BENEFITS

Everything we do at OAKs is centered on fun, energetic, and inclusive games.Our focus areas benefit both children new to youth sports, as well as those with an existing passion for them. Most exciting is that the all of the benefits of the OAKs System are delivered through play!

Many of these benefits are especially important to complement single sport training like that of Little League, youth soccer or basketball leagues.

Speed is the ability to move quickly or accelerate.

Speed work builds the “fast twitch” neuromuscular system that can rapidly “fire muscles.” From stealing bases, to dashes and “breakaways” in soccer or hockey, to catching the school bus, speed conditioning helps in all physical activity.

Strength is the ability to sustain power.

Strength training develops lean body mass,tones muscle, reduces body-fat production, and improves bone density. This is especially important for young girls, who typically suffer greater loss of bone density later in life.

Endurance is the capacity to sustain a given level of intensity over time.

Improved endurance increases blood flow to deliver more oxygen and remove harmful body products. Facilitates the usage of large muscle groups, help reduce body fat production.

Coordination is the incorporation of conscious and unconscious response for acting on and reacting to external stimuli.

Enhanced coordination improves kinesthesis, laterality and directionality—all critical to physical development, youth athletics, and general multi-tasking.

Teamwork - contributing to the success of a cause larger than one’s own.

Essential to all aspects of life - physical, academic, or professional. Exposure to children of different ages, abilities, and genders yields tolerance, creates leadership skills and teaches the lessons necessary to be a teammate or team leader.

Balance is the ability to remain steady and in control in dynamic or static settings.

Crucial to children’s proprioception:understanding one’s place in a 3-dimensional world. Like coordination, balance is fundamental to performing increasingly complex tasks. Mentally, balance helps children set priorities, develop patience, become well-rounded individuals.

Power is the ability to exert force rapidly.

Power improvement leads to the ability to concentrate force when striking a ball, hitting a homerun, exploding off a starting block, or delivering a corner kick. Because all physical activities are finite, power creates an advantage to the person who can produce it most effectively over time and distance. Developing power is the development of large muscle groups (slow twitch system).

Mental, Social, and Physical Fitness

Mental and social fitness refer to the ability to interact and function positively with others in a dynamic environment. Physical fitness refers to the capacity to increase metabolic processes to meet the demands of physical effort.