CAP: a Great Place for Athletes

By: Laura Neenan, 7th Grader, CAP Athlete

Being a 4”10’, 80lbs. 7th grade girl, you don’t appear to be the most athletic person. The Center for Athletic Performances (CAP) is a program that helps you get stronger, more athletic, and helps you to prevent injuries. When my mom heard about this program, she jumped on the offer because that was just what I needed to become a better athlete. I knew I needed to become stronger playing premier soccer on a soccer club and wanting to play high school soccer in the near future. Now that I started CAP, I have become a lot faster and have definitely seen a difference in how I run and change directions. There are many benefits to coming to CAP and I have big goals ahead of me and want to continue CAP a lot.

There are many benefits in coming to CAP. First, you become faster, stronger, and more athletic. I have noticed many improvements in when I fist started here and how I am now. I have felt faster and my times for running have improved a lot. I have actually been able to see that I do have some muscle in my tiny little body, and I have just felt more athletic in general. In every sport I have been participating in the last five months I have been doing CAP, whether it is in gym class or playing club soccer, I have seen improvements in everything I do. Not only in CAP do you become faster and stronger, you learn how to prevent yourself from injuries. This will help in everything I do and I won’t have to worry in high school when I play sports about getting hurt.

Since I was 4 years old I have always played soccer. When I was growing up I would always see my big brothers and sisters playing soccer and seeing how fun it was. When my oldest brother entered high school, he tried out for the soccer team. I would go to every single game of his and I loved to watch him. Even now, I go to almost all of my sister’s high school games and just watch how good they are. That is why I want to play high school soccer. When I go to St. Teresa’s Academy, I want to play on their team and even go to state and win. This has been my goal since I was a little girl and still is. Now that the girls my age are becoming very good in soccer, the only chance I would have in making the team was to become a better athlete in general. That is why CAP is helping now and will make a difference in the future.

There are many reasons I want to continue CAP. First, I want to become faster and stronger, and hopefully be stronger than I appear. Almost every time we test, I improve. If I stop CAP now, all that work wouldn’t be as worth while as continuing CAP and just becoming better and better. Not only does going to CAP help you become a better athlete, it is fun most of the time because the instructors always joke around with you and have fun, but you still get a good workout in and get working really hard. The instructors are always really encouraging and when we are lifting weights, having music playing really helps you get a momentum boost. The people going there are always really nice and you have fun meeting people from other parts of the city.

CAP was one of the best things that has happened to me in sports. I have the privilege to become faster, stronger, more athletic, and be able to learn how to prevent myself from injuries. I have played soccer almost all my life and coming to CAP will help be to become a better player and I’ll have a better chance at making the soccer team at St. Teresa’s Academy. I would hate to have to stop CAP now after all the improvements I've been making and want to keep getting stronger. Center for Athletic Performance is a great place for young athletes wanting to become better at any sport and really does work.