With the recent addition of Golf BioDynamics to the IJGA, students have begun a series of physical competency tests in effort to solidify personalized benchmarks for the year ahead. Such testing will not only provide Karen Harrison, Director of Health & Athletic Development, with an initial report of student capabilities but also a way to measure personal growth this 2014-2015 year.
Since the first two weeks of testing, students have focused on warming-up prior to activity in their sessions, with the recommendation to do the same prior to practice and tournament play. On the evening of Sept. 22, 2014, the sessions continued with another four groups of students being run through their paces. Lighter testing will continue into Wednesday the 24th and Thursday the 25th.
As a result of testing this week, each coach and student will be more aware of their physical strengths and weaknesses. A graphical picture of their results will be produced for each student and loaded into Winning Identity profiles as soon as the results are collated. The end game is to develop better all-round athletes with more directed training programs and establishing the baseline is the first step in the process. The next step is to be able to link this with the technical issues in their golf swings and tailor the training programs accordingly. Spending more time on the range and with Kevin Smeltz, Director of Instruction, and Nate Dougherty, Golf 3D Analyst & Bio Feedback, is the next goal.
