The Academy is launching a new arm to its already successful education business. The Academy Athlete is a way for athletes and teams to Test, Train and Succeed. This is achieved by benchmarking their abilities through testing sessions and improving their performance with gym, track and skill programs, prescribed according to their results.
Created by Alex Rance (Founder and CEO of The Academy & former Richmond Football Club Premiership Player), Jake Giannakis (Head of High Performance at The Academy and Essendon Football Club Strength & Conditioning Coach) and Tom Hornsey (former NFL punter Dallas Cowboy) the testing protocols and training programs have been designed to more accurately identify and improve the athletic foundation of a high performing footballer.
“We designed the testing protocol to provide athletes with a clearer picture of what their strengths and weaknesses are from a gym, track and skill perspective. There is nothing more frustrating than having a goal but not knowing where to start. Following a testing session, each athlete will receive a detailed personalised report. Once that start point is established, our programs can provide the pathways to improvement and success.” Alex said, “These testing sessions and programs are for footballers across a wide range of ages and can be organised for teams or by joining as an individual athlete.”
Thorough research has gone into designing the testing protocols to more accurately identify the gym, track and skill fundamentals required to succeed at AFL level. From this protocol, beginner, intermediate and advanced programs have been created to allow athletes to keep improving their abilities. “We have been able to predict over 80% of final squad selections based on our unique ranking system” Jake said. “Compared to research on the current AFL combine, our methods capture more specific information relating to the demands of AFL and have a bigger impact on teams and individuals that work with us”.
Having already been utilised by multiple NAB League teams and senior community level football clubs including; The Murray Bushrangers, Yarrawonga Pigeons, Calder Cannons & Western Jets, the testing sessions and programs have provided tangible evidence for individual improvement, list selection and community engagement.
For more information head to https://athlete.theacademy.com.au/