All Athletes need FLIGHT

Vertical jump is one of the most coveted athletic attributes. No professional testing combine or athletic evaluation will be administered without vertical jump testing – the list includes the NHL, NFL,NBA, MLB, or any Olympic Sport Testing Organization. The reason why vertical jump is always included is because vertical jump is highly correlated with speed, acceleration, agility, change in direction ability, power, weightlifting potential[1], talent identification, and most importantly sport performance[2, 3]. Note vertical jump isn’t the only measure of an athlete. But it appears that vertical jump performance transfer into many athletic qualities. Simply put if you jump higher you’ll be faster, quicker and more explosive [1-7] – and who doesn’t want that?

Therefore all athlete need to develop their vertical jump – enter Flight School. It doesn’t matter if you play tennis, hockey, soccer or basketball and volleyball, every athlete needs to jump.

While Flight School began as a program, it’s no longer a stand-alone program. Flight school is officially integrated into all our athletic development programs. That means we’re taking our expertise in vertical jump development and fully integrated it into all our programs. We had to do this because vertical jump training isn’t just about jumping. It requires a solid foundation of awareness, control, sound movement qualities and strength of our entire body. Interestingly, vertical jump is a full body movement that has many determinants. To properly develop these determinants takes time and it takes a systematic approach over years. Therefore a 12 week program, DVD programs, or minicamp exposures can’t possibly deliver the improvements that are in some cases, are “guaranteed”. Worse exposure to techniques without proper preparation most likely will lead to chronic injuries that will erode an athlete’s athleticism – such as tendinopathies (commonly in the knee and Achilles), knee problems (that include ACL ruptures, meniscal problems, or patello-femoral pain), low back problems, and hip problems.

Flight School is not about gimmicks or unfounded or outdated training methods. Flight School is about integrating best practices with emerging concepts from all around the world to increase vertical jump performance, decrease injuries, and to improve your performance.

Here are some great FITS resources to get you started:

• FITS Determinants of Vertical Jump
• Vince Carter, Michael Jordan and Alpine Ski Racing – What is the connection?
• Stiffness the key to performance and injury prevention