Speed and Strength for Youth Athletes: A Practical Framework

Wed 17 June 2026 · 19:00–20:30 BST · Live online via Zoom · Early bird £59 (until midnight, Thursday 14 May) · £75 standard · Recording and written CPD summary included with every ticket.

Every summer term, PE teachers are scrambling to find athletes for competitions whose dates were carved into stone tablets decades ago. The fixture list assumes children can already run, jump and throw. Most of them can’t — not properly.

Club coaches are preparing their pre-season plans. They want faster players and, due to lack of time and knowledge, often resort to what they did when they were playing: slow jogs around the pitch and random drills with whatever kit is to hand.

S&C coaches in colleges, sixth-form academies and small clubs are doing the same job with twice the responsibility and half the textbook help. Physiotherapists working with young athletes are watching teenagers struggle to load and stabilise because the foundational movement work was never done.

This seminar is about what you can actually do to change things for the better.

I’ve spent 30 years coaching young athletes. The single biggest problem I see is coaches and teachers trying to impose technical systems on bodies that aren’t structurally ready for them. This session gives you a five-point framework that builds from the ground up — starting with how the foot hits the floor and ending with how to structure a session that teenagers will actually turn up for.

No clipboards. No tape measures. No pretending that standing and measuring is coaching.

What we’ll cover

— Reactive foot mechanics — turning the foot into a spring, not a brake — Postural integrity — why the pelvis is the engine of running and how to develop it — Explosive starts — the first two steps matter more than the next twenty — Strong and long — how the right warm-up gets your players genuinely stronger before the main session — Games with purpose — a 60-minute session template that works with how young people actually move

Plus 30 minutes of live Q&A — bring your specific coaching problems.

Built for

PE teachers, club and S&C coaches, physiotherapists working with young athletes, and parents coaching at grassroots level. If you’re working with athletes roughly 11–18, this is for you.

What’s included with every ticket

— Live 90-minute session on Zoom — Full recording, sent to all ticket-holders within 48 hours — Written CPD summary you can file or share with colleagues who couldn’t attend — Live Q&A access during the session

Why an evening session? 19:00–20:30 BST is timed for teachers and coaches who are still working during the day.

"James cuts through complexity and brings the focus back to what really matters. It's not about adding more, but about understanding the essentials — in movement, in coaching, and in communication. If coaches keep developing, athletes develop."

— Christian Stern, Head Coach, National Youth Centre Kaiserslautern (German Badminton Federation)

About James

Head coach of Excelsior Athletic Development Club, Devon. 30 years coaching with several National Governing Bodies (FA, RFU, British Fencing, England Golf). Has supported 12 athletes through to the Olympics and Paralympics. Author of four books, including the Get Stronger / Run Faster / Jump Higher trilogy. Writer of the Coaches’ Corner newsletter, read by 1,600+ coaches every fortnight. Coach education coordinator at GAIN Swim.

Still coaching. Still competing as a masters weightlifter. Still learning.