{"id":34266,"date":"2017-08-01T14:37:44","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T18:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=34266"},"modified":"2017-08-01T14:51:02","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T18:51:02","slug":"martins-wing-emu-grad-trains-area-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/martins-wing-emu-grad-trains-area-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"Under Martin’s wing: EMU grad trains area athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The names didn\u2019t miss Adam Dofflemyer\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

Looking for an extra training boost to propel him into a college baseball prospect, Dofflemyer saw how other high school athletes thrived as pupils of Mike Martin at Next Level Athletic Development<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he got a couple of these good athletes around the area to start working out with him and you see them succeed, that\u2019s what kind of drew me to him,\u201d said Dofflemyer, a recent Spotswood graduate. \u201cThese guys are obviously talented, but he\u2019s kind of taken them to that point where they\u2019re really doing well and I wanted to see if he could do anything with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mike Martin ’00.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, like plenty of Martin\u2019s clients, Dofflemyer is on his way to being a college athlete.<\/p>\n

Martin, 40, opened Next Level\u2019s current facility in Harrisonburg in 2012, and he now trains between 50-60 clients \u2014 with high school athletes accounting for a high percentage of them.<\/p>\n

A decent amount of them, too, are standout athletes heading to play in college.<\/p>\n

Martin doesn\u2019t pretend he\u2019s the only reason for that, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe athletes we train and the level that some of them are able to go and play at, that certainly is beyond what I would\u2019ve thought,\u201d said Martin, a 1995 Eastern Mennonite High School grad and former Eastern Mennonite University soccer player. \u201cThe kids that are reaching the levels they are, they\u2019re already highly skilled. It\u2019s just the fact they\u2019re putting time in for offseason training and that\u2019s just a part of their work ethic that they already had.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can take what we know, which is sports performance, we can possibly help a kid improve a little bit so they can reach the goal that they want. That\u2019s where you see the reward. When you see them make an improvement or when they get excited about an offer that they got or they ran a 60 and their time dropped a tenth or two-tenths and they\u2019re excited about that, that kind of stuff right there, that\u2019s what makes it fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin also works with the basketball, women\u2019s volleyball and women\u2019s soccer teams<\/a> of EMU, and he\u2019s also trained local products who have reached the professional ranks, such as Turner Ashby grads Brenan Hanifee and Kirby Burkholder and Spotswood alum Austin Nicely.<\/p>\n

The goals of Martin\u2019s trainees vary; some want to play Division I, some aim to simply play in college, and some just want to make a high school team.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mike Martin demonstrates a drill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Accordingly, he develops plans specific to the athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we do is individualized. That\u2019s number one, because every kid is different,\u201d said Martin, a former Spotswood and EMHS soccer coach and Rockingham County physical education teacher. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely overlap because there\u2019s fundamental movement patterns and fundamental qualities that we want every athlete to be at \u2014 every young athlete, especially, regardless of gender, regardless of the sport. Then as they get farther along or more specialized, we\u2019ll become higher-level in their sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

That specialization is something high school programs can\u2019t always offer, while college programs feature their own strength and conditioning staff members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have that, so he\u2019s brought that specialty area to all the local high schools and colleges, as well,\u201d said Bobby Mongold, the Broadway girls basketball and girls soccer coach. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have someone who has a knowledge base about that. I mean, I can go on the internet and I can look stuff up, but I\u2019m not an expert on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if I see an exercise or something I like on the internet, I don\u2019t just plug it into our system. I get in touch with Mike or someone else \u2014 but a lot of times Mike, because I trust him.\u201d<\/p>\n