This week I spoke to David & Nick from APC. Ireland newest Speed Performance coaching programme. The guys are working with kids of various ages with the focus on getting them to move and react quicker. I started by asking the lads who they are and why they set-up ACP.
TCD: Who are you?
ACP: Accelerate Performance Coaching is Nick Hogan, an Irish international 400m sprinter, and David Knowles, a UEFA qualified coach. We are based in Dublin Indoor Football in Santry.
TCD: Why did you set up Accelerate Performance Coaching?
ACP: We started APC as we want the aspiring elite youth players in Ireland to have every chance to succeed in football and get professional contracts. We provide speed and power training as we feel that is the area that is fundamentally lacking in football coaching in this country, and which ultimately will make the difference.
TCD: Tell me about the training you provide?
ACP: We take a players from the ages 10+ and put them through our courses which are all aimed at making players faster, more powerful and more confident. Our courses give players a combination of a new training environment, style and focus all in a small group setting where they can get individual attention and coaching.
We completely remove the element of competition from the training as we feel that it hinders learning new skills and abilities. Their focus is then entirely on improving themselves with no distractions. This is how track and field athletes train, and we think it is the best environment to learn what it is we are coaching them. Soon we will have a gym in operation, the first strength and conditioning facility specifically for youth footballers in the country. Which will give us even more scope to achieve the results we are looking for with our players.
TCD: Do you only coach elite players?
ACP: It is not important to us what level a player is playing at as long as the right attitude is there. We are elite only in that we demand that whatever level a player is coming from, they are willing to learn and want to improve themselves.
TCD: Do you work with teams?
ACP: Yes, as long as the team is the right fit in terms of attitude. Our work with teams follows a similar structure to the programs that we coach on our courses, all aimed at improving player speed, agility and confidence in their abilities, but structured in a way that fits in with the team’s existing training set up. Recently we have worked with Malahide u16 Premier and the Kildare (K.D.U.L) Kennedy Cup squad.
TCD: Are you seeing results?
TCP: Yes. We recently finished a 12 week program with a group of ten players and every single one of them improved in every single test that we use, speed, agility and power.
More important than that is that all of those players told us that they feel faster and more capable on the pitch, and more confident as a result. Results don’t mean a whole lot if they don’t transfer to match situations, so the real results for us are players telling us about how they feel our training works for them in their matches. We even get parents of our players telling us that people are telling them at games that their son looks faster, without any knowledge of the work they have been doing with us.
If parents are interested in applying for a place on any of their programs they can go here: APPLY NOW
The Coach Diary would like to thank Nick & David for this interview. For more infomation go to: www.accelerateperformancecoaching.ie
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