With summer coming up, this week’s success story is about a former speed camp athlete Nick Sparks, who decided that getting faster took more than 1 week of a summer speed workout. Every summer, Coach Derrick, a former Long Beach State track athlete, hosts speed camps to help all athletes learn the importance of speed technique and the power the body needs to be explosive off the start of a sprint.

In June 2013, Nick was eager to correct his running form and gain valuable speed in Coach Derrick’s speed camp to apply to his soccer practices and games. After the speed camp, Nick was eager to become a more committed athlete by joining Champion’s QUEST on a weekly basis and becoming more consistent on his training to gain the speed he needed on the soccer field.

Over the past 1 1/2 years of training, Nick has grown physically and mentally. His weekly training sessions have included speed, strength, endurance, and soccer specific training clinics. Each week, Nick is in the gym training 3-4 hours, knowing that his hard work will continue to push him on his soccer team and give him a competitive advantage over his opponents. Nick always comes in with a smile on his face, determination to push himself during the training, and even comes in on a Saturday morning to start his weekend off with a challenging workout. His quarterly test scores have supported his consistency in training and his dedication to always pushing himself to be the best athlete he can be. It is exciting to see the impact Nick will have this year.

– Coach Brittany Gonzales, CSCS, FMS, USA-W email me