James Smith

Small Sided Games For Athletic Development Course Most training relies on controlled drills & predictable patterns. But sport is dynamic, unpredictable, & constantly changing. This course shows you how to design training environments that behave like sport, activities that look, feel, & act like the game itself. Through practical video demonstrations & coaching guidance, you’ll learn how to use SSGs to develop movement skill, decision-making, gamespeed, & adaptability. If you’re a coach, athlete, or parent, this course will give you the tools to build better training environments & unlock true skill transfer to sport. theuofstrength.thinkific.com/products/cours…

Social Systems Shape Athletic Systems - THE U OF STRENGTH theuofstrength.com/articles/socia…

How do we design & manage our field or court-based training? Most programs get this wrong… They choose between closed drills or open activities. But training doesn’t live in extremes, it lives in the bridge between them. Closed environments give athletes the space & time to feel specific concepts & solutions. Open environments force them to adapt & express those same strategies in a skillful manner. Both matter. The key is sequencing: ▪️Simplify ▪️Layer in variability ▪️Finish with complexity That’s how COD actually transfers.

We obsess over what we can see: speed, strength, power. But performance starts before movement ever happens. It starts with perception & cognition. If the input is late or misread, the output will be too, no matter how athletic someone is. Perceptual-cognitive training shifts part of the focus toward the input side of the equation: ▪️What is the athlete seeing? ▪️When are they seeing it? ▪️How are they interpreting it? ▪️How quickly can they act on it? The goal isn’t to abandon physical training. It’s to blend. We’re not choosing between speed & decision-making, or between power & perception. We’re designing environments where they coexist. theuofstrength.thinkific.com

Invisible Skills - THE U OF STRENGTH theuofstrength.com/articles/invis…

The Value of the Mess in Athletic Development - THE U OF STRENGTH theuofstrength.com/articles/the-v…

When most people think of force development, they picture barbells & dumbbells. & yes, those tools matter. They build strength, raise capacity, & improve tissue tolerance. But athletic development doesn’t stop at the barbell. Our goal isn’t just to lift more weight. It’s to develop force that shows up when it actually matters, on the field, the court, or the ice. Enter small sided games & roughhousing. Chaotic environments challenge athletes to apply force under contextual conditions. Unpredictable starts, shifting space, & constant interaction demand more than raw strength, they require adaptable strength. This is where “sticky” force is built. Force that holds up under changing demands. Force that adjusts in real time. Force that transfers. Strength isn’t just lifting heavy. It’s about skillfully expressing force in chaos. If you want to explore this concept further, along with a full library of our small sided games, check out the link below 👇 theuofstrength.thinkific.com

Beyond the Physical Perceptual-cognitive skills aren’t secondary to strength or speed. The ability to read, decide, & act under pressure isn’t separate from performance… It is performance. Design for Perception & Decision-Making If you want to develop it, build it into the environment. Train athletes to perceive, decide, act in real time, not just run pre-planned drills. Example SSG Constraints: ▪️ Offense picks the ball carrier pre-rep ▪️ Start with 3–5s lateral mirroring scenario ▪️ No passing during this phase ▪️ Then defense must disrupt (deflect/intercept/ force a miss) ▪️ Ball carrier passes to teammate inside opponent’s area (stays on their side) ▪️ Only 1 offensive participant can enter defense’s area Less scripting. More problem-solving.

Add This To Your Plyometric 🧰… COD isn’t limited to cone drills. Here’s a look at how we build COD qualities right inside the weight room using a zigzag (diagonal) plyometric setup. Why go diagonal? Because sport & human movement aren’t linear. ▪️Manage & redirect force outside straight lines ▪️Create more effective 🦶pressure ▪️Develop awareness of the inside vs. outside edge of the 🦶 ▪️Understand the relationship between COM & BOS Then we layer in contrast: Hard surface & soft surfaces. Now the athlete has to solve the movement. They can’t rely on one strategy, they must self-organize. This challenges: ▪️Pretensioning ▪️Appropriate stiffness (not too rigid, not too soft) ▪️Adaptability under changing conditions Manipulate the environment to unlock the movement.

The Missing Ingredient: Variability in Force Development - THE U OF STRENGTH theuofstrength.com/articles/the-m…

Stop scripting every movement. Start designing environments where movement emerges. One of our most effective tools? Small sided games (SSGs). With our Foundation group, we kept it simple, but intentional. The Setup ▪️ Offense: Evade & get both feet through the goal ▪️ Defense: Steal the scarf ▪️ Constraint: Rep was live on the defense’s turning action & no stepping inside curved boundary lines That’s it. No over-coaching. No step-by-step instructions. Just a problem to solve. What happened? 🔹Acceleration solutions 🔹COD strategies 🔹Evasion & pursuit behaviors All showed up… Without being coached. Because when you design the environment right: Individuals don’t need all the answers, they discover them. This is the shift: 🔸From prescribing movement to creating “movement invitations” 🔸From telling to letting individuals explore, adapt, & self-organize The goal isn’t perfect reps. It’s better problem-solvers. theuofstrength.thinkific.com

Progression–Regression vs. the Agile Programming Model - THE U OF STRENGTH theuofstrength.com/articles/progr…

Comfort limits adaptation. When training removes chaos in the name of “perfect reps,” it also removes the opportunity to learn how to solve problems when things go wrong. And in sport… things are always going wrong. So we design for it. Example: ▪️Defender starts on the ground ▪️Play goes live on the pass ▪️Offense has numbers + constraints ▪️Offense not allowed to catch, must spike the ball inside the goal Want to learn more? Visit the link below to get access to all our small sided games👇 theuofstrength.thinkific.com

Space changes everything. One of the simplest, but most powerful, tools in small sided games? The space you give athletes. 🔸Compress it= Faster decisions, more contact, tighter & more elusive movement 🔸Expand it= More scanning, pacing, longer & more strategic solutions Example: ▪️ Unpredictable tag & release start ▪️ One offensive participant active ▪️ Offense attacks the goal located on the opposite side ▪️ Defense tries to steal the scarf Want to learn more about our small sided games, visit the link velow👇 theuofstrength.thinkific.com

The weight room isn’t just for getting stronger or chasing numbers, it’s a problem-solving environment. Move beyond “add weight, repeat.” Performance isn’t linear, so training shouldn’t be either. When we introduce variation, constraints, & intent, athletes learn to: ▪️ Organize their body under changing demands ▪️ Apply force in different directions ▪️ Adapt instead of rehearse Lifting becomes more than reps & sets, it becomes learning. Because the goal isn’t just stronger athletes… It’s more adaptable ones.

Strengths & Weaknesses vs. Rate Limiters & Enhancers: A Contextual Lens on Movement & Performance - THE U OF STRENGTH theuofstrength.com/articles/stren…

Applying the Max Effort Method in Training - THE U OF STRENGTH theuofstrength.com/articles/apply…

Plyometric training isn’t only about getting more explosive, it’s about creating environments where athletes learn how to apply force in ways that actually transfer to high speed actions. Because the real challenge? Bridging acceleration & max velocity. These phases are mechanically different, but in performance, they must flow seamlessly. That’s where ankle jump contrasts come in: ▪️ Bent-leg ankle jumps (med ball) 🔸Lower COM, horizontal projection (acceleration) ▪️ Straight-leg ankle jumps (no med ball) 🔸Upright positioning, vertical stiffness (max velocity) Together, they teach athletes how to organize force with the right timing, direction, & shape. Not just transmitting force… but applying it when it matters. Plyometric environments give athletes the chance to: ✅ Feel the transition ✅ Build rhythm + coordination ✅ Align force vectors under neural demand ✅ Reduce risk vs. max sprinting

Team Sport Athletes Are Not Sprinters: Why the Speed Model Must Match the Sport - THE U OF STRENGTH theuofstrength.com/articles/team-…

One of the most effective ways to build lasting skill in youthletes? Task-oriented environments. They shift attention away from the body, toward the environment. When individuals focus on a goal, opponent, or task… they stop overthinking mechanics & start organizing movement in real time. What you’ll see: ▪️ Higher energy & intent ▪️ More effort (without forcing it) ▪️ Better decisions under pressure ▪️ More adaptable movement solutions Game-like environments provide instant feedback. Success or failure reflects the solution. Example: 🔹Start: Dynamic lateral & unpredictable ball drop 🔹Offense: Get the ball & attack opposite goal 🔹Defense: Steal the scarf Simple rules. Endless solutions. Don’t tell individuals how to move. Give them a reason to move, & let solutions emerge. Less instruction. More interaction. theuofstrength.thinkific.com

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