Have you ever watched a young kid sprint? I mean really look at how they sprint – you may be shocked!! Sprinting is a fundamental skill that makes up one’s physical literacy. Therefore it is essential to evaluate in fitness testing.

Sprinting is common in all sports, yet it is one of the most neglected motor skills. We’ve all seen young kids running with their arms uncontrolled, their heads flopping all over the place, and their feet crossing over each other.

But what does this have to do with skiing? After all there is no sprinting in skiing! Good point, but try to find any dryland program that doesn’t involve sprinting as a modality to improve performance. Likewise, better skiers are also better athletes. The best alpine athletes can accelerate and sprint– although they may not be as fast as Usain Bolt.

In fact, I remember the Superstar Challenge, where athletes from different sports would compete in various athletic events, much like a decathlon. The winner was Bode Miller, against all-stars from the NFL, NBA, MLB, and other Olympians.

The point is, alpine athletes need proper sprint mechanics. This goes beyond skiing, and into promoting motor skill acquisition that will help support an active healthy lifestyle. We want our young athletes to enjoy all that life has to offer. This means playing a game of soccer, basketball, chasing a dog, running on the beach, or whatever. If we can’t sprint properly we increase our risk of injury, decrease our performance potential, and we decrease our enjoyment of sport.

Therefore, examining sprint mechanics at fitness testing is very important. Click here to learn exactly how we tested sprint mechanics during testing.

From a performance stand point, I’m often surprised by the poor running mechanics of many of our identified athletes – volleyball, hockey, basketball, and alpine ski racers. Without question, sprinting is NOT an innate movement skill. It must be taught if we are to utilize this amazing training modality. An alpine athlete through the use of sprint train can develop qualities that will help improve their race performance namely:

 Single leg force production and rate of force during the acceleration phase of sprinting
 Ankle stiffness and reactiveness during leg propulsion
 Explosive hamstring activation during proper recovery mechanics (this may help with ACL prevention)
 Neurological development
 Trunk awareness and development during the acceleration phase and with top speed sprinting (poor athletes will be unaware and have no control of their spines when trying to run quickly)

Therefore, sprinting is a valuable training modality for an alpine athlete. To utilize this tool we must assess the movement quality, and develop it according to the principles of Movement Development.

For more articles by Dr. Lam visit the FITNESS section online. He routinely contributes to the Alpine Ontario website and updates the subpage Fitness Testing. 

- end -

"Ski Racing from Start to Finish"

Contact:
Kristin Ellis
AOA Communications
communications@alpineontario.ca
705-444-5111x132

Follow Alpine Ontario on Twitter and Facebook