Perform Better Puts On One Heck Of A Show

I was afforded the opportunity to attend and fellowship with some of the greatest minds in the performance enhancement game. The good people at Perform Better, an organization that puts athletes and coaches in a position to perform better, held a one-day seminar, “Learn by Doing” Functional Training Seminars and boy did we learn by doing. This seminar was educational, inspiring and most of all fun. I was sore for two whole days afterward. Having the chance to exchange ideas with coaches from many different places was a great way to spend a day and made all of the pain I went through worth it.

The day started out with lectures that were given by Diane Vives, Duane Carlisle, Chuck Wolf, Alan Russell, Mike Boyle and Juan Carlos Santana, some of the most noted people in the field. The topics covered concepts such as, facility design, targeting power for performance, functional integrated abdominal training, how to balance your training program, the art and science of functional training and circuit training for the new millennium. The knowledge that was available was immense. There was information that if utilized correctly will move you and the strength and conditioning coach to the head of most classes. While sitting in the lectures and hearing the passion that everyone was speaking with it made me really anxious for the afternoon session, the hands on learning portion of the program. The speakers did not disappoint. The afternoon session alone was worth the price of admission with the energy level in the Lawrenceville field house was off of the charts. People who were used to telling people what to do where now the victims and let me tell you, I now have a whole new understanding of what I am putting my athletes through. I am a firm believer that in order for a teacher to be good they must sometimes become a student again, and this was happening on a broad scale.

The guys who probably did the most for me were Mike Boyle and Juan Carlos Santana. These guys have written books that I have read and really liked and have suggested that other coaches check out. But having these guys in a position to answer questions was too good to be true. The concepts these guys were talking about were beautiful in their simplicity. The little things that if utilized correctly will make many athletes so much better that it would be scary. It was the information that could be found in their books and tapes, but sometimes with an added variation that wasn’t. I went into the seminar not knowing what I could possibly get out of a one day seminar and left wondering why weren’t there more coaches there. There were two coaches from South Jersey schools, maybe there were more, that made me start looking for them. I feel that this was the kind of event that coaches who want to get involved in performance enhancement should attend. The information that was provided is not the kind of stuff that you can get just anywhere. Perform Better is hosting seminars all over the country and the speakers change from region to region. If you have any desire to become a better coach to your athletes, take the one-day seminar and watch the difference these guys can make in your program.