The Universal Athletic Position
It’s Foundation and Role In Sports Performance
The Universal Athletic Position, also known as the “ready position” or “UAP position,” is a vital piece in the development of our athletes. This position is the base and foundation for all key pieces of movement in athletic development and performance. It might have been the first thing you were taught as an athlete when you first started playing sports or maybe even in gym class. How many times did you hear your youth coach yell at you, “Get in your READY position!”? It used to be, with the amount of playing kids did, it was developed through natural play.
When did normal not start being so normal?
With natural play reducing because of various factors like video games, streaming of various sorts, social media, and even sports specialization to name a few, this position is becoming less natural.
Think about how the day usually goes. The majority of kids are being sat in a seat all day at school, the shoes that are being worn aren’t the best to help with this, and just movement alone has been reduced all due to the push of a button. Not to mention the amount of technology that is most commonly done in the anterior side of the body is leading to a kyphotic, rounded back position. Recess has been reduced and even when kids are playing it seems that WE try to make up rules for them instead of just letting them do what comes natural. This is a perfect recipe to help distort the UAP.
Now it must be noted that you have early developers and late bloomers as I like to call them. With our early developers they hit puberty a little earlier on the curve and will tend to have better body control and grasp the position a little quicker than others. Just keep working with your late bloomers and once it hits for them, POW! Dangerous!
It may seem like everything I am saying is setting us up for failure but not to worry, it’s blueprinted in us. We are meant to move. Lots of athletes we have come across cannot just drop into this position day one of training. It sure doesn’t take long for them to get it down though.
The anatomy of the UAP
What exactly is the Universal Athletic Position? The best way I like to explain the UAP is like a loaded gun. When the body gets into this position it’s ready to go off. It can jump, sprint, push laterally, pivot, go backwards, you name it, it is ready to go. It allows for force production and force reduction.
If we can establish and master this position with our young athletes is sets them up for such a universal development on all aspects of athletic development. It is the ability to have explosiveness from a stationary position. Zero to 100mph! It is also what allows us to absorb force. In sports we take on loads and force from various angles and this position definitely helps reduce it so that the athlete can react.
The UAP position can be explained as having your feet shoulder width apart (give or take depending on lever arms), a soft bend in the knees, hips hinged back slightly until the lower body is about in a quarter squat. The shoulders should be over the balls of the feet, and hands back around the hip pocket area. The head is in a neutral position with the eyes looking through the horizon of the brow. The back is flat and the hips sit right behind the center of gravity.
Its Establishment and Role in Long Term Development
As stated earlier the UAP position is a loaded or ready position. Being able to load your body in this position allows you to react and enforce various movements without hesitation. It allows for you to apply force or absorb force as mentioned earlier. Let’s dial it back a bit more though with this position.
Let’s look where this position can take us just for starters and then how that dominos into long term development.
The UAP position allows for a quick and easy assessment of athletes. You’ll be pretty shocked how many of your athletes at the youth, high school, and even college level cannot get into this position comfortably.
From this position you can make a quick assessment of your groups/teams. You can get a grasp of flexibility with muscle groups and mobility with individual joints. From here this will allow you to prioritize what your needs are for their training.
Once established with your athletes this is the base foundation for almost all of your movements. If your athletes can drop to this position without hesitation and comfortably then chances are they are going to be able to eventually, with some coaching, perform whatever movement and movement patterns you need them to.
These patterns are both on the field/court and the weight room. This allows for easy transfer of teachings. Establishing this movement allows for learning from the ground up.
It can be used as a lower base coaching cue, upper body cues, helping with valgus correction, used in your Pre-Activity Preparation, and the list goes on.
The time to implement this crucial position is now. Showing and using this position on the daily with your athlete’s sets everything up for them down the road in their careers. Proper use of just this position alone will help with mobilizing their hips and spine. It will enhance strength and mobility, body position and awareness, and help with all the carryover to their sports.
Overall this is a tool that will help and be essential in long term health. The simplicity of this position with the return you get from it is way overlooked. Teach and implement the UAP daily and watch your athletes begin have improved overall athleticism.
