Starting Spring Sports Season on the Right Foot with Intermountain Health

With all the sights and sounds of spring on the horizon, spring sports aren’t too far off. In fact many youths are already gearing up for the latest season of baseball, spring soccer, mountain biking, track and field, and more.

The question is, are they gearing up in the safest way?

Answering that question with a science-backed approach, the Intermountain Health Sports Performance program offers athletes ages 8 through college-age the tools to improve speed, agility, strength, and overall athleticism in a variety of disciplines.

“Our goal is to start with a foundation of athleticism, identifying any weaknesses or gaps and then strengthening those to improve their performance,” said Brennen Ames, sports performance specialist for Intermountain Health Sports Performance.

Ideally, Ames said, athletes should have started into a spring sports prep regiment in November or December. At this point, these young athletes are beginning basic conditioning and injury reduction protocols to make this a safe and healthy season.

“Sometimes spring sports start and athletes go from zero to 100 in the first week, which can lead to injuries right off the bat if they haven’t been doing things to get prepared,” Ames said.

The Sports Performance Center offers three main packages to meet the needs of a variety of athletes, adapting to their individual sports and goals. The most common is a 24-session package, ideally completed 10 to 12 weeks, with the athlete training 2-3 times per week.

“The nature of exercise and human adaptation is that it does take time,” Ames said. “Improving in agility, strength and every other area requires structure and vision to get results. We challenge our athletes to push themselves harder than they may be used to pushing, both mentally and physically, knowing that in doing so we are putting them in an environment to safely, but effectively, produce a better overall athlete.”

Although Ames said he is aware that there is a trend for some parents and youth to set their sights on a single sport earlier, and earlier in the child’s career, he is careful to advise against such specializations at a young age.

“The danger in such early specialization is both physical and mental,” Ames said. “On the physical side, there is real danger in repeating the same movements over and over, which can lead to injuries, and missing out on other movements in other sports that can enhance their overall coordination and ultimately make them a better athlete.”

One the mental side, there is a higher risk of burnout.

“Athletes thrive on variety,” Ames said, adding that the Intermountain Sports Performance Program has a wide range of expertise to design programs for all ages, all interest, and all levels of athletics.

“Coaches only have so much time to practice, so they have to focus on specific things like plays, game strategy, clock management, etc., but in the overall pyramid of developing an athlete, those things are at the top,” Ames said. “There are a lot of foundational skills that need to be addressed outside of practice. That’s where we come in.”

To find out more about Intermountain Health’s Sports Performance program, call 435-251-2299 or follow Intermountain Sports Performance Acceleration on Instagram @sportsperformance_stg.

About Intermountain Health

Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 34 hospitals, 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.