Our elitefts road trip series takes us to Granville, Ohio where we spent the day at TAD Sports (Total Athlete Development). TAD Sports is a 20,000 sq. ft. facility with plenty of room to expand and grow to even larger dimensions. Clint Cox is the owner of TAD Sports. Clint along with his wife and the other members of his staff work mainly with younger kids as well as high school and college bound athletes. The purpose of TAD Sports is too develop speed and agility to the athletes they work with and to give them the speed training opportunities they might not achieve at their respected middle or high schools.
After receiving a tour of the facility and observed different workouts with different aged athletes we sat down with Clint to discuss questions based on our observations at TAD Sports as well as the fitness world in general.
Codi: How hard is it too work with young athletes?
Clint: “It can be very difficult at times due to the fact that their young kids and their minds can wander to different places or things. As a trainer I sometimes get upset especially if the young athlete wasn’t paying attention to instructions and continues to make mistakes because he/she didn’t listen. However as a father I understand that these are not professional athletes. We sometimes deal with kids as young as nine years old so it’s important to keep the workouts fresh and fun to keep them interacted with myself and the other trainers.”
Codi: Do you stay in sync with your athlete’s high school coaches to be on the same page when programming your athletes?
Clint: “I do know some of the local high school coaches and I keep in contact with them, but mainly I communicate with the athletes themselves to find out what they are doing as far as training whether its during their athletic season or off-season from their I can base my programming off their answers.”
Andy: What is the makeup of your clientele in terms of percentages?
Clint: “We can’t really break it up into percentages because it’s really all over the place. A lot of our athletes are short term pre-season. A lot of parents come to us and say “Hey little Timmy has try-outs in two weeks, make him bigger/faster/stronger”.
Andy: Do you implement Olympic lifts in your programming?
Clint: “Very rarely. Our programming is mostly based on individual athlete differences and future expectations of the athlete. We don’t force Olympic movements but we do regularly program standard movements like squats, deadlifts, sprints and other mobility. If an athlete will be expected to know how to do Olympic lifts such as cleans or hang cleans for their future in collegiate or professional athletics, then yes, we do implement Olympic lifts…but usually it’s a rare occurrence.”
Andy: What coaches would you say influenced you the most?
Clint: “Oh wow. Well I have to start with your guy, Mark Watts. Incredible guy. Absolutely amazing. From there I’d say Buddy Morris is a big one. James Smith, Kyle Deets. I’m a huge fan of the Triphasic Method. Kelly Starrett and Mobility WOD is another big one.”
Andrew: What’s your method for working with kids who are always in season?
Clint: “Ask them the right questions and have a flexible program. We also try to focus on proper recovery and give them the training they are missing out on elsewhere.”
Andrew: What’s your long term developmental model for kids you work with?
Clint: “Unfortunately it is rare to have kids start young and develop with us for a long period of time. We focus on developing skills versus pushing the athletes. Keep in mind only 7% of high school athletes go on to play college sports and only 2% get athletic scholarships so that certainly effects our methodology.”
We would like to thank Clint and his whole staff at TAD Sports for showing us around and giving us a professional like atmosphere, one that we can all leave and say that what TAD Sports is accomplishing with younger athletes is pretty remarkable.
Learn More About TAD Sports
Hunter Winans is a rising senior at Denison University. He is a member of the football team and an athletic training major. He is currently interning at elitefts™ to further pursue his interest in the fitness world; and to further develop his knowledge in strength and performance training.
Andy Hingsbergen is an intern at EliteFTS. He's currently finishing up a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology at The Ohio State University. Andy competes in powerlifting and is currently setting his sights on taking the physique stage. He is originally from Springboro, Ohio.
Andrew Triana is a Springfield College student studying Applied Exercise Science. He competes in Strongman.
Codi Casper is from Carrollton, Ohio. He recently graduated from Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in Applied Journalism while playing strong safety on RMU's football team. New to the powerlifting circuit, he placed 3rd in his first ever meet this past April. He competes in a full meet this August at Lexen Extreme.
