With the start of the new school year and fall athletic seasons, I want to take a quick look back at the summer that was.

Summer break started, schedules during this "time off" from school filled up, and madness ensued. What was meant to be the season of less structured mental responsibility, more time with family and friends, and time to shift focus and retool, is instead flooded with extracurriculars, trips, and activities to keep the kids busy.

As I mentioned in my last post, summer sport camps are excellent ways to engage in developmental activities, but they are not a full off-season for the athlete, and they tend to fall into the "activities to keep the child busy" category. The camps end, the practices start up again, and before you know it we are back to the grind.

So look at your athlete today. Did they maximize this time and foster their athleticism, or did they just move on to the next level of participation?

What Your Athlete Missed

I can tell you point blank what they missed if that scenario seems far too familiar.

Your athlete missed out on an accelerated adaptation of performance traits, a better mental and physical platform to acquire new skills, and a more robust body that carries a drastically smaller likelihood of injury.

Instead, I see kids who naturally matured over the summer, have a few more aches and pains, and are now struggling to be the athlete they were the previous season. They have higher goals and higher expectations, but they are standing on an unstable foundation. Sooner or later, performance decreases and the opportunity for injury escalates.

I have specific examples across both genders, all sports, and every level of participation. What hurts the most is that this stretch of an athlete's life cycle is the one with the biggest opportunity for physical advancement, and instead it gets spent on skills and drills that are quick to ripen and rot.

What a Real Off-Season Actually Looks Like

In the three months a student-athlete has for summer break, or really any off-season (usually the same time frame), the science is simple and the application is progressive and repetitive.

The athlete goes on a weekly strength and conditioning program built around the proper setup and execution of warm ups, movement through all 8 primal movement patterns, force production and reduction, sprinting, dynamic expressions of strength (power), cool down routines, and recovery techniques. The plan repeats weekly with small increases in intensity and volume, and we coach and implement plans for failure and resets.

Weeks 1 through 4: Intermuscular Coordination

The athlete focuses on intermuscular coordination, where the body coordinates the various muscle groups required to maximize movement efficiency.

Weeks 5 through 8: Intramuscular Coordination

The athlete shifts to intramuscular coordination: the recruitment of fibers, the rate at which they fire, and maximizing raw force production and power output without needing an increase in muscle size.

Week 8 and Beyond: Muscle Growth

This is when muscle size finally starts to develop. Two-thirds of the program is the body coordinating itself to maximize all output, so the new muscle that forms is wired up to the highest level of performance.

Read that again. Repeating the same weekly workouts, with small amounts of increased intensity and volume, for two full months, just so the growth you eventually see is the best growth possible.

How long was camp again? How long did your athlete practice those drills they learned?

What Your Athlete Gains

I am not here to look back and judge, or to take swings at situations that cannot be changed. I am here to give you the roadmap going forward.

Your athlete will be better regardless of when they start this program. They will have a solid foundation in the language of movement. They will be stronger, faster, and more capable as an athlete than they would be trying anything else. They will be more resilient, with fewer instances of injury. They will feel better, look better, and perform better than those who do not take this time seriously.

The window of participation in sport is small in relation to the life of an adolescent, and so is the developmental window of the adolescent athlete. By laying the strongest foundation for all of the above, you make sure your athlete has the best possible ability to progress.

That starts with a conversation about what the next year can look like. Knowing the family and the situations around sport participation is what guides where and when this can happen.

The Honest Part: What This Requires From You

This approach can be as easy as Sunday morning or completely disruptive to the athlete and the family. It all depends on the approach and on mitigating the cost, whether that is financial, travel, or time.

How we make it easier

We accept HSA and FSA funds to help reduce the out-of-pocket cost. We work once a week or every other week to keep travel and schedules more open. The athlete is dosed with what they immediately need to develop and progress based on their individual limiting factors, not a cookie-cutter workout handed to every participant, and they see immediate improvements in participation. We work with individuals or with groups of up to 4 athletes to lower the per-session cost and create a shared experience with fellow athletes. We also offer mobile visits so athletes can use their home gym or workout facility, which cuts down on travel and gives them familiarity with the equipment.

The real roadblocks

The athlete's schedule is the hardest one, and it needs the deepest look. How much practice does the athlete actually need? Where could training supplement the practice schedule, or should they decrease practice participation and focus on training in that time instead? I will always lean toward more athletic training, because without advanced physical development, practices are just participation and not skill development.

The other limitation is access to gym equipment. We help by recommending gyms in the athlete's area that offer the most equipment and modality options, so the athlete always has a way to complete a workout. We make direct recommendations for home exercise equipment, and we even provide austere workouts for those who need to work with what they have.

The Foundation Is the Point

Earlier this year I wrote about the progression of a former athlete, from plucky freshman, to injured high school star, through college development, and finally to his dream of playing professional baseball.

That story has repeated itself throughout my career.

I did not develop a professional athlete. I did not develop a collegiate athlete. All of that came through his own hard work, and through working with his collegiate strength and sport coaches. What I did was lay a foundation, rely on that foundation when injury and setbacks happened, and let the athlete propel himself from a platform that will never fail him.

The destination was never the intent. The intent was to give the athlete the agency to fulfill his own dreams.

Weekend warrior, rec league participant, corporate challenge go-to, high school, collegiate, or professional athlete. Whatever the goal is, lay a foundation as strong as the desire to keep playing.

Make the call. Have a conversation with me and your athlete, and let's get to work.

Book a free 15-minute phone call

-Dennis Dolan, MS, ATC, Director of Athletic Training, Restore Thrive

Frequently Asked Questions

What is off-season training for a youth athlete?

Off-season training is a structured strength and conditioning program run during the months an athlete is not competing. It builds the physical foundation that in-season practice cannot: movement through the 8 primal movement patterns, force production and reduction, sprinting, power, and recovery. The program repeats weekly with small increases in intensity and volume, which is what drives real adaptation.

How long does it take to see results from off-season training?

The first four weeks build intermuscular coordination, teaching the body to coordinate muscle groups for efficient movement. The next four weeks build intramuscular coordination, improving fiber recruitment and firing rate to maximize force and power. Muscle size does not begin to develop until around the eight week mark. That sequence matters: two thirds of the program prepares the body so that the muscle that forms later is wired for performance.

Are summer sports camps the same as athletic development?

No. Camps are valuable for exposure, skill work, and experience, but they are not athletic development. Development is a long-term, progressive process built around the individual athlete's growth stage, movement competency, and progressive overload. Camps are a supplement to development, not a substitute for it.

Is year-round single-sport participation bad for young athletes?

It eliminates the off-season, which is the window where physical development actually happens. Athletes who never get an off-season tend to accumulate aches and pains, plateau in performance, and face a higher risk of injury, because they are building higher expectations on an unstable foundation.

What does off-season training at Restore Thrive require from a family?

Sessions run once a week or every other week to limit travel and scheduling strain. We accept HSA and FSA funds, offer small group training of up to 4 athletes to reduce per session cost, and provide mobile visits so athletes can train at their own gym. The biggest variable is usually the athlete's existing practice schedule, which we work through together.