Jenn Schwartz is a strength and injury specialist who works with Alexandria Soccer, a community-based club that offers both recreational and competitive soccer opportunities for over 4,000 children and adults in Alexandria, Virginia.
I was first introduced to Alexandria Soccer when I met 3four3 coaching member Ryan Rich in Las Vegas at our first coaching summit. At the time, I think Ryan was just coaching in the club. Now, Ryan is the Technical Director.
Ryan was one of my first guests when I started this podcast almost three years ago. He was on the show before I even had a microphone and well before I had a clue of how to run a podcast. But, I’ve kept an eye on Ryan’s work at his club and that’s how I eventually found Jenn.
Jenn is a Master level muscle activation technique specialist who absolutely loves the process and the work that goes into preparing the body for a game day and recovering properly for training.
Jenn takes an innovative approach to increasing speed, recovery, flexibility, and strength. And she is responsible for sharing all that she knows with the athletes and coaches at Alexandria Soccer.
During our conversation, Jenn and I talked about tips to help players recover during and after long weekend tournaments, some myths about stretching, and touched on a whole lot more.
Here are some links to Jenn’s work:
Jenn’s Twitter
Jenn’s Website
Alexandria Soccer Twitter
Alexandria Soccer Website
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This was interesting until Jenn started talking about flip flops interfering with recovery and straining the knees. Nothing could be further from the truth. Flip flops promote a natural barefoot running and walking movement and relax the feet. The feet naturally “splay” (widen), unconstrained by the structure of a shoe, which allows for better shock absorption than most shoes would provide. Just read Born to Run if you don’t believe me. The Tarahumara Indians basically run ultra distance trail races in flip flops!
Interesting stuff. Regarding injuries at a younger ages, my hunch is it may jut be a function of game time. I imagine there’s some average number of injuries per 100,000 hours of game time for whatever age, for example. I suspect that average number hasn’t changed, just the hours played. Play more and naturally there will be more injuries.
There’s a similar stat in driving. Most accidents happen close to home. Close to home also happens to be where the most driving occurs, so accidents happen where the most driving occurs.
Also, I wonder how often injuries result from bad form/technique. I haven’t heard or read about that as a cause. I’ve seen a fair number of injuries that result from extending outside the athletic form (ankles/hips/chest in rectangle). In that stance, forces spread across the body more evenly. Get out of that stance and the forces can concentrate in small areas, like an ACL. Just a thought.