Football 365 defines the Athletic Republic training network’s commitment to helping youth, middle school and high school football players maximize their potential and achieve their goals. We’ve partnered with Football University (FBU) and Rivals.com to develop a year-round, systematic approach to overall stamina and speed development, position-specific skill building and the X factor—getting noticed by college recruiters.

The mindset behind Football 365 is that every season is football season—Athletic Republic encourages athletes to train like a football player 365 days a year. From in-season practice and games, to post-season development of movement skills, power, strength and efficiency, to spring practice, to pre-season preparation, to playing a second or third sport, Athletic Republic and FBU present unparalleled opportunities for players to improve their game. And, when the time is right, Rivals.com is there to provide the platform for college-bound players to be noticed by recruiters.

Even though football combine season is already in progress, you can still fine-tune your technique to maximize your results. In the attached video, you’ll learn techniques to improve your 40-yard dash time. Over the next couple of weeks we’ll post other videos with combine preparation tips, so stay tuned.

And don’t forget, training at an Athletic Republic performance sports training center will help hone your testing technique while improving your football speed, power and agility.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from or about Neil Clark (top photo) and Vladi Nikiforov (bottom photo).

With hockey season in full-swing, they’ve both seen the benefits of their hard summer of hockey training pay off. Here’s a story about Neil being called up to the AHL Rochester Americans.

Neil is possibly one of the hardest working athletes I have ever worked with his resilience, attitude and pure passion for the game makes him a leader on and off the ice. He has made incredible strides in his game and continues to move up the hockey food chain. – Tad O’Had VP of Hockey Athletic Republic

Utah Grizzlies Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Kevin Colley recently announced  that forward Vladimir Nikiforov has been recalled to the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Grizzlies are proud to be the ECHL affiliate of the New York Islanders and their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport. Nikiforov, 21, was named an ECHL All-Star last week and leads Utah rookies with six goals and 12 assists in 29 games. He played four games with the Sound Tigers earlier this year.

Vladi Nikiforov did an incredible job this summer training, his persistence and attitude are outstanding and we couldn’t be any happier with his success. — Jake Laime BlueStreak Sports Training Hockey Director (A Proud Member of Athletic Republic)

On January 2, 2009, 500 of America’s top high school sophomore and junior football players gathered in San Antonio, Texas, to demonstrate their physical talent and football skills in front of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Selection Committee and college football’s top scouting organizations. Athletic Republic was on the field with them capturing their test results with state-of-the-art technology solutions.

Throughout the day Athletic Republic captured digital video to show the athletes how they were performing and how they  improved with coaching. The end result is a multi-media report that synchronizes test data with video, bringing numbers to life and actually showing what something like two-tenths of a second improvement in the 40-yard dash looks like in terms of separation from an opponent.

Here’s a behind the scenes story from Rivals.com that talks about the benefits of this new approach combine testing: standardizing the measurement of standardized tests.

The photo at left recently was posted on Habs Inside/Out–the online source for absolutely everything about the Montreal Canadiens. The title of the post is Getting Into Hockey Shape, and tells the tale of the Silver brothers bring Athletic Republic’s patented Hockey Treadmill to the Sportplexe Quatres-Glaces in Pierrefonds.

If you’ve ever wondered what hockey treadmill training was all about, this article is a must read.

Looking for coverage of last week’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl activities? Here are links to some of the stories from the San Antonio Express, which covered the goings on from start to finish:

All-American Bowl claims victory in all-star battle

Middle-schoolers take aim at first all-star glory

East quarterback takes advantage of all-star spotlight

Parents example inspires tackle

Q&A: Marshall Faulk

Athletic Republic CEO Charlie Graves

Like a kid in a candy shop, Athletic Republic CEO Charlie Graves proudly shows off his own U.S. Army All-American Bowl East Team jersey. He’s a little older than the 90 high schools seniors on the East and West teams, but he’s just as enthusiastic about being in San Antonio for all the U.S. Army All-American Bowl week activities, including the U.S. Army National Combine, the Football University Youth All-American Bowl and, of course, the U.S. Army All-American Bowl itself.

All three Football University Youth All-American Bowl games will be Web cast live on Sunday, January 4th on www.FootballUniversity.org, and the U.S. Army All-American Bowl will be televised on NBC Sports at noon (CST) on Saturday, January 3rd.