November/December 2021 - 12

The Article Every High School
Athlete Must Read
By Loftin Dortch, RN, BSN, IIN-HC, NASM-CPT
High school athletes, no matter your sport, this one's
for you. However, if you're just in it for the letter, don't
waste your time reading. This is for the athlete with true
dedication and commitment. The one working on skills after
practice, doing speed drills before school, and watching film
after the game. Those who don't just dream of being a high
school standout, but dream of one day receiving that first
paycheck as a professional athlete. So, with that said, I have
three questions before moving forward:
Are you serious about playing at the next level? Are you
doing everything possible to get there? How bad do you
want it?
Why Raw Talent Isn't Enough
The Breakdown: All upper-level athletes have talent.
Take a lesson from the training habits of elite professional
athletes and learn to set yourself apart.
There are plenty of athletes with raw talent who perform
in high school, get the attention of scouts, and go on to
play in college. However, raw talent does not translate to
success once you get there. Getting that scholarship is an
acknowledgment that you are worth investing in, but once
you're there, you have to prove it. There will be other athletes
joining the team with the same talent, stats, and skills. From
there, it comes down to the small actions you are willing to
take in order to move your performance to the next level.
There are two main reasons athletes struggle to
succeed at the collegiate and professional level: injury and
mentality. Plenty of athletes are given the opportunity to
play professionally, are stockpiled with talent, but fall short
because they either can't stay healthy or aren't prepared
to handle the pressure and expectations that come with
playing at the highest level.
The key is minimizing injuries throughout their careers
(translating to more playing time) and fostering an elite
mentality both within the sport and outside it. Elite
athletes realize the importance of this concept.
It's Not Just About Buckets and Gains
The Breakdown: Training is more than lifting and skills
work. You must take advantage of every facet of training in
order to become an elite athlete.
When you think of training, what comes to mind? The
majority of people respond with strength and skills.
Focusing on these can make you a good high school
athlete and even a decent collegiate athlete, but it will not
make you elite. Becoming elite means optimizing every
aspect of training possible in order to reach peak levels of
performance.
12 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
The " I " Word
The Breakdown: Playing is the only way to show your
skills. Injury and illness lead to missed opportunities.
Therefore, you must train to avoid injury.
An athlete's biggest setback? Injury. If you are injured,
you can't train like you want, miss practice reps, and
lose in-game experience, ultimately leading to missed
opportunities. What is the number one way you show
coaches and scouts you have what it takes to play at the
next level? By playing.
Staying healthy and giving yourself more opportunities
to perform could be the difference between getting that
coveted scholarship or having a professional athletic career.
This makes injury prevention key, and it needs to start now.
Food Is Power
The Breakdown: Food is a tool you must use to optimize
your performance and prevent injury. Adding a nutrition
training program now is a defining action that will
separate you from other athletes.
Traced back to the root, a lot of injury results from
chronic stress and inflammation. In sports, athletes move,
cut, stop, fall, and hit, which triggers an inflammatory
response in the body. Short term, this inflammatory
response is useful, protective, and actually helps the body
adapt to necessary stressors related to the sport.
If you aren't giving your body the nutrients it needs to
fortify your immune system, your body will not be able to
fight off the colds, flus, and viruses you are exposed to.
Sickness prevents you from performing at an elite level,
causes missed practices, training sessions, and game
time, ultimately leading to depleted stats and missed
opportunities to show your skills.
Nutrition, along with preventing injury and illness, has
everything to do with achieving peak performance. To
break the performance plateau, move to the next level, and
become an elite athlete, you must optimize nutrition by
consuming the fuel your body needs for energy, growth,
repair, and recovery.
Mind Game
The Breakdown: Training the mind is just as important
as the body. Mentality within the game, as well as in
your personal life, must be addressed in order to be a
successful collegiate and professional athlete.
As an athlete, every aspect of your game is analyzed and
critiqued over and over. This only gets worse as you progress
further in your sport and achieve higher levels of success.
It's great when you have a good game and get online to read
November/December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November/December 2021
