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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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How to make your warm up sport specific

Is your warm-up sport-specific?

netball warm upAs many people in the world know and understand you can learn so much by watching and observing other people.

How does society work? How people act in different situations, being a couple of examples.

This skill, of observing and reflecting is so important to a coach’s personal and professional development. I have had the chance to work with some excellent coaches over the last 5 years and from each, I have gained new skills and qualities.

While waiting for Matt, (as he was late to our meeting) I have the opportunity to watch two teams warming up for a game of Netball. As I was watching I noticed that both teams were doing the same drills and activities. And I got thinking…… is this normal? Does every team warm-up the same? If so does that mean that each person that plays that sport is the same? Is that warm-up effective for them?

Planning your Warm-Up

This is a message that I deliver on our Athletic Development Coaching Course We spend time planning and reflecting upon the coaches’ individual and team warm-ups and how they help prepare their teams before they compete and it has proven to be very useful for their athletes.

Here are some tips:

Have a plan. Write it down if necessary. Make it simple.

  • Make it personal to you- don’t copy what anyone else is doing.
  • Move generally before you get ready for your specific event.
  • Use large muscle groups first, get warm and sweaty.
  • Introduce technical drills for form.
  • Build up speed and intensity.
  • Integrate speed work with mobility, so that you don’t get fatigued.
  • Practice in training and experiment with what works for you.
  • Keep it short- that way if you are called up sooner than expected you won’t panic.
  • Routine is key; it will be a comfort before you compete.

What I saw and what I was thinking….

While watching the Netball warm-up I saw:

  • A lot of running in a straight line (A to B)
  • A low to medium intensity of running, and not explosive movements, high-intensity actions
  • Limited decision making and interplay between players.

When I look at Netball, I see a high-intensity game (for those actually involved with the ball), that is multi-directional and at varying intensities of movement thought-out the game. When in netball does a player run completely straight with no change of pace or direction. Did the warm-up resemble the actual activities and movements required in the match? Probably not.

A warm-up is so important to mentally and physically prepare athletes for competition. Yes, we can physically prepare athletes with the implementation of correct movements and actions, but who can we mentally prepare them? As each athlete has a different makeup and needs.

What we can do is to stimulate each athlete’s sensor systems, so that they make fast, and correct decisions in the heat of battle. This means including decision making in a warm-up, especially for team evasion sports. The video below shows athletes choosing a movement across the base of the square and then accelerating across the diagonals.

My favourite is Keep-Ball, a simple game that requires the players to make a number of passes between each other, without letting the opposition gain the ball. This activity is multi-directional, with a variety of intensity and movement. It includes communication and decision making.

 Ask yourself, are you actually preparing your athletes for competition?

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Comments

  1. […] would just stick to this routine without ever questioning “why I was doing what I was doing”. So I changed my programme and thought about what I wanted to […]

  2. Milosz says:

    Hi,
    I’ve just realized how important are warm ups for every single person and if you preparing your athletes for any competition or single practice. It’s really necessary to specify warm ups in different sports and even in single practice when you have various plan for upcoming practice. Thanks also for tips how to create perfect warm up.

  3. level1 says:

    I’ve been a rugby player for many years now, and I don’t realise the importance of “warm up”. I normally take it as just a joke or its just part of a rugby. After reading through the warm up and doing some warm up videos then I realise why I do get injuries. So it it is so so important to warm up.

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Working with James has been a pleasure and education for all of the fencers and coaches, from beginner fencers and trainee fencers, up to international fencers and coaches with decades of experience. We really appreciate James' desire to challenge assumptions but simultaneously his ability to listen to both fencers and coaches on technical and tactical points. He manages to keep his sessions fresh and innovative without losing sight of our central goals. His sessions are challenging and fun and his attention detail is a tribute to his professionalism. Thank you.
 
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