At least 60 youths participated Saturday in the Speed City Tour Camp, produced by Universal Speed Rating and Jet Sports Training, at Bear Down Field, and the organizers came away from it wanting to schedule more such events in the future.
“This tour is gaining traction with a lot of athletes — it’s turned into a big show here,” Jet Sports Training owner Bobby Rodriguez said. “I’m pretty sure next year we’ll have double the numbers. The most important thing is the kids who got assessed hopefully their numbers are better a year from now.”
The camp consisted of athletes mostly between 12-18 years old who took part in running techniques and skill drills taught by Les Spellman, an elite speed performance coach who has trained NFL and USA Rugby players, Olympians, NCAA athletes, plus emerging high school and youth level kids across a variety of sports.
All attendees received a verified Universal Speed Rating from Spellman and speed trainers Ciara Murray and Jevaughn Pinnock, and a free six-week speed program based on the runner’s results at the camp.
CDO’s standout Class of 2024 lineman Sa’Kylee Woodard was one of the participants. He displayed on Twitter that he was timed at 18.75 miles per hour, which “isn’t too shabby,” he tweeted, for a prospect who has a formidable frame of 6-foot-4 and 285 pounds.
Had a great time at @les7spellman speed camp !! 18.75 mph isn’t too shabby ! @cdo_football @CoachJordanAZ pic.twitter.com/PkjzVGguOl
— Sa’Kylee Woodard 3 🌟 (@SWoodard55) June 11, 2022
“I’d like to say the experience was good,” Woodard said. “I say good because I was getting coached up by some of the best speed coaches in the country — people who trained the best of the best athletes on a daily basis. The environment that was created was amazing as well as the intensity of the workout.
“We definitely got after it. Being the only big man out there among many skilled athletes made me work even harder. It was super hot, but as I said, the intensity kinda factored it out. Overall, I know after the camp was over I got better in so many ways and now I have tools to use to help get better moving foward.”
The Speed City Tour’s next stop is at Chicago on June 25. Upcoming events are scheduled at Vancouver (July 9), Cincinnati (July 16) and Baltimore (July 23).
“What we were trying to measure was how fast kids actually get,” said Rodriguez, a former Sunnyside and Arizona football player. “We tested them on the 40-yard dash and also their miles-per-hour. We were able to see how fast each athlete ran at their top speed.
“They all left with numbers and now we can give them an assesment and a program to better their times overall.”
Recommended for you
