Robert Steele was competing in football, basketball and baseball at Oak Park High in the days when speed and strength training sessions were being used.

Steele, a former baseball player and graduate of San Francisco State, works with a number of professional, college, high school and youth athletes.

On Friday at Chumash Park in Agoura Hills, Steele was putting some youth football players through his speed, power, agility, reaction and quickness program for one hour and 15 minutes. Those five words speed, power, agility, reaction and quickness are SPARQ and he's a certified trainer.

Steele has been working with athletes in exercise, weightlifting, track and field, stretching and kinesiology, which are areas the Oak Park resident is certified.

Steele works outdoors with athletes and performs his strength camps at his indoor facility in Agoura Hills at 30135 Agoura Road, Suite C.

Steele works with football, baseball, lacrosse and soccer players.

"Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports," he said of the popularity of the sport with the Conejo Valley Youth League and the high school club teams. Oak Park High was the California State club champion in boys' lacrosse and will compete as a CIF team during the 2008 season.

Steele cross-trains athletes such as football players in spring.

The latest camp featured youth football players from the Agoura-Oak Park Eagles, Westlake Braves, Simi Valley Patriots, Calabasas Raiders and Thousand Oaks Titans.

During the drills, Steele yells "Move arms and don't get sloppy. Slide, don't jump over. You're cheating, do 10 pushups."

Steele is positive in his approach to help youth athletes improving their skills.

Simi Valley's Zac Norton, 9, said he wants to be a wide receiver.

"This is getting me ready for football," said Norton, who also thrives in taekwondo.

Bronson Bard, 10, of Malibu plays in the Agoura PONY baseball league.

Before Steele started putting the players through drills involving running around cones, he reflected on five years ago when he returned to the Conejo Valley.

"Nobody was doing kids' speed-strength training," he said. "I was doing professionals and collegiate athletes. I was wondering, why can't these kids do the same thing?

"A big part of it is self-confidence," said Steele.

Joe LaPorta, a former Thousand Oaks High and Moorpark College football player, was assisting Steele. LaPorta is playing football at Azusa Pacific.

Steele said he works with Pepperdine athletes and currently trains 130 student-athletes.

Steele said he never had good training growing up playing sports and after Oak Park High, attended Marymount in Palos Verdes, before moving on to San Francisco State.

"There's a new era and importance because these young athletes are still developing neuromuscular patterns," said Steele.

Steele said he's been working with new Calabasas football coach Lance Martin and his program with speed and strength skills.

Steele said he has students from Pepperdine and Cal Lutheran learning sports medicine and Oaks Christian's Cole Brownell is one of his interns.

Chris Berg, a former Stanford quarterback, works with Atomix athletes in recruiting and scholarships. Berg develops an electronic profile for athletes to send to college coaches.

"This area has attracted a lot of national attention over the last five years," said Steele, pointing to Oaks Christian's 11 NCAA Division I football scholarships.

Steele said there's a number of Division II colleges where athletes can earn scholarships and playing opportunities, while area athletes might watch from the sidelines on a Division I scholarship.

Steele is preparing for the Conejo Valley Nike SPARQ Combine on Aug. 11 featuring athletes from 25 area high schools at Calabasas High. Check-in time will be at 8:30 a.m.

Information: www.atomixathlete.com or 818-636-5676.