Recently, the University of Kansas (KU) has launched a new initiative that will help high school athletes in Kansas train in a smarter and healthier way. KU had 30 student-athletes from Bonner Springs High School come on campus for a test of the university’s new Sports Translational Research for Improved Development and Excellence program, also known as STRIDE.
STRIDE is facilitated by the Jayhawk Athletic Performance Lab, which is a center within the Achievement & Assessment Institute. The STRIDE program has members of the lab work with coaches and students by giving them access to professional performance testing equipment and analyzing the performance data generated.
The Director of the Jayhawk Athletic Performance Lab, Thayne Munce, had this to say regarding the program: “There are in-school programs where coaches may be doing their own testing, but we provide numerous assessment capabilities that you don’t typically see in a high school,” they continue, “We also have experts who help interpret the data and report it back.”.
With the data produced from the testing, the program will be able to hand over detailed, personalized reports of each athlete and offer suggestions for further training. With this data, coaches will be able to provide more accurate training recommendations to athletes, suited to their bodies and skills.
A coach from Bonner Springs High School, Byron Mays, gave a statement regarding the program: “The data and the reports will help us better develop our athletes to perform better, minimize injury or eliminate it,” he continues, “We plan on implementing recommendations immediately, and we hope to continue to have a working relationship with the University of Kansas to be on the cutting edge of athlete development.”.
Despite the STRIDE program still being in its early stages, the program has been well-received and has the hope of spreading out to the rest of the state to help other young athletes.
