Football in the United States is more than a sport – it is a way of life. From the small towns to the big cities, players are investing their bodies, time, sweat, and dreams in the sport of football. It is no secret that what is done in the offseason makes a player’s performance during the season. Offseason camps and pre-combines are just a way of life for the serious player, but throughout all the effort, one thing that is often overlooked in training is athletic brain health and performance.
So, whether you’re looking to improve your game to help with potential scouting and scholarships, or you’re just looking to be a better recreational player, here are three things you can do in offseason.
We’ll run through some of them below, but our team is always available to help you reach the next level in your performance.
Get in touch for a virtual consultation.
Get Your Aches and Pains Checked Out
Pain is a signal that something is wrong. In sports, athletes have a lot at stake and can be trained or led to work through pain because the goal may be to finish the season, hold on to a scholarship, or sign with a pro team.
Offseason is an ideal time for players to follow up on concerns and a health care team who knows athletic care can assess players with pain, in a functional way, to better understand what structure is the cause of the problem, how the problem is affecting regional function and overall performance, and what are the best procedures and services to accelerate recovery, improve function, and advance performance.
Here at Parker Performance Institute, we use a multidisciplinary approach to evaluating athletes. Players see our medical neurologists, nurse practitioners, and chiropractors with master’s degrees in clinical neuroscience and sports medicine for injury care and sports physicals. In fact, we are so serious about or services for athletes that we require our healthcare professionals, who are directly related to recovery and rehab, to have backgrounds in coaching.
Get Your Brain Checked Out
The best place for a healthy player to start offseason is with a baseline concussion assessment. This assessment will provide foundational information about the health of a player’s brain relative to high impact or repetitive trauma.
Now, it is no secret that playing a sport can result in an injury and there is no sport without risk and concussion is a big one.
In fact, did you know that 300,000 concussions happen each year from football? This kind of injury can result in some pretty nasty, long-lasting effects like headaches, dizziness, and problems with concentration and memory.
Though concussion is a traumatic brain injury, the effects may not always be severe but still limit a player’s ability to make accurate and fast decisions under stress, control eye tracking and intentional targeting, and use creative thinking when confronted with game or play challenges.
A player can combine a sport physical exam and concussion assessment in one visit a Parker Performance Institute and our clients can also purchase a season pass for our concussion assessments so the data baseline can be assessed pre, mid, and postseason. This data can also be aligned comparatively over several seasons, to thoroughly evaluate brain health relative to continued participation in sport. That way you will know the impact the sport is having and how to best care for yourself.
Once a player’s brain health is understood, a customized plan to improve performance can be accurately created.
Improve Your Game with Athlete Brain Performance Training
Players routinely engage physical and sport training but often leave the importance of improving the visual, cognitive, and reflex systems out of their training plan.
Our Athlete Brain Performance Training works in conjunction with a player’s current physical and sport training plan to:
- Track a moving target
- Quickly shift focus during sport situations
- Establish a ‘quiet eye”
- Better use peripheral vision acuity to make things happen
Our clients involved in sport often see improvement to overall physical coordination, reaction time, and agility as their brain’s performance improves when working with our integrated team.
If you’re looking for help with symptoms or performance or just need a sports participation physical, you can schedule a free virtual consultation with our team to learn more about how we can help you reach your goals.
