Derek M. Hansen

WATCH: Taiwanese grandmothers aged 89 and 91 train at the gym. An increasing number of elderly people in Taiwan’s super-aged society are hitting the gym to stay healthy, both physically and mentally.

What will @DerekMHansen cover at the IUSCA International Conference 2026? Derek’s session will focus on a key question in performance preparation: 📌How do we balance general and specific training for injury prevention? He will break down: • Why many injury prevention approaches do not transfer well to real performance environments • How general physical preparation fits alongside sport-specific demands • Practical ways to structure training without compromising performance outcomes • Lessons drawn from experience in elite sport Derek Hansen is an internationally recognised sprint and performance coach, having worked with athletes across multiple Olympic Games cycles, World Championships, and professional sport. He has extensive experience in speed development, injury management, and return-to-play, and is known for translating complex concepts into clear, practical coaching applications. 📍 Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom 📅 Friday 5th June 2026 Join leading coaches, researchers, and practitioners for a day focused on applied science and coaching practice. 🎟️ Tickets available: iusca.org/conference

@DerekMHansen takes the lead feature in this week's Newsletter, alongside new research on coconut water and the menstrual cycle. For our summaries and links to the original posts and studies, click the link below. scienceforsport.com/newsletter/

The one and only @DerekMHansen joined us in episode 6 of the Science for Sport podcast. Derek discusses misconceptions in speed training for team sports, how to make athletes generally faster, and adding context to their sport. scienceforsport.fireside.fm/6, or streaming platforms.

@timkettenring @coachngraham Agreed. Motor Learning > Max Output in training, especially for developing athletes. 100% effort rarely yields 100% performance in speed events.

Here’s an entire great article ⁦@DerekMHansen⁩ wrote on how to periodize and use the High-Low Method. Meaning how to actually balance speed days and capacity. Learn and take notes! sprintcoach.com/blog/revisitin…

A cool demonstration of physics. The truck is moving forward at 80 km/h. The guy is catapulted in the opposite direction at 80 km/hr.

Some behind-the-scenes of the FPV drone pilots at Milan Winter Olympics. They operate 250-gram drones with top speed of 160km/hr. Each works with a technician and a director (who gives real-time advice to frame the shot and plucks footage for broadcast).

Norway consistently wins the most medals at the Winter Olympic Games, with a population of just 5.6 million people. A big part of their success is how they treat youth sports—and it’s the opposite of what we do in the US. Here’s what we can learn from Norway: 1. Scorekeeping: In the US: Youth sports tend to be hyper competitive even at early ages. Leagues almost always keep score. In Norway: Scorekeeping isn’t even allowed until age 13. Removing winners and losers keeps the focus on the process not outcomes. It keeps kids engaged longer because it minimizes pressure (and tears) and maximizes fun, learning, and growth. The goal isn’t to win a third grade championship. It’s to love sport and keep playing. 2. Trophies: In the US: If you give everyone a trophy, you’re creating snowflakes who will never gain a competitive edge. In Norway: Whenever trophies are awarded, they are handed out to everyone. If getting a trophy makes young kids feel good, we should give them trophies. Maybe they’ll come back and play again next year!! As for the creation of snowflakes with no competitive edge—Norway’s athletes are tough as nails and all they do is win. 3. Prioritizing Fun: In the US: Far too often, the goal is to win. In Norway: The national philosophy is “joy of sport.” Youth sports in the US are driven by adults, ego, and money. Youth sports in Norway are driven by fun. Only half of kids in the US participate in sports. The number one reason they drop out: because they aren’t having fun anymore. In Norway, 93% of kids participate in youth sports. Fun is the foremost goal. 4. Playing Multiple Sports: In the US: There’s pressure to specialize early and play your best sport year round. In Norway: Try as many sports as you can before specializing as late as college. Norway encourages kids to try all types of sport. This reduces injury and burnout and increases all-around athleticism. It also helps promotes match quality, or finding the sport you are best suited for as your body develops, which is impossible if you commit to a single sport too early. 5. Affordability In the US: There is increasingly a pay-to-play model with high fees for leagues, equipment, and travel. This excludes many kids from playing. In Norway: It’s a national priority to keep youth sports affordable and therefore accessible for all. Kids aren’t priced out, which creates opportunities for everyone to participate (and develop into athletes), regardless of their parents’ income level. We could learn a lot from Norway: In the US, 70% of kids drop out of youth sports by age 13. This not only diminishes an elite-athlete pipeline, but it also destroys an opportunity for healthy habits and all the character lessons kids can learn from sport. In Norway, lifelong participation in sport is the norm. The goal isn’t to have the best 9U team. It’s to develop the best athletes. Those are two very different things. And Norway has the gold medals to prove it.

15 PPG and dunking on everyone Could play at A LOT of places

🔥 The full speaker line-up for the IUSCA International Conference on Strength & Conditioning 2026 is here! Join us on Friday 5th June 2026 at @leedsbeckett for an unmissable day of insight, innovation, and impact, featuring world-leading experts from elite sport, academia, and applied performance: 🔹 Joe Kenn – Dynamic Fitness & Strength @bighousepower 🔹 Tim Suchomel – University of Pittsburgh @DrTSuchomel 🔹 John Noonan – Oracle Red Bull Racing @JohnnoonanCoach 🔹 Alex Wolf – Strength and Conditioning Academy 🔹 Paul Comfort – University of Salford @PaulComfort1975 🔹 Derek Hansen – Sports Performance Consultant @DerekMHansen 🔹 Mark Campbell – International S&C Consultant 🎟️ Tickets: iusca.org/conference 🎯 Early Bird: £95 (until March 31) 💼 General Admission: £125 Headline sponsors: Carnegie School of Sport and @HawkinDynamics

This should be an annual celebration. January 21st.

Imagine getting declined as a walk-on from University of Miami, just to defeat Miami in the national championship years later… Incredible. Congratulations, Indiana University and especially Fernando Mendoza!

What a moment.

@spikesonly @Mr_davisj @BurnTheLadders Real or AI generated? 😂

@Mr_davisj @BurnTheLadders @DerekMHansen I need a video.

Shotput does more to build power and explosiveness than Olympic lifting ever could. Yet sport coaches never want to build their training dogma around throwing the shot?

I created a song using Suno AI on the Achilles Tendon epidemic in sports. This one's for you @jake_tuura - hope you're a Motown lover! youtu.be/Xh-3XZwoUZQ

Live look at the transfer portal opening today

@spikesonly And hopefully implemented by coaches with aptitude, adaptability and nuance, not algorithms.

The best solutions for resisted sprinting are launching in 2026. They will be: More Portable with Size and Weight More Accurate with Human Output More Versatile with resistance types More Comprehensive Data with new metrics More Affordable for High Schools Exciting Times!

@spikesonly Bottom feeder solutions

Not really…

@spikesonly Fundamentals + Consistency + Informed Nuance = Success

Sprinting health is about pacing the strain of training. The best lesson I have learned from my own mentors is to trust yourself and have expectations that are realistic. Small improvements are not exciting but compound over time. Speed craves stability, not yo-yo changes.