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Reflections from a Gymnastics assistant coaching course
1st June 2023
A guest post from Kath Maguire. Kath is the parent of one of our club’s gymnasts. She asked about doing some volunteering a couple of months ago and whether there was a course she could do. Here are her reflections from the day. “I’ve been thinking about volunteering for a while now but as it’s […]
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Welcome to the Excelsior blog. It is a mix of current research and thoughts on Athlete and Coach Development, Strength and Conditioning and personal reflections.

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Thanks for taking the time to read it.

James Marshall

  1. Reflections from a Gymnastics assistant coaching course

    A guest post from Kath Maguire. Kath is the parent of one of our club’s gymnasts. She asked about doing some volunteering a couple of months ago and whether there was a course she could do. Here are her reflections from the day. “I’ve been thinking about volunteering for a while now but as it’s […]

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  2. Getting Better at Practice: decision-making

    Playing sports at any level requires making decisions. Sometimes they are tactical decisions such as when and where to pass the ball. Sometimes they are training decisions such as which technique to prioritise or how much weight to lift. Players need to be allowed to make decisions in order to develop and succeed. The sooner […]

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  3. How to get better at practice: Intention and attention

    In our Freestyle Gymnastics classes, the young gymnasts spend the first ten minutes of each class working on their favourite skills. Some of them do so with a laser-like focus, repeating the same skill as often as they can, while others drift from skill to skill, using different pieces of apparatus for a few repetitions […]

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  4. Teaching Games in Primary School

    Last week, a Primary School teacher told me of their experience teaching tag rugby to year 3s (7-8-year-olds), ‘We practised passing down the line a lot but, when it came to the game, they didn’t know what to do.’ Compare that to the advice given by the Department of Education and Science: ‘At about nine […]

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  5. The oxymoronic Talent Pathway

    How did people get good at sports before the existence of pathways and ‘talent’ academies? If you read biographies of a previous generation of sporting superstars there is usually a mention of a dedicated p.e. teacher or coach at a local sports club. Children discovered their love for the sport locally and affordably. They might […]

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  6. My books of the year: 2022

    Tough to choose just one book It’s that time of year (or slightly early as I am trying to help those looking to buy books before Christmas) to review and recommend what I have read. I started listing back in 2013 so that I didn’t read the same books by mistake. I have split the […]

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  7. New Course for sports coaches

    Gymnastics for sport Over the past 5 or so years, I have been running Movement workshops for sports coaches and p.e. teachers. The participants have enjoyed learning how to teach movement and basic gymnastics that they can then share with their players and pupils. Players who are stronger, more agile and more adaptable can pick […]

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  8. Muscles Strengthening exercises: why the 5km run is not the health panacea.

    Muscle-strengthening exercises such as bodyweight exercises, exercise bands, and dumbbell, barbell and machine resistance training exercises have been shown to impact a variety of health outcomes including: · Improved muscular strength. · Bone mineral density (stronger bones). · A decrease in all-cause mortality (the chances of dying from health-related diseases). · Improvements in cardio-metabolic health […]

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  9. Coaching at a weightlifting competition

    Three things I had in mind to help the weightlifters Last weekend I coached three of our club weightlifters at the Wild Boar Tier 3 event: Gabby, Will and Chris. This was their first competition outside of the club. Whilst every ‘S&C coach’ does ‘Olympic Lifts’ they do not coach the lifts in competition. There […]

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Client Testimonials

Weston AGC
I first met James at a South West Gymnastic conference and thought he was superb then, and still do! James' ability to adapt to different sports and levels is excellent, and he is superb at getting his message across to different ages of gymnasts. He did a workshop at our club for our competitive gymnasts and it was superb, His work was of great value to a wide range of ages and levels, with a tremendous emphasis on posture and injury prevention. We have been able to put his training methods into practice and are seeing an improvement in the all round strength and fitness of our gymnasts.
 
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