Give Your Athlete an Advantage

3-Day Speed Camp

Age: 12-16
Time: 3:00 – 5:00 PM
Dates: Saturday, Dec. 20, Sunday, Dec. 21, Monday, Dec. 22
Location: Old Chapel Hill Road Park Turf (Sat and Mon), Empower Fitness (Sun)
Roster Limit: 20 athletes
Cost: $199

Why Speed Training Matters — And How It Changes the Game for Youth Athletes

When most people think of “speed,” they picture running fast — a natural talent that some have and some don’t. But what if speed isn’t just talent? What if speed is a skill that can be taught, trained, and improved?

That’s the mindset we take at Empower Performance. We believe speed is a foundational athletic quality — and, when trained properly, it becomes a sustainable advantage for youth athletes across sports.

Speed = More Than Just Running Fast

Speed training doesn’t just improve straight-line sprint times. When built smartly, it improves:

Acceleration — the ability to explode off the line or react quickly at the start of a play or drive.
Maximum Velocity (top-end speed) — how fast you can run when you’re at full stride and technique.
Agility, change-of-direction, and deceleration control — critical for sports where cutting, dodging, or shifting direction quickly matters.
Explosiveness, power, and overall athleticism — by combining sprint mechanics with strength training, athletes develop a strong, coordinated, and reactive body.
Neuromuscular coordination and body mechanics — especially for young athletes, training speed helps build efficient movement patterns early, which supports long-term athletic development.

In short: speed training builds the raw physical tools — power, mechanics, coordination — that athletes then apply in sport-specific situations.

Why General “Sport Practice” Isn’t Enough

Many youth athletes only train during their regular sport practices (games, drills, scrimmages). While that builds sport-specific skills and usually conditioning, it very rarely pushes them to their physical limits in controlled, repeatable ways.

Pure sport environments often don’t include optimal mechanics work, repeated maximal effort sprinting, or focused strength-to-speed transitions.
Without dedicated speed and strength training, many athletes may never truly realize their speed potential — even if they’re naturally athletic.

That’s why a dedicated speed training program — separate from regular sport practice — is often the missing piece.

What Makes Our Approach Different: Testing, Data & Precision

At Empower Performance, we won’t do “speed day once in a while.” We will be approaching speed development with testing, tracking, and progress-based training.

That’s where Universal Speed Rating (USR) comes in.

USR is a trusted speed-analytics platform used by hundreds of coaches and thousands of athletes to validate training, track performance, and prove progress over time. universalspeedrating.com
By using USR, we’re able to measure acceleration, top-end speed, change-of-direction ability, and more — not based on guesswork, but on objective data.
That data lets us make smart decisions: identify where an athlete needs improvement, prescribe targeted drills or strength work, and monitor gains over time so nothing is left to chance.

In other words: we won’t just tell athletes “go faster.” We will show them where they are — and where they can go — in numbers. For a quick overview of how USR works and why we chose it, check out this video:

How Speed Training Supports Long Term Development

For youth athletes, early exposure to speed training does more than boost performance — it builds a foundation. According to recent research:

Young athletes who develop proper sprint mechanics, neuromuscular coordination, and lower-body power early are more likely to see long-term gains.
Because speed training can target both explosive power and agility, it helps athletes be more versatile — able to excel in multiple sports, positions, or roles.
And when combined with proper strength work and recovery, it reduces injury risk and builds athletic resiliency over time.

Why We’re Launching Our 3-Day Speed Camp

We designed our upcoming 3-Day Speed Camp as a gateway into a long-term, data-driven, performance-focused speed program.

Over three focused sessions, participants will:

Learn fundamentals of acceleration, max velocity, deceleration, and change-of-direction.
Receive proper strength work to build the power necessary for speed.
Be tested using USR protocols — giving accurate baseline data and a starting point for growth.

Our camp is not just an introduction — it’s a commitment to real results, long-term development, and giving youth athletes a competitive edge they can build on.

Final Word: Speed Is a Skill — But It’s Also a Strategy

If you want your athlete to move faster, react quicker, and perform at a higher level — it’s not enough to hope for natural speed. You need to develop it, track it, and refine it.

With Empower Performance + Universal Speed Rating, we’re offering a systematic, science-informed, and athlete-focused path to real speed.

If you’re ready to give your athlete more than drills — ready to give them an edge — this program is built to deliver.