Kasen Hankins is a middle school soccer player that joined my youth athlete crew about six months ago. In short, Kasen is a stud. He came in injury free (as most young kids do), but his goal was to get stronger to make up for his lack of size on the field. With his speed and quickness being such an asset for him as a midfielder, I didn't want to interfere with those skills as he developed strength in the training room.
Most of the training for my youth athletes is centered around developing stability. When the body is “stable”, its ability to exert force (aka do strong things) is much higher. This is great news for a kid like Kasen because simply learning proper movement under load and then challenging stability (offsetting center of mass, shifting base of support, moving through multiple planes of motion) is more than enough to start getting really freaking strong for soccer. Traditional strength based movements such as the squat, bench, and deadlift are all utilized in modified fashions to safely and effectively progress Kasen’s strength as well.
I started receiving videos of Kasen’s play time, and this kid does not fail to impress! Not only is he one of the fastest to the ball, but he also displays serious relative strength and aggressiveness to defend amongst rival players. The control he has during defensive maneuvers and maintaining ball control is high level.
Most of all, this kid works hard. He never backs away from a challenge. He always pushes to exceed the expectations of both himself and others, and I do not doubt he will have a highly successful athletic career. Keep up the good work, Kasen.