Allen Jerkens

We don’t do mandatory workouts before school as we feel sleep is too important for recovery. If morning workouts start at 6:00 AM athletes wake up around 5:15 AM, give or take. We want them to have the realistic opportunity to get eight hours of sleep each night. For a 6:00 AM workout this means they would have to be asleep by 9:15 PM. This simply doesn’t happen for many young people. For those who are disciplined and wired for the morning they can elect to have individual workouts before school and we will have a coach there working with them. In my 12 years as a head college coach I would estimate that 1 in every 5 players I’ve coached was naturally wired for mornings. We get more done working out in the afternoon/early evening, without compromising on sleep, skipping breakfast, or having tired student-athletes in the classroom throughout the day. According to the Sleep Foundation, a great number of concerns can arise when athletes do not receive adequate sleep: *Inhibited ability. In a study of male team-sport athletes who were sleep-deprived, average and total sprint times decreased. *Decreased accuracy. After sleep deprivation, male and female tennis players had decreased serve accuracy of up to 53% when compared to performance after normal sleep. *Quicker exhaustion. In a study of male runners and volleyball players, both groups of athletes exhausted faster after sleep deprivation. *Decreased reaction time. A lack of sleep adversely affected reaction time in a studied  group of male collegiate athletes. *Difficulty learning and decision making. Executive functions are impacted by a lack of sleep. Choices such as passing the ball or taking it to the basket yourself can be more difficult or made too late. *Risk for injury. Research of middle and high school athletes revealed that a chronic lack of sleep is associated with increased rates of injury. *Risk for illness or immunosuppression. Poor sleep habits are associated with lower resistance to illness such as the common cold.