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Teen Strength & Conditioning at Apache
Parents ask me all the time: what’s the smartest, safest way to help a middle or high school athlete get faster, stronger, and more confident—without getting hurt? This program is my answer. It’s built for all sports. If your teen sprints, jumps, cuts, or competes, they’ll benefit. We coach to the athlete in front of us—age, training age, and season—so they improve quickly and stay healthy.
How do I know it works? Personally, I ran this exact approach for more than a decade as a high school varsity girls soccer coach. In that time, we didn’t suffer a single catastrophic knee injury—remarkable in girls soccer, where ACL tears are notoriously common. And it wasn’t just knees: our kids weren’t sidelined—they stayed available, durable, ready for anything, and made it through entire seasons without the nagging tweaks that take players out. Our athletes moved better, landed better, handled volume better, you name it. Many earned spots at Division I programs (and plenty more at other college levels) and arrived ready to excel because they already had a real foundation in strength and conditioning. Just as important, a lot of them kept training long after their last match—they left with a lifelong love of fitness, not just a highlight reel.
What your teen will gain
Your teen will develop real game speed, not just conditioning. Expect a quicker first step, better acceleration, and a higher top speed. Strength work builds powerful hips and legs, improves posture, and makes jumps and cuts feel effortless. Agility and change-of-direction training teaches them to plant, decelerate, and re-accelerate without wasted steps. We also improve mobility in the hips, ankles, and upper back so their stride opens up and their landings are safer. The bonus benefit is confidence; when athletes feel strong and durable, it shows on the field.
How we train speed and acceleration
Speed starts with mechanics and quality. We use short sprints at true speed with full, timed rest so athletes can actually run fast and learn fast. We teach tall posture, a slight forward lean from the ankles, relaxed shoulders, and big, purposeful arm action. Acceleration, max velocity, and repeat sprint ability are each trained differently, and we progress them in a logical order.
Strength that transfers to sport
In the weight room we focus on the big patterns: squat, hinge (deadlift and its variations), lunge, push, pull, and carry. We emphasize the glutes, hamstrings, and core because they protect knees and backs and drive sprinting and jumping. Loads, sets, and tempos are chosen for the athlete’s maturity—not their ego. The goal is simple: move well first, then add weight. When technique leads, strength gains are safer and last longer.
Power and explosiveness
Strength alone isn’t enough. We layer in low-dose plyometrics and medicine-ball work to build rate of force development—the ability to produce force quickly. That’s the “pop” you see in a clean takeoff, a sharp cut, or a winning jump. We move sub-maximal loads fast so the weight-room improvements show up during games.
Change of direction and deceleration
The fastest athletes know how to stop. We teach deceleration mechanics first—how to lower the center of mass, align the knees, and stack the joints—then add plants, cuts, and re-accelerations. Reactive drills (responding to a visual or verbal cue) teach decision-making under speed so movement is crisp instead of hesitant.
Mobility that matters
Before high-speed work, we open the hips, ankles, and thoracic spine with short, targeted mobility and activation. Better range of motion means cleaner mechanics, fewer overuse issues, and more efficient strides. This is not a long, boring stretch session; it’s the right work in the right places to set up quality reps.
Real injury prevention
Injury risk drops when we manage load well, teach landings and bracing, and build the small but crucial areas: calves and feet, adductors, hamstrings, and the shoulder complex. We track how much, how often, and how fast an athlete is training. In-season, we shift to the minimum effective dose—short, high-quality sessions—to maintain speed and strength while practices and games increase. The goal is to finish the season stronger than you started.
What a session looks like
A typical session runs 60 minutes. We open with prep and mobility, then a focused speed or acceleration block. Strength and power follow—a main lift, smart unilateral work, and explosive work. We finish with “athlete armor” for the tissues that take the most stress, then a quick cool-down to restore breathing and range of motion. It’s efficient, purposeful, and repeatable.
Safety first
We progress exercises by age and skill. We demand perfect reps before load. We watch posture, bar path, landing mechanics, and fatigue. Coaching ratios stay low enough that we can actually coach. Athletes leave feeling better than they arrived—physically and mentally.
Results you can expect
Parents notice the difference quickly: a faster first step, cleaner cuts, higher jumps, stronger posture under contact, fewer nagging tweaks and injuries, and a more confident competitor. Athletes notice it too—because practices and game day feel better.
Ready to get started?
We cap groups so coaching stays personal, and we coordinate around school and sport schedules. If your teen is ready to get stronger, faster, more powerful—and safer—this is the place. Spots are limited. Send us a message to get started.
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