If you watch one of our youth training sessions, you'll notice something that might look a little different: athletes aren't always performing every rep exactly the same way. That's by design.
Many youth athletic development programs focus on creating perfect movement patterns. Athletes are taught to jump, land, squat, and change direction in one specific "correct" way, and coaches spend time making sure every rep looks clean and consistent.
There is value in that. Athletes need to learn basic movement skills, especially when they're young. But once they understand those fundamentals, we don't think the goal should be making every athlete move identically.
The reality is that no two athletes move exactly the same. Some are naturally stiffer, while others are more mobile. Some have longer limbs, different proportions, different strengths, and different movement strategies. Instead of trying to force every athlete into the same mold, we teach sound movement principles while allowing room for individual differences. We're more interested in whether an athlete can complete a movement safely and effectively than whether it looks exactly like the athlete next to them.
We also intentionally introduce variation into training because sports demand adaptability. For example, if we're working on box jumps, we may change the athlete's starting position or approach while keeping the objective the same. The goal is still to jump onto the box, but they have to solve the movement challenge in a slightly different way each set.
Those small changes expose athletes to different movement demands and expand their movement toolbox. Competition rarely happens under perfect conditions. Athletes are constantly adjusting to opponents, teammates, changing speeds, awkward body positions, and less-than-perfect landings. If every rep in training is identical, we're missing an opportunity to prepare them for what they'll actually experience in competition.
That doesn't mean we're looking for random variation or that technique doesn't matter. There are absolutely times when we'll coach positions, clean up movement, or correct something that could increase injury risk. Fundamentals come first.
But once that foundation is in place, chasing perfect-looking movement becomes less important than developing adaptable athletes. We want athletes to have more than one solution to a movement problem because that's exactly what sports require.
At the end of the day, we're not evaluating a training session based on whether every athlete looked the same. We're evaluating whether they completed the movement safely, achieved the goal of the exercise, and developed the adaptability they'll need outside the weight room.
Because in sport, success isn't about performing drills perfectly. It's about being able to perform when the situation isn't.
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