Athletes test skills at new Valpo combine

Updated: September 6, 2011 10:00PM

VALPARAISO — Aaron Ellis doesn’t want to just sit around and wait for his big moment to come. The Valparaiso sophomore is taking a more proactive approach.

In a society inundated with test scores and comparative statistical research, the Vikings underclassman wants to know where his athletic traits can be fine tuned. Currently, Ellis shares the quarterback responsibilities on the junior varsity squad, but has aspirations of one day being the varsity starter, and maybe beyond into college.

As the first person on Monday to go through the UnderArmour Combine 360 at the Old Valparaiso Fairgrounds, Ellis’s quest took another turn. He went through a series of 18 tests, which took two hours, to determine both strengths and weaknesses (including things like broad jump and vertical). From those results, he will be able to locate specific areas needing improvement.

“This means a whole lot to me, because football is my whole life right now,” Ellis said of the process. “I know that more training, more hard work’s all it needs and I’m hoping that I’ll get there.”

Although for many years football combines have been a common way to scout prospects, now other sports are going to that route as well. Monday’s event was open to athletes from an array of sports with an age range of 14 and up.

Valparaiso resident James Bragg is the first person to host a Combine 360 event in the region. Originally, the collaborative effort between UnderArmour and IMG Academies hosted the combines solely out of IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla. Since February, when Bragg and about 200 others were trained in the operations in Bradenton, 360 is starting to expand.

Ellis’s appearance represents the footwork that Bragg has done. First he tried reaching out to athletic directors. Then Bragg used websites, such as Facebook, to contact prep athletes. Bragg projected that between 30 to 50 would attend in the time frame of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., at a cost of $50.

“You know what they’re calling it?” he said. “The SAT of sports.”

“Basically, this is what I’m telling you; this is what’s going on, in the world, anyway,” he said of testing.

A combined score of around 300 is considered to be amongst the best. The top 50 scores in the country are posted in the Combines 2011 section of UnderArmour’s website. Bragg is also open to one-on-one testing throughout the region.

“I can tell you exactly what’s wrong with your child, what the (athletic) weaknesses are,” he said. “And how to fix it with the hard work and dedication.”

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