Episode 9

full
Published on:

1st Mar 2021

EvelChat #9: "The Progression" A Chat with Dr. Mike Young of AthleticLab

In this episode of EvelChat, Derek sits down with Dr. Mike Young of AthleticLab, a sport training center in Carey, NC that works with athletes from all along the sport development continuum, from novice youth athletes to elite professionals. Mike's experience in Olympic & professional sport is hard to match, having worked with various pro sport teams as performance director, biomechanist & performance coach. Mike's full bio and his sprint acceleration lecture can be found here.

Topics include:

Mike’s background, coaching pedigree & AthleticLab, hyper-specialization & modern issues around youth development, structured training vs. play & the realities of modern day life, AthleticLab’s youth progression development (‘LabRats’, ‘Scholastic Prep’ & ‘Scholastic’… Mike walks us through each stage), exercise & loading parameters in programming for youth athletes, ‘bad exercises’ & other absolutes, the importance of progressions, why ‘specialization’ is not a dirty word, fitness & movement competency in the general population, when early specialization & breaking the rules might matter, sport specialization vs. hyper-specificity vs. training specialization, the myth of the 10,000 hr. rule is some sports, sport parenting & appropriate environments / training for youth, mistakes in sport parenting, Mike’s advice for sport parents. This is a valuable discussion for anyone involved in youth athletics or sport in general.

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for EvelChat

About the Podcast

EvelChat
The EveltrakSport.com Coaching Podcast with Derek Evely
A Podcast about Coaching, from specialist turn-ons to general piss-offs… & everything in between.

About your host

Profile picture for Derek Evely

Derek Evely

Derek Evely has taken a career path unique in Olympic sport. As an athletics coach, he has coached professionally at all levels along the developmental continuum and is widely regarded as a foremost expert in both youth development programming and elite training methodology. As a coach he has produced three World Junior Championship medalists, two of whom went on to win Olympic medals. He was the development coach for Gary Reed (IAAF World Championships 800m Silver Medalist), Dylan Armstrong (Beijing Olympic Shot Put Bronze Medalist) and Sophie Hitchon (2016 Olympic Hammer Throw Bronze Medalist). He has been a national team coach for both Britain and Canada to every major championship on the global calendar including the Olympic Games, IAAF World Championships and European Championships. He was a High Performance Training Centre Director for British Athletics leading into the 2012 Olympic Games where he coached the youngest athlete on the British athletics team (Hitchon) to her first Olympic final. From 2005 to 2009 he was the Sport Science Manager for the Canadian Athletics Coaching Center. He consults and coaches with federations and individuals worldwide on all aspects of developmental and high performance programming. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife and three teenagers.