Blake Gardner

With the start of football season just around the corner, some of the nation’s best players have been invited to Paisley, Florida, to fine tune their games at the three-day Football University Top Gun Camp, before returning to lead their High School teams.

Over the past few days, I had the good fortune to watch 80 talented juniors work with Athletic Republic trainers and FBU coaches at the impressive All-Star Sports Academy, an Athletic Republic franchise.

Mark Stevenson brought his son Marques, a running back from Lake Marion High School, in Lake Marion, Michigan, to the Top Gun Camp because he liked the position-specific training. Marques is a powerful runner, whose linear speed and lateral quickness has improved this summer with training at Athletic Republic – Auburn Hills. Marques was able to showcase his ‘football speed’ vs. his ‘combine speed’ at the camp, and make a lasting impression on the linebackers covering him in the receiving skills and route drills.

I also enjoyed watching Blake Gardner, a wide receiver from Steele High School in New Braunfels, Texas, move through the pro-agility drill with grace and then execute great running mechanics on the treadmill. It came as no surprise, when I learned he’d been training with Shawn Dassie and the Athletic Republic – New Braunfels team.

Bill Bayless captured the Top Gun difference his son Harrison, a quarterback from John Handley, High School in Winchester, Virginia, was experiencing in just three words: Training, Technique and Technology. Bill was impressed with how Athletic Republic brought science right onto the sports field and wanted to know when we’d be opening a training center closer to Winchester. The same question that has lead to the start of many of our most successful training sites … we’ll be talking to Bill to help us identify franchise operator prospects and locations in his area.

Charlie Graves — Arthletic Repubic CEO

Football University Top Gun Camps 1 and 2 took place last week in Paisley, Florida, and included up and coming 7th and 8th grade football players.  The intensity of both camps were impressive for athletes of such a young age. NFL legends like Andre Rison and Chris Slade led the groups through the Florida heat, working on mastering basic footwork and techniques that are the fundamentals of the game.  Seven-on-seven drills for the skill players and one-on-one battles for the lineman are also part of the experience.  “Coaching every rep” is part of the FBU philosophy and these athletes receive the best instruction possible.  What an experience! I wish I would have had something like this available to me as a young player.

Athletic Republic’s event manager, Jon Drenckhahn, has done a great job managing the delivery of our “Test, Teach, Train” philosophy for each Top Gun athlete.  Our regional football managers, Sione Taufoo, Dan O’Donnel, and Chad Gunnelson all flew in to lead the performance training efforts along with myself and Tad O’Had.  As always, Sione, Dan, Chad and Tad were at the top of their game. On Day 1, we were able to test all 80 athletes and provide immediate video feedback on their start technique and cutting mechanics.  Each player also competed in a “reaction drill” competition using the SmartSpeed Pro system.  These competitions are always fun, pitting position groups against each other to see which group wins the most battles.  The intensity and enthusiasm of each player was refreshing.

On Day 2, skill players were able to get a taste of the Super Treadmill as our trainers worked with them on improving their running mechanics, using mirrors and immediate Dartfish video feedback.  The training was combined with lessons on proper running mechanics and key aspects of improving speed.  The lineman and linebackers were able to work on first-step quickness with our patented Sprintcords.  The big men also spent time in the sand pit working on strength and stability.    Each position group spent time working on position-specific footwork and reaction drills to improve speed and power.  Our job as performance trainers is to help them move better, while helping to reinforce what their coaches are teaching them.

All in all, we were able to spend over three hours with each athlete to help them get better.  From the feedback of the parents and athletes so far, we are helping to exceed their expectations for Top Gun. Many of the athletes were already training at an Athletic Republic facility, and many more came away impressed with what our training facilities could do for them.  I look forward to hearing more success stories from parents and athletes—it’s what all of us who train athletes love about our job. These stories mean just as much or more to us as the stories about Brandon Meriweather and Eric Brock I shared in my last post.

Steve Swanson — Cheif Science & Technology Officer

Here’s a link to a post on Rivals.com that talks all about the integration of technology into Athletic Republic’s on-field and training center based football training programs.

Football University’s Top Gun All-Star Experience for the nation’s top youth and prep players kicked off in Paisley, Florida, last week, with sessions for 7th and 8th graders. The facility at All-Star Sports, a proud member of Athletic Republic, is literally a “field of dreams” for football.  The 80-acre complex has everything a serious football player would want: a beautiful grass football field with coaches observation towers; practice fields with chutes and sleds; a sand pit; two weight rooms and a special room dedicated to treadmill training.

Athletic Republic’s equipment and training methodology are utilized predominantly in the training offered at All-Star Sports and headed up by world-class performance training director Todd Robinett, MS.  The lodge has a full kitchen, locker rooms and dorms for up to 100 athletes complete, with a 50” flatscreen TV and leather couches.  The facility is perfect for camps and team activities, allowing athletes to focus entirely on training, good nutrition, recovery and building team chemistry.

Several professional and college athletes call All-Star Sports home during the offseason as they work to reach their full potential.  Some notable athletes training in Paisley just prior to TopGun were Eric Brock of the Atlanta Falcons and Brandon Meriweather of the New England Patriots.  Brandon blew away the coaches upon his arrival in New England by running a blazing sub 4.4 second forty, not once, not twice, but three times — the coacheskept asking him to run again to make sure they were timing correctly!  Afterwards, he texted Todd Robinett with a message “proof that treadmill works!”

Eric’s pre-NFL Draft experience in the winter of 2008 was chronicled here with a series of blog posts, beginning with this post. Going into his second season with the Atlanta Falcons, Erik is primed to make an impact with the team. All the staff rave about his strength, size and speed — not to mention the work ethic that is a pre-requisite for making an impact on Sundays.  I can’t wait to watch both Brandon and Erik on the field this fall.  All of us at Athletic Republic wish them the best of luck this season.

Steve Swanson — Chief Science & Technology Officer