When the day is done, the most important quantifiers are height, weight, and 40-speed. The NFL draft takes the best 500 college football players in the nation and puts then through several tests. The entire discussion will focus on getting fast in the 40 yard dash. So here are the 3 simple (but not easy) ways to transform slow to fast. Have you read “Outliers” by Malcom Gladwell? Have you read “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle. My focus is the speed transformation of a generic white guy, not the freaky outliers of the sprint world. I’m going to teach you the training methods used in Plainfield, Illinois, not Kingston, Jamaica. Most of us are coaching kids like Alex Ruscitti. Most of us are coaching normal everyday kids, not the one-in-a-million sprinter. Take the training methods of the Jamaicans with a grain of salt. College coaches don’t create speed, they find speed. Winning and losing is predetermined after the shuffling. It’s like shuffling a deck of cards and playing solitaire. Remember, the presenter is the beneficiary of genetic talent and deep down, he knows it. The presenter hides behind a sophisticated and complex PowerPoint that overwhelms the crowd and makes everyone feel inferior. We all want to know how coaches create such an athlete. It’s strange but when you go to a clinic, you see presentations by coaches who were blessed with a freaky sprinter or two. If you want to get my take on coaching guys like Juawan Treadwell, you will have to wait till my next blog, “Coaching Elite Sprinters.” Juawan is not only blessed with phenomenal talent, he also has a terrific coach, Brian O’Donnell. Later in the year, he ran 51.12 in the open 400. In his debut, Juawan ran a 4×4 split of 52.7 indoors on a 200m track. As a freshmen in high school Juawan Treadwell came out for track this year after playing both football and basketball. Crete-Monee’s Juawan Treadwell is the brother of Ole Miss SEC Freshmen of the Year, wide receiver Laquon Treadwell. If you want to see the face of speed, look no further. The elite sprinters are truly FOUND and not created. Anyway, its obvious to me that we don’t “plant beans and grow corn”. If you are a track coach or a speed coach and you haven’t read “The Sports Gene” by David Epstein, you are a pretender. Once in a while you get a sprinter who is genetically destined for greatness. Those guys are not “gifts from the gods” but hey, my freshmen football team may not lose. This year I have timed incoming freshmen at Plainfield North High School who have run 4.49, 4.62, 4.65, and 4.69 in the 40. We love panning for gold and finding that once-in-a-lifetime sprinter. Buy a lottery ticket.Īs track coaches, we love those “gifts from the gods”. If you fit in this group, please stop reading now. Everyone wants the answers before they take the test. Can you just give me a few drills?.”Įveryone wants instant results. Speed Camp starts next week.” … “Well, she doesn’t have time for that. “Hey, can you work with my daughter? She is the slowest girl on her soccer team.” … “Yeah, sure. “Hey, can you work with my son? He wants to run a good 40 at a combine next week.” … “Why didn’t he go out for track?” … “He needed to get big.” I have no reason to sell you crap that doesn’t work. I get so sick of those snake oil salesmen who advertise quick fixes to improve speed. 5.38 to 4.37 makes me feel all tingly as a speed coach. Alex’s strongest attributes are his work ethic and his intelligence (33 ACT). Neither parent played a varsity sport in high school. Alex was not born genetically coded for track & field success.
Alex ran 4.46 in the 40 and 1.05 in the 10m fly. 6’0″, 170-pound Alex Ruscitti has completed his junior year and is back at speed camp for the 5th consecutive year. At the same camp, my top varsity sprinter, Derick Suss ran 4.41 in 40 and 0.99 in the 10-meter fly.įast forward to 2014. His best time of 5.38 (and 1.30 in the 10-meter fly) would indicate that he had some running talent but was not one of those “gifts from the gods”. Alex was an average white kid of average height and weight, just another kid attending Speed Camp. I met Alex Ruscitti in June of 2010 following his 7th grade school year. I’m excited to write this article because I’m going to use one of my track athletes to tell the story. It’s all so simple.īefore you get too excited, remember the immortal words of jazz musician Thelonius Monk, “Hey man, simple ain’t easy.” In addition, this transformation will not happen overnight. You don’t get fast by running up or down hills or pushing sleds or running stairs or wearing ankle weights.
You don’t get fast by running with a parachute on your back. I have timed over 150 thousand 40’s since I began data-based speed training in 1998. This is why I am a track coach and a speed coach. I love the transmutation of slow to fast.