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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Thanks for taking the time to read it.

James Marshall

1. Fitness training for Field Hockey: Part 1

   23rd May 2017 4:21 pm

   Hockey can be classed as a Transition game sport, it requires efforts of varied intensity that occur randomly with varied rest periods. The game is 70 minutes in duration consisting of two 35 minute halves with 5 minute half time. A squad consists of 16 players, 11 are on the pitch at any one time in a variety of formations.

   11 Comments | Read More | hockey

2. Structural Integrity: Building the Foundation for youth athletes.

   16th May 2017 2:47 pm

   How do I start training?

   In the rush to get results fast and take shortcuts, or to “get to the interesting stuff” young athletes get broken.

   One thing I have been working on over the last two years is improving the structural integrity of the athlete, before moving onto other areas of fitness.

   Structural Integrity is composed of  4 key components:

   10 Comments | Read More | LTAD, physical literacy, structural Integrity

3. Speed Training for Gymnasts

   15th May 2017 1:05 pm

   How to get to the Vault or Double Mini Trampoline quicker

   In order to generate a bigger jump, gymnasts need a faster approach to the Vault or Double Mini Trampoline (DMT).

   This involves them running for about 20-30m and then jumping onto a springboard or the DMT.

   6 Comments | Read More | gymnastics, speed

4. Olympic Weight lifting Tips

   10th May 2017 4:56 pm

   Learning from a WeightLifter

   

   I have been performing the Olympic lifts since the age of 11. My coach at the time kept it simple, didn’t over complicate the movement and allowed for errors early on. 

   10 Comments | Read More | Coaching, weightlifting

5. Why Lego is a symbol of lack of sporting creativity

   25th April 2017 11:35 am

   Lego and sports clubs have become sterile environments Lego sets used to stimulate children’s (and their parent’s) imaginations. In the 1970s the goal of Lego was to use imagination and explore as you can see in the letter on the right. Now, Lego blocks are almost always sold as part of some marketing tie- in […]

   0 Comments | Read More | athletic development, creativity, strength and conditioning qualifications, Transformational Coaching

6. Excelsior ADC awarded Sport England Grant

   21st April 2017 9:40 am

   Excelsior ADC awarded £8756 from Sport England I am delighted to announce that we have been successful in our application to Sport England’s small grants programme. The money will be used to develop the Weightlifting section of our club. The grant we will be used in 3 main parts: Equipment: we shall be buying Eleiko […]

   11 Comments | Read More | athletics, gymnastics, weightlifting

7. Anatomy and Physiology Learning in the 21st century

   22nd March 2017 8:13 am

   Here are some free resources that may help you get to grips with learning your anatomy and physiology. 

   Introduction Level

   BBC GSCE Bitesize – GCSE revision guide

   BBC Learning – links to various revision guides and other information

   4 Comments | Read More | cpd, physiology

8. Bring back the 80s: Why today’s child is less prepared for sport.

   17th March 2017 12:16 pm

   Childhood obesity on the rise, kids unprepared for sport In the news this week was the worrying fact that children as young as 7 are already becoming less active. The rise in childhood obesity can be seen in Primary schools. This trend can be seen since the 1980s and has an implication for sports coaches […]

   0 Comments | Read More |

9. Let your child play sport rather than just compete

   7th March 2017 3:15 pm

   Children need to play more and compete less Children who get injured or burntout may be competing at sport too much and have too little opportunity to just play. These words on shoulder operations by Hall of Fame baseball player John Smoltz ring very true. “I want to encourage the families and parents that are […]

   0 Comments | Read More | LTAD, sports injury

10. Teaching Literacy on World Book Day

    2nd March 2017 7:11 am

    Happy World Book Day I hope you get a chance to read a good book. I am currently reading “They Marched Into Sunlight” by David Marannis. Do your children enjoy reading? Without a good book (in their terms) it is unlikely they will learn to read well no matter what ill-advised literacy scheme their school introduces. […]

    0 Comments | Read More | book review, reading