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. Have you thought of using gymnastics as part of your warm up?

   26th August 2016 8:57 am

   How can gymnastics help prepare me for a collision sport?

   Gymnastics: a sport based on perfecting skills and techniques. What you practice at training is exactly what you will perform at competition.

   Field sports: sports based on quick decision making, tactics and game play. No game or match is ever the same.

   25 Comments | Read More | gymnastics, warm up

2. How a good coach can help you become a winner

   25th August 2016 10:08 am

   Why hiring an expert coach will save you time and money

   Young athletes (and their parents) are overwhelmed with information from varying sources that is often conflicting. It is my job to help them navigate the maelstrom.

   Originally designed as a concept to deal with organising and displaying online information and layouts, information architecture could as easily be applied to coaching.

   0 Comments | Read More | athletic development, Coaching, LTAD

3. Socrates the Coach

   21st August 2016 8:54 am

   The following quote comes from “The Consolations of Philosophy” by Alain de Botton

   and is a discourse between Socrates and his friend Crito.

   Socrates: When a man… is taking (his training) seriously, does he pay attention to all praise and criticism and opinion indiscriminately, or only when it comes from the one qualified person, the actual doctor or trainer?

   0 Comments | Read More | reflective practice

4. Why you shouldn’t go to University in 2016

   18th August 2016 11:54 am

   Why you shouldn’t go to University in 2012

   Have you just finished applying for University? Feel like your parents and teachers are pushing you along as part of a production line? Not sure what you want to do in life, but feel that Univeristy will kill a few years?

   STOP Watch this video before it is too late.

   6 Comments | Read More | education, strength and conditioning qualifications

5. Swimming dryland training: Nick Folker seminar

   10th August 2016 5:06 pm

   Nick Folker presenting at GAIN in June this year. I learnt more in this seminar about so called “dryland” training than I have done speaking to swim coaches over the last 10 years.

   4 Comments | Read More | Dryland, GAIN, swimming

6. Excelsior ADC Summer Update

   22nd July 2016 11:05 am

   Summer Training and the Olympics Here is an overview of what is happening at Excelsior Athletic Development Club over the next 2 months, including news of 4 athletes I have coached who are competing in the Olympics. I have included links to timetables to when to watch our 3 main sports on TV. Athletics Training continues every […]

   2 Comments | Read More | excelsior adc, olympics

7. Summer reading 2016

   15th July 2016 3:10 pm

   Book recommendations for reading this summer I hope you get time for some summer reading (if we get a summer). I try to read more fiction or biographies of non work related people whilst on holiday, rather than technical manuals.   Here are my Top 5  summer reading books for coaches I have read so far this year […]

   3 Comments | Read More | book review, reading

8. District 13- Parkour, Gymnastics

   12th July 2016 1:46 pm

   I watched the French film District 13 a couple of weeks ago. There is some truly impressive athletic movement in this film. The freestyle attitude of Parkour, making use of the local environment, looking at everyday objects in a different light, is in total contrast to some sports environments where free expression is constrained.
   I wonder whether young children especially would be better off developing this type of movement and awareness, rather than being taken to a class and put through highly disciplined and structured movement patterns.
   

   0 Comments | Read More | gymnastics

9. How can I stop my child getting injured?

   10th July 2016 11:50 am

   The evidence is quite stark if your child is spending too much time in organised activity rather than free play, if they have specialised in one sport and if they have gone through their growth spurt, then they are more likely to get injured (1).

   0 Comments | Read More | injury, injury prevention, LTAD, sports injury

10. Middle distance running: science, myths & practice

    4th July 2016 1:59 pm

    “Why get obsessed with details if they don’t matter yet?” Steve Magness, at GAIN 2016 presenting on “Current concepts of endurance training“. I have been privileged to meet up with Steve for 3 GAIN conferences, and his thoughts have greatly shaped the work I do with our Middle Distance Running group. Here are some of […]

    1 Comment | Read More | athletics, endurance, running