Sports Science Practices for Every Level of Sport
While Sports Science practices may look different between the professional and amateur ranks, there are, however, underlying principles that allow any coach to think and work like a sports scientist.
High Performance Lessons from Athlete Rehabilitation
Prior to 2017, I had barely any experience working with injured athletes, nor did I ever expect to take on a role where rehab would be an integral responsibility. However, as part of the hire into my role as Performance Coordinator with the Cleveland Indians (maybe officially the Cleveland ‘Guardians’ by the time you are…
Simplifying the “Sport Science” Process
Sport science is way more involved than I am about to portray it today, however, that does not mean that non-sport scientists — whether they be strength coaches, trainers, or sport coaches — can’t take some principles from the realm of sport science to apply to their own athletes, teams, and systems.
The Ace Up Your Sleeve: Understanding Long-Term Athletic Development and Diminishing Returns
Since nobody knows your athletes better than you, the key will be to discuss the most important and relevant training principles to the high school athlete, so that you may apply them to those under your care given these unique circumstances.
Building Your First Training Data Dashboard in Excel
For those that follow me on social media, you’ll know just how much I enjoy sharing my own personal training content: videos from my sessions, templates as I create them, and more recently my dashboard with monitoring metrics. The latter tends to incite a lot of questions from those wondering where to begin when learning…
Finding the Strength to Face Depression and Anxiety
It has been quite some time since I have posted on my site, and nearly 2 years since I last wrote on the topic of mental health, depression, anxiety. I have waited so long to readdress this topic in long-form because the perfectionist in me has been looking for the right title, focus, and words…
Assessments and Data Collection at the High School Level: Why, How, and When | Part I
Recently I spent some time with a few great high school coaches —one a performance coach, another a fundamental coach. Over the course of many discussions, the fundamental coach, a head football coach, asked me the following question: Of all the new things you’ve learned and come across lately in this industry, is there anything…
An Open Letter To the Coach or Athlete Battling Mental Illness:
Whether we like it or not, there indeed exists a stigma in athletics that players and coaches must be “mentally tough”, and that discussing mental illness is taboo. As a result, those who are struggling do so in silence for fear that they will be labeled soft, incompetent, or mentally weak. Recently, I posted some…
How Strength & Conditioning Can Help Enhance Player Development in High School Baseball
As most high school coaches have probably noticed, each year travel baseball has taken a greater foothold on the high school baseball landscape. Travel-ball has become a staple for nearly all ballplayers — what was once a summer-only tour for most, for many it is now a nearly year-round endeavor. While the travel circuit has many inherent advantages ,…
3 Things Amateur Baseball Players Can Learn From the Pros – Part I
In my coaching career thus far, I’ve been fortunate to collect diverse, yet highly concentrated experience in athletics; I’ve spent the better part of 8 years coaching a single population of athletes — baseball players — yet, have done so at various age and competition levels. Between the high school level, the travel-ball circuit, collegiate…
Ryan J. Faer 