Should I allow my son to run track this spring or should I let him train with a speed and agility expert???

Running track would probably get him the best 40m time.

S&A would prepare him better for his sport, but I doubt that he'll get the specific coaching he would need to minimize his 40m time.

I don't know how college football recruiting works. Do they want / need a 40m time? Or do they just scout the kid on the playing field? If it's the latter, S&A would be a better use of his time.

I like the prior suggestion re: run track in the Spring, the do S&A during the summer.

He loves football fine. He wants to play football in college fine. That has nothing to do with what it takes to play football in college.

Does he play basketball?

I knew a kid 30 years ago. He weighed 230, set the state record in the shot and jav and high jumped 6-2. He was a running back. His grades were good and almost every school in the country was interested.

He picked a school that contended for #1 every year. He never got hurt and stuck around 5 years. He did not play a single down during a game as a running back and only played special teams his 4th and 5th year. Don't know why he stuck with it. He wasn't Rudy, he could have had a track scholarship for the same school rather than paying to ride the pine. The way he threw the jav, he might have even made QB.

My point is that your son should run track. If he gets hurt or any other of 100s of the ifs of life, get to him, track is a second chance or third if he plays Bball. Do the S&A in the summer.

Screw Lydiard wrote:

ALLOW your son? What does your son think? If its not all his desire could come back to bite you.

This is mostly right. If the kid is not into T&F for his own personal interests then it probably isn't a good fit.

Sport is an opportunity to try life skills. Period. If done correctly, the kid IS self-directed with your parental help. That's all. If anything comes out of it, then that's nice, but not the point.

You need to examine your own motivations because your posts don't make you sound so healthy. I and others can smell your 'pro sports' dream. It's not up to you and this isn't your second opportunity.

Track will get him the fastest sprinting, no question about it. Otherwise, you'd send your track sprinters away from practice to work with independent "spring and agility" trainers. I don't see those guys coaching any world elite sprinters.

My son was a good WR and basketball prospect (6'5", fast and freaky hops). The track coach grabbed him after basketball practice one day in 9th grade to see what he could do.

He ended up winning 5 individual and two team state championships in track, setting a state record in the triple jump, and being the state track meet MVP.

He really liked track, the other sports faded, and he is now a D1 decathlete and having a great college experience.

So you never know. A better question than what will it do for football is what it might do for him. Why not let him try it? He might like it.

elephino wrote:

My son was a good WR and basketball prospect (6'5", fast and freaky hops).

btw, he didn't even play football his senior year and still had college football coaches contacting him. Many (but not all) football coaches think participating in other sports is a positive.

There was a guy at my high school a few years before I was there who was and still is probably the best high school football player in that part of the state, and there have been some really good ones. The school had just started track a few years before he went there, had no track of its own, and had never won a meet.

As a senior this football guy comes out for track and goes to the state Catholic track championships, Catholic schools had their one championships then. He won the 100, 220, high hurdles and shot put and won the championship single handedly. The school would go another six years before winning another meet and this guy went to Notre Dame where he was twice an All America defensive lineman and then went on to a seven year NFL career. That was probably a lot more fun for him than spending the spring working on strength and agility drills and he didn't do too badly at football.

My son has decided to go with track in the spring and S&A in the summer.

That seems reasonable.

This is a good choice.

The list of pro football players who ran hs and college track at a high level is endless.

Percy Harvin, Chris Johnson, Ted Ginn, Jr, Emmanual Sanders. Even a lot of strength position guys threw shot and discus in high school. J.J. Watt. IMO, there is a reason almost all S&A trainers are themselves ex track guys.

One last point. 40 times , particularly reported hs times, are notoriously unreliable. I'm not saying your son's 40 times aren't legit its just that college coaches are not going to pay much attention to a reported hand time because every skill player will claim a fast 40 time.

On the other hand, a Fully Automatic Timed 100 Meter time is something college coaches will consider solid. Getting under 11 FAT for the 100m is something most DI college coaches will consider as a sign an athlete has potential to excel at the next level. (This assumes 100 m time is coupled with game day production and good film). Success in track also shows coachability and competitiveness.

Hope your son enjoys it-

I know many college football players who would not repeat the experience. I know many college athletes who would not repeat the experience. Among Football players, I'd say it's well over 50 percent. Among non-marquis sport athletes, I'd say it's 35 percent. At my university, half the freshman football recruits did not make it to their Junior year.

Be careful what you (and your kid) wish for. NCAA D1 athletics can be a real meat grinder. I did it at lower tier D1 school, and lasted two years. I can only imagine what it's like at a football or basketball factory like Nebraska or Kentucky.

There's some good advice here and it sounds like you and your son are taking a good path imo. There are so many options for kids to participate in these days that it's harder for track coaches to get the best athletes out. The really sad thing is when a public school football coach puts on a winter and spring program and pressures kids that it results in hurting other programs on campus, especially track. It's pretty well known and documented that most D1 schools want the multi-sport athlete for a lot of reasons mentioned here. You just can't convince that to the meathead, self centered high school fb coach though. These guys don't care about any other program unless they are coaching another sport.

A school's best bet would be to get the fb coach active in the track program if their ego would allow it. They still get to have contact with the kids, the kids get to see their fb coach in a different light possibly as an assistant without all of the extra hours of program management. S&A are good pre-season training programs for both fb & T/F. Both coaches need to know how to build on those skills for their sports.

Kids need to engage in competition and commitment to others in a variety of other sports not just for 8-12 games in 3 months of the year. FB is the elephant in the room but if the coach was smart, he would encourage athletes to do other sports between fb & summer training. I've seen how a year round fb program can wear kids (and coaches) down before championship season even begins. A lot of frustration on everyone's part but at the fault of the big ego of the head fb coach. Steer clear of the ego driven, self centered football coaches that don't really care about the kids more than their record. You know, the ones that talk about winning state more than talking about daily improvement. The kids know if they are good. They know what their chances are without having it pounded into their heads all the time.

What subjects does he like in school?

Oh yeah, I want to make it clear. My son is only able to run track because his starting position in football is secure. The only football players that run track are the top players on the team. The football coach is a a$$hole. He tells parents he wants multi sport athletes but its all a lie. He secretly discourages his players to run track. He wants all his players to participate in his off season workouts. If a player is fighting for a position, he knows not to run track. That's why my son didnt run last year.

That's too bad that your son's coach has such tunnel vision. Both for his athletes and his football team. My good friend is the head football coach at our former high school. In four years as head coach, he has led a formerly mediocre program to two consecutive undefeated regular seasons and three playoff runs. Although my friend does not have a track background he makes genuine efforts to encourage his football players to wrestle, play baseball, run track.

His football players have set school records on the 4x1 and 4x4 and one of his former star wide receivers has gone onto a promising pitching career in MLB.

He does ask that guys on the track/ baseball team lift twice a week in the morning with the rest of the football players during the spring. Football players who do not participate in other sports are asked to lift 4 times a week. He doesn't do anything with 7 on 7 or spring scrimmages and kicks the season off in late June with a week long training camp and then a scattering of preseason workouts in July.

When August hits he expects 100% dedication for the next 4 months. When the football season ends sometime in November he tells them he doesn't want to see anybody in structured workouts until the beginning of second semester in Mid-January.

My friend says that coaches at other schools in the conference run literal year round programs and it has turned off/ burned out some of the more talented multi sport talents at those schools.

I'm not sure why hs coaches think that football only training is beneficial, particularly for skill players. Fast is fast and strong is strong and coordinated is coordinated so what differnce does it make how you train to get there. In terms of football technique and familiarity with the offense/defense, if you cant't train that in four 5 month long seasons over the course of an athlete's hs career you probably have other flaws in your coaching program.

Football players from my school I coach at have gone on to play in every major conference. Many of whom were pominant on top national contenders.

EVERY single one of them participated in track. Shot Put, 100, Jumps... They have done it all.

While recruiting they were more interested in their track performances than a hand timed 40. They want competitors and ATHLETES at the next level.

Did you not see the tweet on Urban Meyers recruits? "Working out" is a joke. Coaches want these kids competitive. Many coaches view athletes who just want to "get ready for football" as those afraid to compete.

Keeping it real wrote:

I know many college football players who would not repeat the experience. I know many college athletes who would not repeat the experience. Among Football players, I'd say it's well over 50 percent. Among non-marquis sport athletes, I'd say it's 35 percent. At my university, half the freshman football recruits did not make it to their Junior year.

Be careful what you (and your kid) wish for. NCAA D1 athletics can be a real meat grinder. I did it at lower tier D1 school, and lasted two years. I can only imagine what it's like at a football or basketball factory like Nebraska or Kentucky.

Most Kentucky basketball players are only around for a year or two.

"sprint and agility"

If your son is able to get some good FAT times in the 55/60 and 100 or some good jumps in, that will be very helpful with football recruiting. An 11 flat FAT 100 goes farther than a 4.3 hand time by a high school coach.