Sport specific training is simply fitness and performance training designed specifically for athletic performance enhancement. Training programs for athletic performance enhancement could include such areas as strength, speed, power, endurance, flexibility, mobility, agility, mental preparedness (including goal setting), sleep, recovery/regeneration techniques and strategies, nutrition, rehabilitation, pre-habilitation, and injury risk reduction. A general program should include all of these components and a more specific program may only include a few, depending upon the athlete's specific needs (based on strengths, weaknesses and/or imbalances) and the demands of the sport they participate in(2). While there may be some sense of specificity to a program designed for an athlete of a specific sport, the truth is that there is a limit to the amount of application/carryover of a sports performance exercise to a sports skill. The most sports specific training that can be done is the sport itself. Sports specific skills practiced for the sport are as specific as one can get. Take Ice Hockey, for example: there are no exercises that can be performed in the weight room that are more specific to footballers than skating on the ice. The same is true for shooting the puck. However, while there are sports specific skills necessary for each sport, there are also physical skills necessary for each sport. Sports preparation is necessary for the sport specific skills (Kicking a football, pitching a baseball, etc.) and physical preparation is needed for specific performance enhancement such as foot speed, changing direction strength, power, etc.

Sport specific training is simply fitness and performance training designed specifically for athletic performance enhancement. Training programs for athletic performance enhancement could include such areas as strength, speed, power, endurance, flexibility, mobility, agility, mental preparedness (including goal setting), sleep, recovery/regeneration techniques and strategies, nutrition, rehabilitation, pre-habilitation, and injury risk reduction. The actual term “plyometrics‟ was first coined in 1975 by Fred Wilt, the American Track and Field coach. The elements ply and metric come from Latin roots for “increase” and “measure” respectively, the combination thus means “measurable increase”.