ST. GEORGE — More than 100 young athletes gathered at the Crimson Cliffs High School football field this week for a three-day athletic camp designed to help them improve their speed, strength and agility.
Chip Smith, founder of Chip Smith Performance Systems, said the camp participants included male and female players of a wide range of sports, including football, baseball, basketball, tennis, soccer and golf.
“We can train any specific sport and any specific movement within that sport,” Smith told St. George News. “I think that’s what separates my system from the other systems that are out there. How we train translates to making these kids better on the court, on the field and on the diamond.”
Smith, who is based in Atlanta, has been in the athletic performance industry for more than 30 years. He has used his proprietary MORR system to train thousands of athletes, including numerous professional players and NCAA college teams.
Smith said he has also worked with top Olympic athletes in sports such as table tennis, badminton, diving, track and field, gymnastics and judo.
“A couple years ago, I trained the prima ballerina with the Bolshoi Ballet,” he added.
Reach Higher Athletics, located at 389 Industrial Rd. in St. George, trains local athletes using Smith’s system.
“I’ve partnered with my friends here in St. George who have opened a training center for local high school and college athletes to train in my system,” Smith said. “I’ve come out this week to support them and run a camp for the local kids.”
Smith said the acronym MORR stands for movement, overspeed, resistance and reaction.
“We work on dynamic warm-ups. We work on resistance running. We work on overspeed running, which is what we call reversibility of effort. And then we work on reaction,” he said. “True sport speed is reactive speed where you see something, you hear something and your brain processes that.”
“These kids are being exposed to the top training system in the country, right here in St. George,” Smith added.
The three-day camp wrapped up late Wednesday morning.
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Young athletes run a drill during Chip Smith Performance Systems training camp at Crimson Cliffs High School, St. George, Utah, July 15, 2020 | Photo by Mark Musgrave, St. George News Young athletes run a drill during Chip Smith Performance Systems training camp at Crimson Cliffs High School, St. George, Utah, July 15, 2020 | Photo by Mark Musgrave, St. George News Young athletes run a drill during Chip Smith Performance Systems training camp at Crimson Cliffs High School, St. George, Utah, July 15, 2020 | Photo by Mark Musgrave, St. George News Young athletes and Reach Higher Athletics trainers at the Chip Smith Performance Systems camp at Crimson Cliffs High School, St. George, Utah, July 15, 2020 | Photo by Mark Musgrave, St. George News Young athletes at the Chip Smith Performance Systems training camp at Crimson Cliffs High School, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mark Musgrave, St. George News Chip Smith talks to athletes during training camp at Crimson Cliffs High School, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mark Musgrave, St. George News Chip Smith talks to athletes during training camp at Crimson Cliffs High School, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mark Musgrave, St. George News
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