-by Hall of Fame High School Coach Daryl Weber
More than any other topics, I hear coaches and parents struggle with increasing mental toughness and speed in youth athletes.
These struggles often lead to frustration and a philosophy that athletes are either “gifted” with Mental Toughness or Speed and if they are not…
They can not develop these two attributes.
If this is your belief… You are wrong!
A coach’s goal is to make incremental gains in athlete’s physical, mental, and spiritual development.
A coach shouldn’t have exclusive focus on the athletes that are the most gifted. I fear that is what is happening when I hear adults say things like…
“You can’t develop mental toughness. An athlete either has it or they don’t.”
or,
“You are either born with speed or you aren’t. You can’t develop it.”
Things like this are frustrating to hear and I pray that these parents or coaches are NOT saying this to their athletes.
I have found you can develop both of these traits. However, in order to do it, it is essential that you have a system you can rely on and patience.
Not everyone is going to be as fast as Usain Bolt… even with all the training in the world.
Not everyone is going to be as mentally tough as a Navy Seal… BUT
With proper training, everyone can get faster, develop confidence, and mental toughness over time. This is how perennial powerhouse programs in youth, high school, and college think and train.
I traveled around the country with my teams and studied some of the best coaches in many sports. The programs that produce the best teams and athletes have a factory within their program that breeds mental and physical development.
Both speed and mental toughness are often slow to mature (especially mental toughness). The best coaches takes every athlete that enters their program and runs them through a specific system to move the needle in mental toughness and speed. This makes their programs competitive year after year…
By believing that you can make a difference in EVERY athlete and having the understanding and patience to make forward progress with each of them, you are not only making them better athletes and building a better team…
You are teaching them valuable life skills that they will carry with them long after their athletic career is over.
At first glance you may wonder why “speed” and “mental toughness” are being lumped together, but in my experience, these are the two attributes that coaches and parents give up on developing the most.
Watch this video from renown sport specialist Dr. Yessir where he reveals an in depth analysis on why speed can be increased in every athlete…
Speed Can Be Increased!
Watch this video from Dr. Yessir where he breaks down the philosophy of increasing speed.
More on Dr Yessis here:
Tomorrow I will debunk the myth that “Mental Toughness” can’t be taught and show you how the top programs use proven systems to create “Mental Toughness Factories” within their programs and consistently engineering mental toughness in youth and high school athletes.
This is a system I modeled after my college coach Dan Gable. It was a cornerstone in the development of the athletes I coached while winning 14 consecutive high school state championships, in Christiansburg VA.
Click here to access Part 2 of this article
About Daryl Weber
Daryl Weber is a former NCAA Wrestling Champion, Strength Coach & Hall of Fame high school wrestling coach. He coaches 15 years in Chrisitansburg, VA. 6 years as an assistant coach and 9 years as head coach of the Christiansburg Wrestling program. During his 15 years the Christiansburg program won 14 consecutive state team championships, setting the record for any sport in the state of VA. Daryl also started one of the top websites for coaches, parents and wrestlers in the sport of wrestling. You can click here to find out more about Daryl Weber.
