Episode #100 is a special roundtable featuring experts Jorge Carvajal, Zach Even-Esh, and Jeremy Frisch. Combined, these three coaches have 50+ years of training expertise working with athletes from very young to the professional level. This podcast’s topic is the injury crisis in youth sports and its connection to a lack of movement skills and the low movement literacy of today’s young athletes.
Jorge Carvajal is a performance coach and consultant who has worked with elite athletes in multiple sports and the tactical world for more than 25 years. He has worked at the University of Florida, the University of Nebraska, and the U.S. Olympic Training Center, as well as with numerous professional athletes from the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL. He is a sought-after performance expert in the tactical world, training clients from firefighting, law enforcement special tactical units, and the U.S. military.
Zach Even-Esh is the Founder of The Underground Strength Gym, and he created The Underground Strength Coach Certification. He has worked as a consultant with Division 1 athletic teams, Olympic-level athletic clubs, Spartan Race, pro teams, and independent coaches and athletes from around the world. Zach is a former health and PE teacher who is considered an expert in training the young athlete.
Jeremy Frisch is the Owner and Director of Achieve Performance Training in Clinton, Massachusetts. He is the former assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Holy Cross men’s basketball program. He also worked with at least eight other teams for the Crusaders. Prior to his time at Holy Cross, Frisch served as the sports performance director at Teamworks Sports Center in Acton, M.A. and speed and strength coach for Athlete’s Edge Sports Training, and he did a strength and conditioning internship at Stanford University.
Topics covered by the roundtable include the appropriate age for a youth athlete to consider specialization, how local culture impacts which sport a child plays, and what role the educational system plays in depriving students of movement skills they should be naturally developing and making physical literacy something important to our culture.
In this podcast, Joel and the group discuss:
- Developing the mental and emotional approach prior to specialization for young athletes.
- Using other sports or games beside the one being prepared for as a warm-up, and why.
- How to help lower instances of surgeries in young baseball athletes.
- What factors are leading to a de-evolution of youth athletic skills.
- The importance of play in the overall development of youth athletes.
- The role that the loss of physical education plays in youth development.
Podcast total run time is 1:05:09.
Keywords: youth sports, athletic development, LTAD, young athlete
