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. 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 |

2. 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

3. Fuelling athletes in the real world: Dave Ellis

   12th January 2017 9:50 am

   “Athletes have an inability to recover from one beat down to the next”

   Dave Ellis presented twice at GAIN on fuelling athletes and supplementation. He is quite simply the best person I have seen talking about nutrition and feeding athletes in the real world.

   9 Comments | Read More | hydration, sports nutrition

4. 7 Things I Learnt In 2016

   15th December 2016 12:59 pm

   Reflective practice I try to learn more than 7 things a week, let alone a whole year, but part of reflective practice is being disciplined and accountable. Limiting myself to listing the 7 things in a year helps focus my mind and stop readers from being bored. Speaking on the phone to Mark Sheppard yesterday […]

   2 Comments | Read More | reflective practice

5. 5 ways to keep your hockey team fit all season

   12th December 2016 2:47 pm

   “The best way to stay in shape is not to get out of shape”

   Jim Radcliffe.

   As coaches we are here to help our athletes improve their skills and enable them to play as much as possible. Keeping players fit for the whole season can be a hard task and we often have to deal with injuries throughout the season.

   1 Comment | Read More | hockey

6. Bite Size Agility

   4th December 2016 10:49 am

   I am trying to make agility workouts more frequent, more specific and a lot shorter in duration than has previously been done for the athletes I work with.

   0 Comments | Read More | agility, rugby

7. “What are the best vegetables to eat?”

   30th November 2016 10:55 am

   Powerhouse your diet with the best fruit and veg

   A new study¹ has identified 41 “Powerhouse” Fruit and Vegetables which can significantly improve health. These nutrient dense foods have been found to be the most effective in reducing chronic disease.

   Here is a review of the main findings of the research, as well as some practical guidance for getting the most out of your nutrition:

   3 Comments | Read More | hydration, sports nutrition

8. Why disengaged girls hate school sport

   29th November 2016 4:11 pm

   I have recently been asked to help coach “disengaged” girls in school p.e. I am doing weightlifting at one school, gymnastics at another. Funding is available to help these girls as they are unenthusiastic about “traditional p.e.” My experience coaching them is different from what I was told to expect. What is “traditional p.e.”? I […]

   4 Comments | Read More | gymnastics, p.e., physical education

9. How to increase golf club speed

   16th November 2016 1:46 pm

   I was speaking to Stuart (a golf coach I work with) about using the CNS to make athletes faster. He said he couldn’t see the application for golf, because club speed is developed by sequencing a series of linking actions together. 

   1 Comment | Read More | golf

10. Diabetes and Exercise: What the experts say.

    14th November 2016 10:00 am

    How Diabetes affects athletes

    Can I say how delighted I was to hear that Fran Low firstly has undertaken to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats and secondly, that she is raising money for Diabetes UK (DUK) -the charity for people living with diabetes? Thank you.

    As a mum of an aspiring athlete (rugby union) and a Doctor looking after people with diabetes, I spend a lot of time thinking about training, keeping fit, preventing diabetes as well as treating it.

    3 Comments | Read More | diabetes, obesity