Four years ago, Carrington Beckford decided to take his passion for sports and turn it into a full-time career. Although he was born in Jamaica, Carrington has spent most of his life in Stamford, Connecticut so it only made sense to create his brand where his athletic career started. Overdrive Elite Performance Systems was built in Stamford, Connecticut but is soon moving to New Canaan, Connecticut for expansion purposes. Carrington is known throughout Fairfield County as one of the most highly sought-after strength and speed coaches.
The programs of Overdrive are scientific and are specially formulated to help athletes perform beyond their maximum potential. Not only does Overdrive improve athletes’ speed, agility, and strength, but it also gives them a sense of confidence and leadership. The programs provide age and skill level appropriate weight, speed, agility, power, endurance, coordination development, technical and tactical training.
Beckford has experience and a background in several sports. Transitioning from college athlete to coach was not so easy for Beckford. Beckford grew up playing football and running track for Stamford Highschool. He received athletic scholarships to play at Northern Michigan University and East Stroudsburg University. However, Beckford ended his athletic career with a torn achilles. He recalls, “I tore my achilles my senior year and was incredibly devastated. I knew it was not the end, but it was part of the journey”. Taking his injury as a blessing, Beckford decided to start coaching and giving back to his community. “Football put me in a position to know that I wouldn’t be where I am today without the ability to inspire, to impact, to teach the love the passion, the preparation that the student athletes that I train '' says Beckford.
Today Beckford has trained over 1000 athletes from all levels of sports, such as high school, collegiate, and professional athletes. His goals are to not only impact the youth in a positive way, but instill morals, life lessons, and experiences. “More than a job, this is not a job to me, it’s my calling to make an impact to better themselves, to push themselves, to make the right choices and to focus, to believe in themselves” says Beckford. He has always believed in having a family to support you in both athletics, academics and life. “I’ve always respected and appreciated my trainers, coaches and mentors growing up. They became family to me. They made a big difference in my life and I wanted to do the same for all athletes aiming to achieve their athletic and academic goals” says Beckford.
Beckford focuses on coaching all sports. One of his specialties coaching lacrosse. “They’re multiple areas that I focus on with the athletes that I train in lacrosse,” says Beckford. Beckford works on playing both sides of the ball, teaching different techniques for offensive and defense. “On the offensive side I focus on their acceleration, first step, being able to be efficient using their footwork, body position, power, force and changing speed to create separation from the defenders” says Beckford. On the defensive side Beckford spends more time teaching because, “I realized most of these athletes don’t understand how to use the proper technique and placement to be in the proper position to take away the lane and angles” says Beckford. Beckford breaks it down to the athletes to make sure the main points are covered such as spacing, sliding, being able to use the proper foot placement, moving linear, lateral, back peddling and taking away the strong side of the offensive player. “Lacrosse is a growing sport here in the states. It’s really popular on the east coast which I notice it’s starting to grow countrywide and I’m happy to be a part of that” says Beckford.
Beckford works with high school, collegiate, and professional athletes in all sports, but with lacrosse there are a couple standout players that are a continuous powerhouse that Beckford trains. “Yes, I train Caylee Waters, who is a professional player and one of the goalies for team USA,” says Beckford. In the class of 2021, he’s trained and worked with around 20+ lax athletes going to play Division 1 lacrosse.
Nike and Under Armour added the Football Combine method, which showcase such great talent in the sport. The 40-yard dash that showcases the players first step, acceleration, max velocity, and top end speed. Preparing future generations for a more competitive sport, Beckford notices the testing aspect of camps. “5-10-5 known as the pro agility shows the athlete lateral speed and quickness from acceleration to deceleration back to acceleration and hip mobility and Vertical Jump which measures how explosive the athletes are” says Beckford. Knowing that this is what coaches are looking for at the next level, Beckford has done a great job at preparing them for a growing and competitive career. Carrington sees his business expanding. “I see my business in five years as a franchise as well as a well-known sports facility on the east coast not just Fairfield county” says Beckford. Expanding and growing the brand, sport, and business to help more athletes.
Website: http://overdriveelite.com