safely and effectively jump and land using toe-off and heel landing strike positions,” he said.

First-hand experience

Manya Makoski, who currently plays soccer for Thor/KA in Iceland’s top-flight league, previously played in Women’s Professional Soccer for the Los Angeles Sol (2009) and was a member of the Atlanta Beat. But during the Beat’s 2010 preseason, Makoski tore her ACL.

But unlike a broken bone, most athletes who tear their ACL are mobile and can put a slight amount of pressure on their knees.

“I was able to walk off the field and walk around that day,” said the 27-year-old from Bridgeport, Conn. “My knee didn’t swell up or hurt until the next day.”

Makoski said, however, she knew something was wrong the moment the tear happened. She recently authored an article for the global women’s soccer publication, Our Game Magazine, called “Mental Toughness,” where she talked about her injury, the mental toll it took on her, and the recovery timeline, which for most athletes can run anywhere from six to 10 months.

“When I tore my ACL it was really weird. I faked to go one way, to the left, planted with my left, to try to go to the right, (and) I just felt it tear, said the former Arizona State University star was on the 2002 U.S. Under-19 World Cup Team that won the FIFA World Championships in Canada. “I immediately went to the ground because I knew I did something bad to my knee. It didn’t hurt at all, and I didn’t hear a pop, but I just knew that it was bad. It was really sickening to feel your ACL tear.”

Recovery

Makoski returned to action earlier this spring, playing soccer competitively on the professional level for the first time in more than a year. During her preseason with Thor/KA she began to feel more comfortable out on the field and started scoring goals left and right.

“I am over a year from my surgery,” she said. “Since recovering ‘fully’ from my ACL tear, I have realized that you are never really fully recovered. Rehab was a very hard mental and physical test for me. It was one of the most grueling things I have had to do in my career. Every day is devoted to your rehab – how you can get stronger, get more range of motion, get more confidence. The more effort and work you put into your rehab, the better off you are going to be in the long run. Even today, I am still focusing on those aspects. But I definitely believe you come out fitter and stronger than you were before because of that rehab. Yes, I may still have to ice my knee after training or going for a run, but I am no less of an athlete because of that.”

Gleason said that the best course of rehab depends on the severity of the injury and taking into account if surgery is needed to fix the tear.

“Often, rehab will include reducing swelling, reestablishing a full range of motion, strengthening the muscles of the front and back of the thigh, as well as muscle sequencing,” he said. “As soon as possible, the athlete needs to engage in activities that are complex in nature, involving several muscle groups, to ensure proper overall function and movement quality,” Gleason said. “An injury of this nature is many times an opportunity to assess other possible dysfunction or movement patterns that could cause issue in the future.”

However, Gleason cautioned people about training programs, and urged that injury resistance is key.

“Beware,” Gleason said. “Not all sports performance training programs are rooted in skill development and injury resistance. Most programs and facilities add to the pressure of performing at a high level for younger and younger athletes. In many ways, young athletes are more dependent on training programs that will deliver coaching, instruction, and a progressive system for making them better. Better performance does not need to be the goal because with the proper training it will be the outcome in addition to injury resistance.”

Athletic Revolution South Shore – South Shore Youth Fitness - Sports Training » In The News

Athletic Testing and Promotion Results

US Congress Declares Pizza a Vegetable??

United States Congress Declares Pizza Sauce a Vegetable But All is Not Lost in Pembroke

Youth Winter Sports Speed Clinic

High School Winter Sport Speed Clinic

Youth Hoop Speed, Agility and Vertical Leap Clinic

The Best Sports Performance Workout EVER?

High School Basketball Speed and Vertical Leap Clinics

Athletic Testing and Promotion Day

**Champion Promotion**

Growing youth dependence on technology

Coaches Corner by Dave Gleason

Growing youth dependence on technology

ACL Injuries: Trending in the wrong direction

Trending in the Wrong Direction

ACL injuries in female athletes on the rise

United States Congress Declares Pizza Sauce a Vegetable
But All is Not Lost in Pembroke

Champion Promotion