Bethel, CT, April 13, 2010 – “While our FUNDamentals classes are fun, our constant objective is always to educate young athletes as how to decrease risk for injuries as they advance into sports.” Bill Romaniello of New Milford and Keith Deyo of Bethel, co-owners of The EDGE Performance Training in Bethel, Connecticut, have announced two new programs for spring 2010 that strive for that continuous athletic intelligence. “Our FUNdamentals classes for kids ages 6 to 9 are a fun alternative to organized sports, while our Introduction to Performance Training class for kids ages 10 to 13 is designed for young athletes who want to enhance their skills and develop a strong athletic base.”
Well-known and highly-respected in the Brookfield, Bethel region for helping train championship high school athletic teams, The EDGE Performance Training Center provides training year-round for individuals, small groups of athletes, as well as athletic teams. Agility, speed, power, strength and injury prevention are primary objectives of their programs. “We have three certified athletic trainers,” stated Romaniello, “who provide customized programs designed to improve speed, power, agility, balance, stability and strength while reducing the occurrence of injuries. Their goal is to prepare athletes for competition by providing education in nutrition, time management, motivational training, and goal setting, plus training in sports-specific skills.”
FUNdamentals Class
Development of motor skills and body awareness while improving stabilization and object control are the key goals of the newly-introduced FUNdamentals classes being offered Monday evenings from 4:30 to 5:30 P.M. at The EDGE Performance Training center. “It’s a fun program to introduce young starting athletes to different forms of fitness. Sports and medical statistics show that the risk of injury is decreased when children learn proper running techniques at a young age,” explained Deyo. The cost is $5/class/person.
During the FUNDamentals class, athletes participate in varying forms of fitness training. Jogging, running, and skipping are incorporated into the cardiovascular fitness training. To keep the children motivated, strength-training muscle development exercises incorporate jumping, leaping, and high skips.
“We believe it is crucially important,” explained Romaniello, “that stabilization and body awareness training are incorporated into all of our programs. To achieve balance, we ask athletes to perform exercises that incorporate Proprioception for balance and body awareness, and core exercise to strengthen the muscles of the abdomen, lower back and pelvis.”
The motor skills and object control portions of the FUNDamentals training program incorporates training in a number of familiar skills. “Kicking and effectively receiving a kicked soccer ball, dribbling a soccer ball, throwing and catching a ball, and shooting and dribbling a basketball are all familiar skills, our goal is to ensure they are fun-filled and injury-free experiences.”
Introduction to Performance Training Class
“The purpose of this class, held Tuesdays at from 4:30 to 5:30 P.M.”, outlined Romaniello, “is to educate young athletes on proper biomechanics, lifting techniques, improvement of motor skills and multiple sport development while incorporating injury prevention. “ In the proper biomechanics and motor skills portion of the class, students will learn ways to prevent injuries while sprinting, stopping, jumping and landing, and while changing direction, cutting or dodging.”
The introduction to lifting segment of the class teaches effective techniques for strength building. “We teach proper, injury-prevention lifting techniques for training the upper and lower body,” explained Deyo. “For example, we teach proper techniques for the bench press, squats, and use of free weights.”
For multiple sport development, The EDGE Performance Training center focuses on methods for improving coordination, healthy sports nutrition, and ways for increasing core strength. “Our strength training programs,” stated Romaniello, “include proper warm-up exercises and focus on prevention of injury to the ACL, Anterior Cruciate Ligament. These exercises have consistently helped our athletes decrease experiencing such common injuries as shin splints, ankle sprains and muscle strains.” The class costs $10/person.
Open year-round, The EDGE Performance Training is “always training 110%”. Their services include performance training, personal development and The EDGE Academy. Their facility is located at 13 Francis J. Clarke Circle in Bethel. To learn more, call 203-207-9991, or visit www.SPEEDTRAININGCT.com.
