Movement achievements are an opportunity for athletes to develop their real life “skill-tree” just like they would develop a character in a video game. Skilled movements at high speeds require a progression of mastery of movement building blocks all the way up to coordinated high speed efforts. In order to earn a movement achievement, an athlete must come early and show a coach that they have mastered the skill, or they must demonstrate it during Speed School when given an opportunity.  Athletes are not going to be able to do all of our drills or activities well the first time, and we will provide coaching feedback, video review, or answer questions outside of Speed School for those who want to earn achievements.

Movement Achievements aim to solve a huge problem in athletic development:  outside of very narrow sports-specific skills, we have found that there is almost zero instruction on basic movement.  Athletes either do or don’t organize themselves in a way that supports high speed, high power movement with minimal injury risk; but athletes who move successfully almost certainly weren’t coached that way.  Consequently, athletes are chronically injured, miss time on the field, and don’t get any faster.  The problem compounds itself: many athletes start hitting the gym and cementing movement patterns that might lead to bigger weights on the bar, but actually make you slower and more prone to injury.  We see plenty of people who have 500 lbs on the bar in the gym, wrist wraps, knee wraps, ankle wraps, a weight belt and special shoes, who couldn’t sit down in a toddler squat with their own bodyweight without falling over or hurting something.  Developing athletes imitate what they see in sport and in the gym, and they want to get “bigger, faster stronger”, so they start lifting like The Rock – without learning how the body should move.

We want to take athletes while they are still young and developing, and help them achieve basic movement mastery that – if maintained throughout their training career and into the rest of their lives – will help them build a foundation for whatever they want to do.  A lean, explosive athlete who weights 180, runs a 4.3 in the 40yd dash and can jump 40″ can start in the NFL.  A 250 lb “jacked” athlete who can half-squat 600lbs, jumps 20″ and runs a 5.4 won’t even get scouted.  Plus, if you’re injured, you might be able to play FIFA, but that’s about the only soccer you’re going to play.

Each sub-item under the 7 achievement categories will be an individual achievement that can be unlocked.  Each achievement awards 100 points for the leaderboard.  Unlocking all achievements in an area earns the athlete a custom pin that they can attach to their Thunderbolts Speed School medal.  Let’s see who can get the most decked-out!

Here are the links to each of the movement achievement areas, each with their own special description explaining how the achievement category aligns with speed development, and additional links to videos with examples of how to perform the movements, and what the coaches are looking for in-terms of technique.