Meet Elite Speed and Strength Coach, Carrington Beckford

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

The Coronavirus Pandemic is Straining Food Supply Chain

Now, in the second month of the COVID-19 shutdown in Connecticut, the disconnect between what officials say about the food supply and what the economically challenged are experiencing is obvious: hundreds of people in cars lined up for bags of free groceries, half empty grocery store shelves, and food banks and pantries just flat out of food.

Officials up and down government insist the U.S. has plenty of food, including Gov. Ned Lamont, who last week called it “anxiety” about a shortage rather than an actual shortage.

“Our food supply in this state, in this country, in our food banks, is strong,” Lamont said.

Those on the ground say otherwise, and some are calling for a re-evaluation and better coordination of food systems, possibly from the state level.

For now, it’s evident the coronavirus pandemic has created massive problems and unprecedented challenges related to state and federal food policies or systems along two paths. One challenge is in maintaining the food supply itself. The other is in administering the various financial assistance streams needed to keep Connecticut and other Americans fed.

Parts of the supply chain have been threatened by COVID-19. And consumers may not be feeling the impacts of the most pronounced disruption yet - the ripple effect from the closure of several meat processing plants that closed after COVID-19 outbreaks among their workers.

Wednesday, Tyson suspended operations at its largest pork processing plant in Waterloo, Iowa. That follows Smithfield Foods shutting pork processing plants in Wisconsin and Missouri after the closure of its Sioux Falls, SD plant — one of the largest single-source COVID hotspots in the country.

There are reports of more than a dozen pork, beef and chicken plants now closed in several states including Colorado and Pennsylvania. That will likely exacerbate the potential for shortages and high prices beyond what was already occurring as shoppers cleared out grocery stores and food-strapped food banks found themselves competing with the general public in retail establishments.

Long haul trucking to get produce from the two biggest growing areas - California and Florida - has had a tough time meeting the faster purchasing pace, especially with the additional time now needed for cleaning trucks and supplies and ensuring the health of drivers traveling through COVID-19-stricken states.

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Miami Beach City Manager Offers Recovery Plan to Reopen Restaurants

Yesterday, Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy L. Morales sent a memorandum to members of the city's Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee that outlines what he described as a "Resilient Recovery Plan" for the city, including restaurants.

Morales did not set a schedule, but he based his approach on the White House's recently released Opening Up America Again guidelines and noted that the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington estimates June 8 as the "earliest date that Florida can relax social distancing with containment strategies that include testing, contact tracing, isolation, and limiting gathering size." 

The plan addresses many aspects of daily life, including schools, childcare, transportation, government services, parks, places of worship, community centers, hotels, retail, beaches, entertainment, bars, and restaurants.

Restaurant reopenings would proceed in two phases, according to the memo and accompanying information.

Phase one would allow restaurants to open with outdoor seating only at first, and would request that restaurants consider special hours to accommodate vulnerable populations. In addition, restaurants would operate at 50 percent capacity or require a minimum of six feet of space between tables. Employees would be required to work staggered shifts and wear masks, and hours would be reduced and menus limited. Restaurants would be required to implement measures to prevent servers and bussers to cross-contaminate tables. Establishments with liquor licenses could offer table service, but bars would remain closed to patrons.

Under phase two, restaurants would be allowed to relax social-distancing measures and increase capacity.

Read the full article here.

Record-Breaking Tropical Depression Just Formed in East Pacific

About three weeks before the official start of the East Pacific hurricane season, the first tropical depression of the year has formed and official broken records.

Far to the south and west of Mexico, a tropical low was churrning at the end of this week. On the morning of Saturday, April 25, the low strengthened to become Tropical Depression 1E.

The tropical season for the East Pacific Ocean officially begins on May 15. The start of the tropical season for both the North Atlantic Ocean and the Central Pacific Ocean traditionally gets underway June 1.

"The tropical system was spinning over relatively warm waters, allowing for it to become a tropical depression," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Edwards.

The atmosphere around a tropical low has a significant influence on its chances of developing into a tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane. Both warm water and low wind shear are important for a tropical system to strengthen.

There is only a small window of time that Tropical Depression 1E will have access to these favorable conditions.

"The best chance for this system to strengthen, and remain organized is through early Sunday before it moves north into cooler waters and stronger winds," added Edwards. By later Sunday, cooler waters and strong winds are likely to begin weakening the low.

Read the full article here.

Watch Rosalía Cover Frank Ocean, Billie Eilish, Beyoncé, and More From Quarantine

Rosalía, like most of us, is finding new ways to stay entertained at home. So, on her Instagram Stories yesterday (April 23), she sang a bunch of her favorite songs, as Billboard notes. Among the tracks Rosalía covered were Frank Ocean’s “Dear April,” Billie Eilish’s “when the party’s over,” Beyoncé’s “Halo,” Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina,” Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now,” and Ariana Grande’s “God is a woman.” Watch her stay-at-home performance below.

Last month, Rosalía shared the new song “Dolerme.” And, in January, she won the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative Album for her sophomore album EL MAL QUERER. She recently told Zane Lowe that she’s “almost done” working on a new song with Billie Eilish.

Revisit Pitchfork’s 2018 Rising interview “Get to Know Rosalía, the Spanish Singer Giving Flamenco’s Age-Old Sound a Bracingly Modern Twist.”