Train With Your Kid

These fundamentals help in every sport. Before sport-specific drills, build a base of general athleticism that transfers everywhere.

The best part: most of this takes 10–20 minutes and can happen in the yard, the driveway, or the garage.

How-To: Training Together

Before you start, a few truths about training with your kid:

Invest in a stopwatch (or use your phone). Timed drills give concrete feedback. “You did that in 12 seconds — let’s see if we can hit 11” is infinitely more motivating than “good job, do it again.”
Be patient. Improvement is measured in weeks, not minutes. Some days they’ll regress. That’s normal.
Always commend effort, not just results. “I saw you push hard on that last rep” matters more than the time on the clock.
Lead by example. Do the workout with them. If you’re huffing through push-ups next to them, they know the effort is real.
End on a win. Always finish with something they can succeed at. The last memory of training should be positive.

The Five Pillars

Speed & Agility First-step quickness, change of direction, acceleration. Short bursts matter more than distance in most youth sports.

Strength & Coordination Bodyweight exercises, balance, and movement quality. No weights needed at young ages.

Mobility & Flexibility Dynamic warm-ups, cool-down stretching, and range of motion work that prevents injuries.

Nutrition Simple fueling for growing athletes. What to eat before games, recovery meals, hydration basics.

Recovery & Sleep Rest is where improvement happens. Sleep requirements by age and avoiding overtraining.

Tracking Progress Simple benchmarks to measure improvement. Times, distances, reps — not feelings.

Nutrition: The Honest Truth

Here’s the part nobody wants to hear: fried food and sweets all day is bad for your kid’s performance, no matter how much you love them. Loving your kid means feeding them fuel, not just what’s convenient.

You don’t need a meal plan. You need three things:

Real food before activity — a sandwich, banana, oatmeal. Not chips and soda.
Water, not sports drinks — for activities under 90 minutes, water is all they need.
Protein after activity — chocolate milk, a PB&J, leftovers from dinner. Something with protein and carbs within an hour.

Lead by example. If you’re eating fast food in the car on the way to practice, your kid will learn that’s what athletes eat. Eat what you want them to eat. Pack the same snacks. Drink water together.

This isn’t about being perfect. It’s about building habits that support athletic performance instead of working against it. A kid who shows up fueled properly will outperform a more talented kid running on junk food — every single time.

10-Minute Driveway Workouts

Workout A: Speed & Agility (10 min)

2 min: high knees, butt kicks, lateral shuffles (warm-up)
3 min: 10-yard sprints x 6 (walk back = rest)
3 min: lateral cone shuffle x 8
2 min: backpedal + sprint forward x 4

Workout B: Strength & Balance (10 min)

2 min: arm circles, leg swings (warm-up)
3 min: squats x 10, push-ups x 10, plank x 20 sec (repeat twice)
3 min: single-leg balance x 30 sec each, lunges x 8 each leg
2 min: bear crawl forward and back x 4

Workout C: Conditioning & Recovery (10 min)

2 min: jog in place, jumping jacks
4 min: 30 sec on / 30 sec off — burpees, mountain climbers, squat jumps, high knees
4 min: slow stretching — hamstrings, quads, shoulders, hip flexors

Rotate A → B → C across the week. Three days of conditioning + sport-specific practice = a solid foundation.

Sport-Specific Training

Each site in the network has detailed, sport-specific training pages:

⚾ Baseball Training Agility, arm care, sprint mechanics, and conditioning for the diamond. 🏈 Football Training Nutrition, cardio, endurance, strength, flexibility, and agility testing. 🏀 Basketball Training Agility drills, endurance, game-day nutrition, and weight training. ⚽ Soccer Training Cardio for 90-minute matches, nutrition, strength, and flexibility. 🏒 Hockey Training Shift-simulation intervals, skating endurance, and hip flexibility. 🥋 Martial Arts Training Flexibility, core strength, and discipline-specific conditioning. 🚣 Rowing Training Erg workouts, core strength, and endurance building. 🥍 Lacrosse Training Footwork, sprint intervals, and stick skills conditioning.