Seasons of change are upon us.
Summer has arrived, school is done, and COVID-19 restrictions are finally lifting. We’re super excited for the summer and the return of youth sports! Moving into summer, what can you look forward to at Speed Mechanics?
We are opening earlier summer hours for the Accelerator Program. The schedule changes took effect on July 12 and will look like the following from Monday to Friday:
- Speed, Strength, Power – 11:00am-12:30pm
- Baseball – 12:30-1:30pm
- Speed, Strength, Power – 2:00-3:30pm
- Baseball – 3:30-4:30pm
- Speed, Strength, Power – 6:30-8:00pm
- Baseball – 8:00-9:00pm
Celebrating 1 year since opening.
This month we are also celebrating our 1-year anniversary of being open on July 13th! To celebrate, we are doing a social media giveaway. Please post a shoutout “Happy Birthday” to Speed Mechanics and tag us in it. You will be entered into a draw for one of two chances to win either our brand-new snap-back hats from Pukka Inc or our new 100% Pure Whey Isolate Protein Powder. We will announce the winners on Wednesday, July 14th and you will be able to pick up your prize in-house.
July’s Athlete of the Month.
We also want to say a big congratulations to Justin Peng for earning Athlete of the Month for July. Justin has been training with us since October 2020. He is a 6’2” 15-year-old volleyball player with the Victoria Volleyball Association. Justin is a quiet workhorse in the gym, leading by example, and continuing to see massive gains because of his work ethic. Justin has moved quickly through our early training tiers and finds himself entering Boost where he will begin to learn Olympic lifting to increase his explosiveness for making those big blocks. We are excited to continue to watch Justin develop as an athlete and a leader within the program.
Will you be joining us this fall?
Looking towards the fall, we are accepting applications for the APEX Institute. This program is designed to facilitate student-athletes success in their studies and athletic performance.
Students will attend their regular school for a half-day, followed by attending Speed Mechanics for the other half. While at Speed Mechanics, they’ll have 3-hours broken down into two 1.5-hour blocks. In one of those blocks, students will have an individualized training program built by our Performance Director.
This program will be based on both the applicant’s results from our intake testing week, and the interview with our coaches to assess training history and goals for the season. The training will also be based on each athlete’s specific training schedule within their sport, so they are prepared for competition.
During the second 1.5-hour block, students will be in our newly-outfitted classroom, working with our on-site teacher Mr. Geoghegan. During the classroom time, students will work on their online courses or their PACE courses from Bill Green. During specific sessions, we will have guest teachers and coaches in to do sport-specific seminars with the athletes. These will include sessions with our Mental Performance Specialist, Zoran Stojkovic, the Head of Mental Performance at Pacific FC.
They will also work with our Registered Dietitian, Alison Quinlan, on sport-specific nutrition for youth athletes. This is a great opportunity for young athletes to excel in their academics and athletics.
Athlete Recognition
Finally, we want to recognize Maggie Coles-Lyster from Maple Ridge, BC.
Maggie has been training with Coach Khyl for about a year and a half now. Maggie has just returned from the Pan-Am Track Cycling Championships where she competed in the omnium (Silver), elimination race (Silver), points race (Silver), scratch race (4th), individual pursuit (4th), and the 500m time trial (9th as a non-sprinter).
Maggie was the only racer for Canada as the rest of the team had to pull out. Maggie was coming off four major criterium races in the US for her pro team, DNA Cycling where she had 3 more silver medals and one crash.
Maggie is on point right now and flying high. We are excited to watch her race in T-Town, Cali, Columbia for a World Cup (possibly), and hopefully be able to qualify for the World Championships! Best of luck to Maggie!