AIS Sports Performance is designed teach proper running fundamentals. To athletes of all sports. Jaxson Appel is a former Division 1 and Professional athlete.
Playing at Friendswood High School (1998-2001) and being named All-State Player both on offense and defense. Continuing his education and football career at Texas A&M University (2001-2005). Jaxson was a 4 year free safety starter, 1st Team All-Big 12, and still holds the record for the most Defensive tackles as a defensive back for Texas A&M. Tennessee Titans free agent in 2005. Coaching experien
08/20/2026
Sport skill matters. It is not the entire development plan.
Young athletes also need strength, control, coordination, and the ability to solve different movement problems. Those qualities give them more options when the speed, angle, and demands of the game change.
Build the athlete, not just the sport.
Save this when you plan the training week.
Young athletes need sport skill. They also need enough strength, speed, coordination, and movement options to keep developing as the game becomes faster and harder.
More of one activity is not automatically a complete development plan.
Send this to a parent planning an athlete’s year.
08/13/2026
A good in-season plan should support sport performance, not compete with it.
If practice quality drops, soreness never clears, or speed disappears, the answer is not automatically more work. The dose may need to change.
Save this for the next busy week.
08/11/2026
In-season training should change because the demands changed. The answer is not to stop developing the athlete. Volume may drop. Exercise selection and timing may change. Strength and speed exposure still matter when the dose supports practice and competition.
Save this before the schedule gets busy.
A one-time evaluation gives us a starting point. Retesting tells us what changed.
At AIS, we repeat the same performance tests and compare both the numbers and the way the athlete moves. That gives our coaches better information about what improved, what still needs development, and what the next training phase should emphasize.
Test. Train. Retest. Adjust.
Development should be measured, not guessed.
The brake comes before the cut.
Before an athlete can redirect, speed has to come down under control. That gives the athlete a position they can reorganize from and leave with force.
Watch the rep again. Look at the brake, the body position, and the first push into the new direction.
Cone drills can help teach positions and movement patterns. But running around cones is not the same as agility.
Real agility asks the athlete to read a cue, make a decision, brake under control, reorganize, and accelerate into a new direction.
The cone is a teaching tool. The reaction is the athletic skill.
08/04/2026
Change of direction is not one moment. It is a sequence.
The athlete has to read the cue, reduce speed under control, reorganize the body, and produce force into the new direction.
The cut gets the attention. The work before and after it determines whether the rep holds together.
Save this four-part checklist and use it the next time you watch an athlete change direction.
Most people only notice the cut.
Change of direction starts before the athlete redirects. The athlete has to read the cue, reduce speed under control, reorganize the body, and produce force into the new direction.
The visible cut is the result. The full action is the skill.
Watch it again and look for the brake before the reacceleration.
Jump height only tells part of the story.
This athlete reached 19.9 inches with .321 seconds of ground contact. RSI, or Reactive Strength Index, helps show how quickly an athlete can absorb force and return it.
That matters in sprinting, cutting, jumping, and reacting.
We do not use one score to label an athlete.
We use it as a baseline to guide training and measure change over time.
Assessment before prescription.
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