3 pillars of athletic development: Kelvin Giles
Great coaches find a way or make one”
Kelvin Giles presenting his “Quest for physical literacy” in Exeter on Monday.
The theme was putting precision, variety, and progression into the coaching and teaching of young people at every opportunity.
Kelvin gave a great one-day workshop which had coaches, parents, teachers, physiotherapists, and also 4 junior international athletes attending.
The 3 pillars of athletic development
Kelvin outlined his take on this:
- Cardiorespiratory (metabolic) efficiency: the running, swimming, and cycling that gets the heart and lungs working.
- Nutritional quality: what the athletes put into their mouths and bodies.
- Mechanical (movement) efficiency: the focus of the day.
When looking at mechanical efficiency, the load must be determined by the quality of the technique.
That load is either: speed, distance, volume, direction, complexity, or the surface upon which it is performed.
When all of this is perfect, only then can you progress. “Function before sports specific skill, force, speed or endurance.“
This is criterion-based progression: the athlete must earn the physical right to progress. The adaptation must be permanent and consistent.
(Compare that with the norm which is “no weights until you are 16, now we start with power cleans”, or “you can’t do a bodyweight squat? Never mind, get in the smith machine and we can add some weight because you are too skinny” James’ rant over).
Kelvin gave examples of this, and we started with a lot of squat variations, followed by physical competency assessments.
I have done this 4 times previously with Kelvin, but always learn something new. Today it was that spending 4 hours in a car leads to tight hamstrings!
The state of the nation
Kelvin spent a good portion of the day outlining the data and research behind our lack of physical ability.
As a coach of young people, or even senior clubs and teams, it is easy to concentrate on “performance outcomes” either in the gym or in the win/ loss column. However, it is important to remember where these athletes are coming from.
It is alright to have “medal targets” for the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, but the simple fact is that we have a young generation of unfit, overweight kids who struggle to move properly. Kelvin laid this out very well.
It is everyone’s responsibility to help solve this problem. The answer isn’t with PE “specialists” being put into primary schools, chucking a ball at 30 kids, and saying, “Play a game.”
The answer isn’t with hordes of sports science students being able to recite force/ time relationships or measuring Vo2 max on a treadmill but unable to coach a press up or a squat properly. Let alone sequence those movements into a meaningful, engaging coaching session.
The answer lies with better coaching and teaching: “If you don’t chase precision, you are supporting mediocrity”.
“Kids aren’t afraid of hard work, they’re afraid of boredom”. Wayne Goldsmith
“My butt is killing me”
The last hour of the day was all practical with Kelvin taking the group through some lunge progressions, sway drill variations and single-leg squat variants.
“Are we teaching/ coaching them to discover, or to be robotic?” Kelvin put all his theory and experience into practice.
This was a great example of how good coaching and using time and space can create overload, rather than justing adding weight. “The minute you put a bar on someone’s shoulders you slow them down“.
With minimal coaching cues, Kelvin set tasks that their bodies had to solve: linear, lateral, rotational, squatting, bracing, and hinging. So much variation and fun, with just the body.
As Steve Myrland says “Complex equipment tends to yield simplistic results, simple equipment tends to yield complex results
Summary and the Way Ahead
Thanks to everyone who took part, and especially to Kelvin for once again delivering a great workshop (following on from his session at Willand School, I have been helping them further implement the ideas).
Contact me if you would like a similar course run near you
Overall a very well balanced and productive day’s course. Kelvin is both an inspiring and captivating presenter. Physical literacy is relevant to everyone: adults, athletes (adults and children) and children generally. Plenty of material covered from why we need a Quest, how we develop physical literacy / intelligence and what we and athletes need to do to gain physical literacy – whatever one’s level of competence, age or period of development. There was also plenty of motivation and hands on practice. All (local) Schools, sporting clubs and athletic associated organisations need to send a rep to any future similar workshop. Physical Education starts with the Fundamental Movement Skills. (Neil Bennett: Management & Leadership Developer; Sports Coach; Devon’s County Vet 400m Champion; Royal Marine Veteran).
Thanks for your support, detailed feedback and enthusiasm on the day Neil.
Very enjoyable and informative session with plenty to take away and apply. The idea of movement puzzles and allowing young athletes to solve them using minimal coaching cues is definitely something I will try and implement right away. Using warm ups and movement breaks to work on foundation movements is a great idea for any coach wanting to develop physical literacy.
Both Kelvin and James’s passion for improving physical literacy is infectious and would recommend going to future workshops to any coach or teacher.
Matt
I have tried giving some puzzles this week since the workshop with varying success. Some athletes just found ways, some over thought and froze (older ones), others questioned why we were doing it. All though eventually started to experiment and enjoy the sessions
It was certainly an interesting and thought provoking experience. Kelvin shared his philosophy to coaching young athletes – our job is to build them from the ground up and provide them with the ‘movement vocabulary’ to deal with future sport-specific activities and competitions.
I’m personally looking forward to the challenge of applying the concepts and exercises with my young athletes at Ellingham and in my Dorset team.
Thanks for the workshop James and Kelvin.
(Dean)
A very productive workshop from Kelvin Giles. Inspiring and passionate, Kelvin delivers his philosophy with real purpose and intensity. His demonstrations were superb and his ability to move through extensive ranges is impressive!The info I received is certainly going to be very useful within my squash coaching and soon to be newly acquired Pilates instructor role in Cardiff. I must also give thanks to Neal who very kindly shared half his lunch with me! There’s always an affinity with us ex Marine’s!!
Chris Powell UKCC L3 squash coach
Thanks to everyone for their comments and for coming down on the day. We will be following up soon with more learning/ sharing opportunities.
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