A Peek Inside Spartan Performance
Testing | Training | Energizing young athletes, coaches, parents, and students
I know that it’s very cliche but time really does fly. And Facebook keeps reminding us.
Yesterday, I had a post pop up “10 yrs ago”. It was a great memory of “my baby” - Spartan Performance.
It was a dream and vision that I had since grad school; however, I got sucked into the Research I (large, flagship) university model of chasing grants. And in exercise science that means NIH (National Institutes of Health) funding which aims to improve the health of the population. That also means disease - cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, etc. and the effects of exercise, other lifestyle or environmental factors and/or medicine, namely drugs. For me, it was childhood fitness, obesity and cardiovascular disease risk factors. The NIH is certainly not interested in the effects of plyometrics on sprinting speed!! Although there are some clever researchers who can spin a grant to look like disease prevention or treatment and gain insight into sports science (i.e., strength training and plyometrics and ACL injury prevention).
So, call it a mid-life crisis or whatever, but in 2010 I switched gears back to my passion and also switched departments - from Kinesiology to Sports Medicine/Physical Therapy, where my colleagues embraced the idea of a multi-disciplinary hub for youth athlete development, testing, training, sport psych, nutrition, and return to play. This was certainly a unique collaboration within a university to merge the triumvirate of Teaching | Research | Community Outreach.
The methodology was built on teaching young athletes how to move while enhancing strength and power, with an added importance of a holistic approach to athletic development including nutrition, sleep education, and mental skills. This approach embraced our motto of TEST | TRAIN | ENERGIZE.
Growing Pains
In a short time, we outgrew the shared space with PT/Sports Med and moved downstairs. A lot of time and planning went into designing the space, and the graphic design won a few awards thanks to Cam Gnass/Traction.
"You control your own learning environment"
Besides the hundreds of athletes who participated in our individualized or small groups sessions in the clinic, we also contracted with 15-20 schools and clubs in mid-Michigan - training approximately 2500 athletes per day.
How?
....a robust internship program <The Tribe> that included peeps from around the World (Portugal, Switzerland, Ireland) and universities within the region. Every semester, we would host and educate about 12-20 interns. These interns were designated Level I, II or III depending on experience. Several interns stayed with us for multiple semesters and became Level III interns, which allowed them to oversee a school or club.
Several interns are currently PTs, RDs, PhDs, Sport med docs, S&C coaches, head of sports science, Whoop R&D, etc.
There was a real family environment, and many of us still stay in touch via social media with our Spartan Performance Past and Present Facebook group. What made it special besides the relationships was the true growth mindset built into our culture. Everyone embraced the quote on the wall in the staff workspace - "You control your own learning environment".
You don’t know what you got til it’s gone
So goes the lyrics (and song title) from one of my favorite 80’s hair metal bands Cinderella.
Unfortunately, there was a change in leadership + I decided to chase logos and “greener pastures” …. but life is dynamic ... one learns a lot from experience.
To my knowledge, Spartan Performance closed a few years ago
Want to learn more?
This is just the very brief intro to Spartan Performance. You can learn more about this multi-faceted, dynamic organization in an interview with the LTAD Network, or give me a shout - happy to consult.