Sport Specific Training

There has been a lot of posts here lately wanting info on sports specific programs or inquiries about specific sports (i.e. triathlon training, wrestling, kids, etc).
As a strength and condtioning professional in the field, I highly recommend against 'sport specific' training for a number of reasons...

1) 'sport specific' is a misused term in our industry and should be reserved to work on skills with in the individual sport ...NOT to describe what an athlete is doing in the weight room. Doing 'sport specific' weight training will increase the rate of injury 5 fold because of overuse injuries

2) athletes today specialize in their respective sports WAY too young 98% of the time. Kids need to develop and play multiple sports in order to be a well rounded athlete

3) I am in the business of creating better athletes. As they become better 'athletes' they will be better at wrestling, soccer, hockey, badminton, ping pong, darts (ok maybe not darts) or whatever their 'sport' is.

4) I focus on movement. Movement vs muscle. The body does not know muscles, it only knows movements. Also the strongest kid is not always the best athlete. The fastest kid is not always the best athlete. However the best athlete is among the strongest, fastest, quickest...and not necessarily the 'biggest' in terms of muscle mass either.

5) looking for specific training programs for sport. Start with the opposing muscle groups. Triathletes are the WORST! I have 3 IronMan competitors and they are destroyed when it comes to imbalances. Most of them have a posterior chain limitation and are constantly in a flexed position in the torso due to swimming 99.9% freestyle, biking (sitting in the handle bars leaned over) and running...just one example.

6) most don't understand the basics (I'm talking kettlebell training here) and they are already looking for the holy grail. The basics will do most athletes best because emphasis on the posterior chain (swings / snatches) weight in front where most sports are played (front squats) flexibility (windmills and TGUs) overhead pressing (military press) which they rarely get in traditional weight training.

OK, rant over. This should induce some good food for thought.