James Shapiro

1. You’re going to demo…everything…a lot…and maybe more then a twice 🫠

2. It’s going to test your patience for skill acquisition. Anyone who’s tried to taught hinging understands 😂

3. You need to take care of your body even more because you need to keep up with them. Careful on your daily & weekly plyo volume.

4. I know more about Roblox than I care to know. Client retention matters.

5. If you don’t know how to act foolish and channel your inner child, you’re gonna have a tough time.

6. You’re more than a coach. You can teach hard life lessons that help them more than a parent or coach can.

7. Make sure you know when they need to be pushed and when to dial it back.

8. Show up no matter what’s happening within your life. They’re young, they won’t understand. It’s not your job to trauma dump or make you feel what’s going on with you.

There’s a criteria of requirements that I work with when working with low training age, juniors (8-12 years old), and establishing a base that will last them years:
✅ Bilateral plyometrics
✅ Reactive jumps (depth jumps or successive jumps increasing in height)
✅ Coordination, synchronization, and stabilization through primary lifts
✅ Isometrics: incorporating bilateral short head, pelvic, & low back endurance and hip flexion/extension
✅ Controlled core training that integrates upper body function (upward rotation and shoulder flexion)
➡️ You need to earn the right to move fast by first perfecting movements slowly. There’s too much out on IG that shows flashy fast movements and it distorts the reality of what training looks like at a low training age.