Performance At It’s Best

Photos by Darrin Phegley

An exciting opportunity has recently come to the student athletes of Henderson’s middle schools and Henderson County High School. Silaf Harris, performance coach at Baker Family Chiropractic and sergeant in the Kentucky Army National Guard, has been offering his knowledge up to students about how to improve their running speed and technique.  

Trainings started on February 7th and will continue throughout a 6-week period. Students meet with Silaf weekly on Monday  and Wednesday nights at Mattingly Camps on Center Street. Currently, about ten students are participating. At these trainings, students get more prepared for track and field by working on core strength and the fundamentals of running quickly. Later sessions of these trainings will include technique drills, acceleration drills, band-work, and sled-work. All students middle school age and above are encouraged to participate in these trainings if they have an interest in track and field.

Speed Training Classes 

Silaf has been administering these types of trainings since the pandemic began in 2020. During Silaf’s senior year at the University of Southern Indiana, his track and field tournaments were cancelled. Because of this, he was inspired to do speed training himself to improve his performance and became inspired to help with these trainings for others as well. With his background in sports and his knowledge of exercise science that he obtained through the University of Southern Indiana, Silaf has much to offer those around him who are interested in improving their running skills. 

A Performance Coach 

As a performance coach at Baker Family Chiropractic, Silaf helps to strengthen muscles that may have been weakened or damaged by inventing routines for his clients to carry out. Silaf says his favorite part of being a performance coach is helping people reach their goals. His admiration for performance coaches like Brian McCaw in Texas helped to make him more interested in exercise science and performance coaching as a career. He thanks Dr. Kate Baker and Dr. Jeremy Baker for giving him the chance to succeed at Baker Family Chiropractic and for allowing him to help people in the way that he does. He has been at their facility since he graduated from college and celebrates his one-year anniversary of being hired in March of this year. 

Family Inspiration

Silaf’s motivations for running, exercising, and participating in track and field come from his family. “My uncle was the one who introduced me to the weightlifting aspect of everything. He was a big powerlifter back in the day. And my older cousin ran track for Western and he was the NCAA All-American, and he made it to the Olympic trials in 2004. That’s what sparked my interest in running track.” Silaf thanks his uncle, John Harris, and his cousin, Johnathon Brown, for helping to get him involved. He also thanks his mother, Mattie Harris, and his aunts, Sherry and Tracie Harris, for helping him to get to where he is today. “I couldn’t have done this without my family supporting me through the whole way. And I couldn’t have done it without Dr. Kate and Dr. Jeremy being the great mentors that they are.”

Thank you, Silaf, for sharing your knowledge with Henderson’s students!