Blog

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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James Marshall

1. PAR: Golf core values

   14th August 2017 11:01 am

   Setting core values for your coaching environment Taking this golf example from Wade Gilbert’s “Coaching better every season” for coaches and players to help focus on what matters most. The golf coach ended up with the appropriate acronym PAR. Passion: Nurture love for the game of golf and competing. Achievement: Strive to achieve our competitive […]

   0 Comments | Read More | golf, reflective practice

2. Using reflection and debriefs to enhance coaching: Wade Gilbert

   21st July 2017 4:21 pm

   “Why wait for a disaster to have a really open and frank conversation?” Wade Gilbert asked this at the GAIN conference in his presentation on reflection and debriefs for coaches. (This was two days after the Grenfell tower disaster where many people were asking the same thing). Wade said that systematic reflection could be the […]

   0 Comments | Read More | GAIN, GAIN2017, reflective practice

3. Creating the Perfect Workout: Vern Gambetta and Jim Radcliffe

   20th July 2017 3:10 pm

   “We should warm up with skills not drills” Said Jim Radcliffe in his joint presentation with Vern Gambetta at GAIN. Combined they have been on an 89 year journey and “We can do better” said Vern in trying to create the perfect workout. This was an interesting dual presentation with a lot of back and […]

   0 Comments | Read More | GAIN, GAIN2017, planning

4. Developing the Robust Athlete: Jim Radcliffe

   19th July 2017 2:35 pm

   “Some people can negotiate the speed bumps of life, some end up in a ditch.” Jim Radcliffe talking about the Robust Athlete in his excellent presentation at GAIN this year. Jim has coached at The University of Oregon  since 1989 and has been a major influence on my coaching since 2011 when I first saw […]

   0 Comments | Read More | GAIN, GAIN2017, plyometrics, structural Integrity

5. Coaching Better Every Season: Wade Gilbert

   17th July 2017 3:10 pm

   “If I want to get better, I need to know what better is.” Wade Gilbert gave an excellent overview of the coaching process and becoming a better coach at his GAIN seminar. This also served as an overview of his excellent book of the same name. His talk was split into 4 parts: Envision: Pre-season […]

   0 Comments | Read More | GAIN, GAIN2017, reflective practice, Transformational Coaching

6. Applying the Bondarchuk Method of Training: Martin Bingisser

   13th July 2017 2:50 pm

   Systematic Planning for Your Athletes Developing a plan for your athletes can be problematic, time consuming and potentially useless. Martin Bingisser gave some very useful tips in his GAIN presentation which will help coaches looking to develop a system. Martin is an advocate of the Bondarchuk system of training which uses a limited sequence of […]

   0 Comments | Read More | GAIN, GAIN2017, periodisation

7. Helping your child become happy and active within sport

   12th July 2017 2:43 pm

   “Youth sports is a business plan that fluffs egos and packs pocket books” Said Randy Ballard of Illinois University at the GAIN conference in Houston last month.  He was talking about how parents try to get their children to specialise in sport too early, without realising the dangers of this. “75% of kids quit sports […]

   4 Comments | Read More | GAIN, GAIN2017, LTAD

8. Cannonball Tennis: Mike Sangster

   11:04 am

   “Devon has everything to offer that I want in life” Says Mike Sangster in his book “Cannonball tennis”.  Mike took up tennis when he was 13 (yes 13) and went on to become the British #1 player, played in many Davis Cup matches and got to the semi-finals of Wimbledon. Growing up in Torquay, he […]

   0 Comments | Read More | book review, tennis

9. Reconditioning athletes: Bill Knowles seminar

   10th July 2017 7:12 pm

   “An exercise is something you do a movement is something you feel.” Was the title of Bill Knowles’ seminar on rehabilitating (reconditioning in his terms) athletes from sports injuries. The question he asks himself is “what’s in the best interest of the athlete?” This often means pulling the athlete out of the injured body and […]

   4 Comments | Read More | GAIN, GAIN2017, rehab, sports injury

10. Dr Mike Joyner “Sport Science: Servant or Master?”

    7th July 2017 2:23 pm

    “Don’t get distracted by the latest and greatest” Said Dr Mike Joyner at the head of his 2nd seminar at GAIN. His talk covered four key questions we need to ask before implementing a new scientific find in our training, as well as interesting insights that he has found useful. In a discussion the evening […]

    0 Comments | Read More | GAIN, GAIN2017, sports science