Sports Performance camp instills basic training skills into budding athletes

Liberty University Club Sports Assistant Athletic Director of Sports Performance Chris Kerr and a staff of strength coaches put on the first Sports Performance Summer Camp for youth ages 11-15 last Monday through Wednesday, and the participants responded well to the training they received.

"The whole goal really was to lay foundations and give them pillars to build off of," Kerr said of the camp, which was conducted in the strength and conditioning room in the Liberty Club Sports Complex and the Liberty Multipurpose Center.

The young athletes were evaluated on a series of runs hooked up to the 1080 Sprint machine, jumps on a jump mat, and medicine ball throws against a wall gauged by radar guns, among other weight lifts and exercise drills.

Chris Kerr computer analysis — Chris Kerr analyzes campers' performances on the 1080 Sprint machine in the Liberty Multipurpose Center.

"When we incorporate all of those tests, we are really able to give them a great screenshot or snapshot on what they are doing well and then one or two simple fixes that will help them do even better," Kerr said. "What was exciting is Day 1 was kind of an awareness day, helping them figure out that, 'Oh, yeah, there are little deficiencies' in some of the tests that we ran, and then by Day 3, they were all just bought in on a lot of the drills that we were speaking on and a lot of the exercises we were preaching."

He said the camp participants were primarily interested in training for baseball, basketball, and football.

"Whatever they do, there's a lot of competitiveness in the group and that's what athletes need," Kerr said. "You just have to want to win, so I really enjoy getting to see them say 'OK, what was my last (score), and how do I beat it this time?' They're just trying to get better."

He enlisted two current graduate students to serve as strength coaches for the camp, Erika Allen ('23) and Scott Everill ('24), as well as undergraduate Emma Johnson.

"Having them be able to run the weight room while I am on the turf field has been phenomenal," Kerr said. "Kids love them, and I feel so safe and secure having them here to run the show for me. It's been great. We've got a good team."

"We just put the kids through the paces and taught them some of the basics and foundational elements they are going to need for the future," Everill added. "We're trying to keep them healthy so they can do this for a long period of time. A lot of them seemed to understand that this was an area where a lot of kids don't have this blessing to be able to come here and I feel that they were very thankful and very informed as to how this kind of training can elevate their game."

Allen said for many of the campers, it was their first time working out in a weight room.

"It was such a blessing to be able to introduce them to … (exercises that are) going to make them better, to enhance them for their sport," she said. "To see the response from the kids at the end of the camp about how excited they were for the future, asking us 'What can I do to get better at this? When is this going to be held next year? Can you send me this data so that way I can get better over the next year?' it was really … encouraging going forward."

Kerr and his staff plan to continue to monitor the campers' workouts remotely and look forward to seeing the progress they have made when the camp is held for a second time next summer.

"As we look toward next year, we are really excited to be able to continue to build relationships with these athletes and see how some of the things that we have incorporated with them have helped their performance, and then have that follow-up," Kerr said. "We've kind of sent them out into the world, we've educated them a little bit, we've taught them how to fish. Now let's find out how many fish they were able to catch over this (next) year."

Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media

Chris-Kerr-Liberty-strength-conditioning-room — Kerr supervises the youth working together in a stretching exercise in the strength and conditioning room.

Liberty University Club Sports Athletics

Sports Performance camp instills basic training skills into budding athletes

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