Athlete of the month

Every month an athlete of the month is put up on the wall. This is picked based on the athletes hard work, determination, and progress they have made throughout the month. There are a series of questions that the athlete answers, we type the questions and answers, laminate a photo with the answers and then post it on the wall. This is put up on a wall where everyone can see it and can read about their accomplishments.

Treadmill and Plyometric Pictures

This is a picture of one of three formations of plyometrics at Tekulve. The "Four Square" formation is pictured here. This formation has boxes 1, 2, 3, 4 as well as 5, 6, 7, 8 along the outside of the formation. Most athletes start on the "Four Square" formation because it's the easiest. The better the athlete, the more challending the formations get. The "Krumrie" and "Munoz" formations are not pictured here, but they are more in depth and harder than the "Four Square" formation. The boxes are further apart and at an angle rather than just front to back or side to side. Kids tend to stay low, jump over the lines, keep their nose over their toes, and need to stay balanced the whole time.



This is a picture of one of the treadmills at Tekulve. The speed of the treadmill can be as slow as 1 mile per hour, or as fast as 28 miles per hour. The elevation can be as flat as 1 degree or as steep as 40 degrees. The steeper the incline the harder it is for the athletes to run using the correct form. This is also when the athletes need the most help from the trainer spotting them on the treadmill. A lot of the runs are very intense and sometimes they make the athletes get sick. I've seen it happen a few times this summer.

June 19, 2009 and June 20, 2009

Yesterday was by far the busiest day we have had so far since I started interning at Tekulve. We had at least 4 people scheduled every hour except for one towards the end of the day. The first three hours were the busiest. We had 8 kids the first hour, and 10 kids the second hour. Nicki and I had to run everyone on the treadmill because you can't get 5 plyos done in 30 mins. Last week I had to run 5 kids on treadmill, so I have a little experience. Basically I called the kids up in groups of 3 and 2. The groups would come up together and wait on the platform until they had to run. We have to do it this way because we can't afford to waste time in between runs. We have to get through all the runs in 30 to 40 mins, and finish on time to start the warm-up for the next hour. We were so busy that we didn't even have time to sit down for a half hour lunch. Nicki went and picked up lunch and we had to split the time. It seemed like it was the longest day even though we were busy the entire day.

This morning I had to work from 10:30 to 2. The first hour I only had two kids scheduled for the first hour, but a girl showed up because she thought she was scheduled. This wasn't a problem, I pulled her workout sheet and we began the warm-up. All three kids were on plyos, and I through everyone on time, and still managed to have time to answer the phone. The second hour I had four people scheduled. All of the kids were on time and we started the warm-up. All four kids had to run on the treadmill. One girl hadn't ran before on the treadmill, so I had to show her how to get on the treadmill. Two of the runs were long, so I started with those two first. The last hour I lucked out and no one showed up. I filed the workouts from the day Friday and today, locked up and left.

My First Saturday

I wasn't thrilled when I was asked to work a saturday morning. However, it was the easiest day I've had since I started interning there. I had a total of 7 kids the whole day. All of the kids were on plyo workouts too which really made my day even easier. I didn't have to worry about anyone that was on the treadmill. The treadmill still makes a little nervous, especially with the bigger kids. I'm worried that my arm won't be able to handle the pressure and they might fall. My biggest fear is being responsible for someone getting hurt under my care.

The day went pretty smooth. The first hour I had three kids. I got them started on the warm-up on time and they got through it pretty quick. I know it was early, but these kids did not talk at all. I try to joke around and talk to them, but these kids have no personalities.

The second hour I had one kid. He has a personality so we got along great. He told me the sports he played, the positions, etc. I have to say this kid was very cute for an 11 year old. I worked on the sprint strides with him. I showed him how to break it down, starting with his legs and then adding his arms. By the end he was on a role.

The third hour I also had one kid. She's a little older so I can joke around with her. She plays soccer for Cincinnati Hammer.

The fourth hour I was supposed to have three kids, but only one showed up. I had one kid cancel, and the other was a no show. This hour went by very fast. I whipped through his plyo workout, he did his weights and he was done. I filed the workouts from that day, checked the messages, locked up everything and I left.

Monday Week #5

Today I ran a lot of kids on the treadmill. Nicki is trying to get me used to running kids on my own. I feel more comfortable the more I do it. I had one kid today, not very athletic, almost fall everytime he got onto the treadmill. This was making me nervous and scared me a little bit too. I'm hoping this kid will learn how to do this without scaring me as much.

I'm beginning to learn where to stand on the treadmill to spot certain kids at different inclines. The steeper the incline, the more support the runner needs. It's hard to do it on your own when the incline is at 40 degrees. Spotting people at this high of an incline hurts my back a little bit, but like I mentioned before, I'm still learning and I will get used to it after I keep doing it for a while.

I also did a couple pretests today. The pretest is something we give all the athletes at the beginning of the session so we can see where the athlete stands. The pretest includes: vertical reach, vertical jump, broad jump, pro agility, 10 yard dash and a 40 yard dash.

The vertical reach is pretty standard. First question I ask is, are you right handed or left handed. Then the athlete stands with their legs shoulder-width apart, raise your dominant arm, and push those bars forward. After that i raise the height, and then the kids bend their knees, use their arms and jump as high as they can and push the bars forward. They do this at least two times, and then I record the numbers.

After this we do a broad jump. There is a tape measure on the floor. The athlete uses their arms, bends their knees, and jumps out at far as they can. They do this three times, and I record their scores.

After this, they go through a pro-agility run. There are three black lines. One is on the right side of the floor, one on the left side of the floor, and one in the middle of the floor. The athlete starts on the middle line, with their legs straddeling the line, right hand on the line. They sprint down to one black line and touches it with their right hand, then they sprint down to the other line and touches that it with their left hand, and then sprints through the finish line where they originally started. They go through this run twice, and I record their times.

After this we go outside and do the 10 yard dash, and 40 yard dash. The kids run this twice. After all these tests, the kids go through a plyo on the Four Square formation. I explain the numbers of the boxes, and I have to count how many times the kids get back to the first box. For example, if the the kids are jumping from box 1 to 2, then I would count how many times they got back to one without touching the black lines.

This seems like a lot, but the kids do great and it doesn't take very long either. These tests are crucial to see how much they improve at the end of the session. They go through a post-test, the same as a pre-test, and we compare the results from the beginning to the end.

Week #4

Last week was the fourth week that I have been at Tekulve. It was quite a long week to be honest. I worked 40 hours, not to mention I also worked at my real job for 15 hours. I am still getting used to that schedule.

There was a mandatory meeting last Thursday that I attended. We basically went through the Active Dynamic Warmup that the kids or athletes do before every workout. We changed some things, took some things out, and added some things as well. Most of the kids did well with the new changes. One change included keeping the kids moving at all times. We want to keep their heart rates up and keep them from being lazy.

The other part of the meeting was to discuss the dress code, work ethic, and summer hours. The dress code is pretty straight forward. Khaki pants, Tekulve tee shirt, and gym shoes. Your shirt has to be tucked in at all times, pants have to be neat with no cargo pockets.

Work ethic is a major part. You have to be dedicated and be enthusiastic the whole time. No matter what happens outside of work, you leave it at the door before you walk in. You don't want to be in a bad mood because that wears off on to everyone else, and that's not something you want when you are working out. My supervisor also mentioned that if he catches the workers not doing their job correctly, will be terminated. There are other people that want to work there and will do the job correctly. This makes me nervous because I'm still in training, and sometimes i'm not sure how to do stuff.

Summer hours are a little bit different than the school hours. The school hours started at 2:45 and went until 8 Monday through Friday. Now, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays our hours start at 9:45 and go until 6, and 11:45 to 8 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is a big change for me considering I didn't have to be there until 11 or 11:30. Although it is a bit earlier, I do get out two hours earlier, which is nice to be out before its dark.

Treadmill Work #2 and #3

The last couple of days that I worked at Tekulve I got to work more on the treadmill. Most of the days I'm there, I do the plyometrics, pre-tests, and post tests. All of these do not require any running on the treadmill. Last Friday, there were 5 kids for one session. I started with all five kids, and then once the other treadmill opened up, I had 3 kids. At first I was still kinda nervous being by myself, with no help, but I did it and now I feel more confident. The older kids knew what they are doing for the most part, so I didn't have to spot them, unless the incline was really steep. The younger kids are a bit different. Most of them are not as athletic and require more work. The one kid I had was pretty good though. He knew what to do, he listened to what I was telling him to do, "high knees, arms chin to pocket, shoulders back, etc." I was very happy to see that the kids were making my job easier.

Today, most of the kids that I worked with were pretty good. Some of them were older and knew what to do, which means less work for me. There was one kid that was having problems keeping his knees up, so I moved to the side and held my arm out to make him bring his knees up high enough to hit my arm. It worked for the most part. He thought it was hard, but it will only get easier from here on out.

Starting next week is the summer hours, which means we will be very busy! I'm sure I will be doing a little bit of everything!