Month: April 2017

Loudoun Valley basketball standout Jordan Miller named Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month

Purcellville, VA (April 19, 2017) – Please join us in congratulating Loudoun Valley’s Jordan Miller as the March 2017 Performance Edge/Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month!

“It feels good, winning an honor like this tells me the hard work is paying off, and if I keep working hard, there is more to come,” Miller said.

It has been quite a junior year campaign for the 6-foot-4 versatile guard, as he has racked up essentially every individual award possible after leading his Vikings to the first state title in school history. The lefty scored 26 points in a dominant 80-48 win over Jamestown on March 10 to capture the Virginia 4A State Championship.

Loudoun Valley’s Jordan Miller, 2017 VHSL 4A All-State Boys Basketball Player of the Year. (Photo © Aaron Wyche)

“It means a lot, it was the first one, I think it really gives Purcellville a name, we may not have been heard of before, but now we are jumping on people’s radars as a team and community to look out for,” Miller said.

With a scoring average just shy of 23 points and double-figure scoring in every game the entire season, Miller was named the VHSL 4A Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Naturally, he was also named the Region 4A West Player of the Year, All-Loudoun Player of the Year and Conference 21 Player of the Year. His season-high was 36 points and never scored less than 12.

“I think of those awards as a wake-up, showing my hard work has paid off, I’m still not finished yet, but for now that makes me feel good about myself,” he said. “There are so many great players in 4A throughout the state, it just feels good knowing I got picked as the best player.”

According to Miller, his effectiveness this season came from slashing to the basket and his ability to get his teammates open. He also feels he did a better job of letting the game come to him as opposed to forcing the action.

Miller and the Vikings breezed through the season as they completed the year with just one blemish, finishing with a record of 30-1. The average margin of victory in post-season play was over 21 points.

Miller averaged 23 points and led the Vikings to a 30-1 season. (Photo © Aaron Wyche)

During Miller’s sophomore season, in which he averaged 16 points, the Vikings ran through the season undefeated before losing their first game in the championship, falling by just two points. This time around, the game was never in question as they prevailed by 32 points.

“That was our first time as a team getting to states last year, so having that heartbreak and being able to bounce back from it, it was the experience and not wanting to lose again that really pushed us through this time,” Miller said. “Our chemistry and bond was just unbreakable.”

One of the keys to Miller’s personal success is his workout regiment with Performance Edge in Leesburg, where they can develop individualized strength programs to deal with the physical challenges associated with any sport.

“They’ve done a lot for me,” he said,” I started there last off-season, I knew that they had the best interest for me and all my teammates, a lot of my teammates go there too. I was a stick and now I feel like a bigger version of a stick. It’s a good overall program and it’s definitely something everyone should try.”

It remains early in his recruiting process as he has one more season with the Vikings, but he is eyeing several schools at this point, including Charleston, George Mason, Mount St. Mary’s, Radford and Virginia Tech. In order to succeed at the next level, he knows he needs to improve his jump shot and his ball skills with his right hand, as well as continuing to work hard in the weight room.

Next year Miller and his teammates will have the arrow on their backs as the defending state champions and a team that has only lost two games total the last two seasons. It would be easy to relax having accomplished so much already, but the budding star still wants more.

“Everybody on the team wants to go back-to-back,” Miller said, “I think that’s our motivation, and if we work hard in the off-season, it could happen.”

Viva Loudoun: We Live For Loudoun™
Written by Josh Apple
Special to Viva Loudoun
Copyright © Viva Loudoun Media Communications LLC.
All Rights Reserved
@JoshApple1

Viva Loudoun has teamed up with Performance Edge to recognize an outstanding Loudoun County student-athlete, and their exceptional achievements for a given month by naming a Viva Loudoun Athlete of the Month throughout the 2016-17 academic school year!

We are extremely proud to have Performance Edge on our team. Dave Mikel, CEO of Performance Edge offers exceptional competitive sports training to exceptional athletes who demand it.

The Performance Edge Mission is to prevent injury, optimize strength and power, and instill confidence and self-discipline.

Getting the Edge: Recovering & Optimizing Performance

Recovering and Optimizing Performance

Michael Jeffrey MS, CSCS, NASM, FMS, YBT

Recovery.…One of the most important yet forgotten words when it comes to enhancing your overall sports performance.  Throughout my career everyone is always asking me, “What can I do to improve my performance out on the field?” This question is so common because society is telling us more is better; lift more, run more, and jump more. This is engrained in our minds from a young age so people are doing as much as they can thinking that this is going to make them a better athlete on the field. But in reality all anyone is doing is overworking their body potentially leading to decreased performance and multiple overuse injuries. Being in this over-trained state can sometimes take months to recover from, and I have seen athletes lose out on their season because they are training way too much.

Less is More

Training with the proper intensity (% of one rep max) and volume (total amount of work done relating to sets and reps) is often overlooked because some athletes are lifting way more than they should. Without the proper guidance young athletes continue to train this way because they are never told that they are actually breaking down their bodies. It is our job as certified strength and conditioning coaches to know how the body responds to training so these youth athletes can see proper adaptation leading to increased performance on the field. It is a constant problem strength and conditioning coaches battle because many sports will over-prescribe volume when it comes to practice, speed and agility sessions, and extra training sessions leading to over-trained athletes.

How to Fix This Problem

With sports today I understand that overtraining can be a difficult problem to combat, but it is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. With the amount of practice, training volume, and sports specific training youth athletes need to be recovering properly. This is an issue that often gets ignored because several young athletes are willing to put in the work in the weight room, but when it comes to recovery it usually is a priority low on the list. The following key points are simple, yet effective methods to help your body recover and optimize your performance.

 

 

  • Sleep

With our busy lives I understand that it can be difficult to sleep enough, but it is essential for our muscles to recover. Our body best recovers while we are sleeping, but if you are not getting enough sleep you will not recover properly. The following benefits can be seen with getting 8 hours of sleep each night:

 

  • Improves learning and emotional well being
  • Maintain good hormone balance to help heal muscle tissue
  • Improved immune system to fight infection

 

  • Nutrition

 

To recover and see increases in muscle mass eating in a caloric surplus is essential. Not eating enough causes your body to break down which leads to you being over trained because you simply do not have enough fuel.  The following information can help your body recover when it comes to your nutrition.

 

Carbohydrate Intake: The intake of daily carbohydrates will be different for each individual and it is dependent on your current health and performance goals. Here are a few guidelines:

  • 2.5 grams per pound of body weight if training 1 hour per day
  • > 2.5 gramps per pound of body weight if training greater than 1 hour a day
  • 2 grams or less per pound of body weight for non-athletes
  • High carbohydrate meal 2 to 4 hours before exercise
  • Endurance athletes need 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrates every hour
  • High glycemic carbohydrates post workout while low glycemic carbohydrates should be consumed throughout the day

Protein Intake: The intake of protein will be different for everyone based on body size and training goals. Protein is essential for muscle recovery-here are some guidelines:

  • Sedentary adult: 0.4 grams per pound of bodyweight
  • Strength athlete: 0.5-0.8 grams per pound of bodyweight
  • Endurance athlete: 0.5-0.6 grams per pound of bodyweight

 

 

Fat Intake: Many people are scared of fat because they don’t realize the energy and health benefits that can be seen with fat intake

  • 0.2-0.5 grams of fat per pound of body weight

Water: Why is it important?

  • 60% of the adult human body is made up of water
  • Fluid loss of 2% will affect circulatory functions and could decrease performance
  • Improved metabolic functioning
  • Body temperature regulation improves
  • Supplies nutrients
  • Lubricates joints and removes wastes
  • Maintain electrolyte balance to help nervous and muscular system function
  • When dehydrated, the lactic acid build up will affect your body more
  • Glycogen storage needs water for recovery

How Much Water?

  • Minimum for men: 13 cups per day
  • Minimum for women: 9 cups per day
  • Drink up to 3 cups before physical activity
  • Drink 6 to 12 fluid ounces every 15 minutes during intense physical activity
  • Exercise over 60 minutes should be supplemented with a 8% carbohydrate drink
  • Ingest 16 to 24 ounces of water for every pound lost during intense exercise

Vitamins and Minerals: Help our body to function and perform optimally

  • B vitamins: assist in the breakdown of glucose and glycogen for energy
  • C vitamins: helps form tendons, ligaments, cartilage, bones, and teeth
  • E vitamins: acts as an anti-oxidant to prevent damage to tissues from free radicals
  • Calcium: helps muscles to contract and nerves to function while helping with blood clotting
  • Magnesium: blood clotting and bone health
  • Iron: helps form compounds that carry oxygen in the body
  • Zinc: immune system function and helps to maintain tissues
  • Chromium: enhances the action of insulin

 

 

  • Mobility

Mobility training is a form of training used to improve flexibility by actively stretching the muscle to help it return to its original resting length. This will not only help you feel better on a daily basis, but it will help your muscles to grow and improve your overall strength. Besides the strength benefits, you will also see improvements in your functional movement making you a better athlete on the field. The following specific benefits will be seen with mobility training:

  • Larger Range of Motion
  • Increased Blood Flow
  • Better Posture and Pain Reduction
  • Relaxed Muscle Tone
  • Stress Relief

 

In closing, I hope that some of these tips will help you remember to listen to your body. Sometimes less is more even though that is going against what society is telling us. Proper recovery should be an essential component of your daily routine because it will make you the best athlete you can be in the long run. If you really want to get that competitive edge I hope that you use some of tips I have given you in this blog and execute them in your daily life.