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. How I read: a personal guide

   3rd February 2022 1:02 pm

   I was asked last week, ‘What’s your process for choosing books?‘ I was flattered that someone thought I had an organised decision-making process rather than the random choices that catch my eye. But, on reflection, I do have a process and when I shared it, my colleague said it was worth sharing. So here you […]

   0 Comments | Read More | book review, cpd, reading

2. Best books of 2021

   15th December 2021 10:42 am

   It’s the time of year where I reflect on what I have read so far and share my best books of 2021. These have included some stone-cold classics, some long-forgotten gems, some new thinking and only a few duds. I am selective in what I read: time, like The One Ring, is precious. I have […]

   2 Comments | Read More | book review

3. Walking for fitness

   24th November 2021 10:30 am

   Walking for fitness is an underrated (except for those who know) way of staying healthy. Not the pottering around the mall, staring at a screen, type of walking. Nor the frantic accumulation of ‘steps’ in a desperate effort to meet a nonsensical ’10,000’ number. I am talking about brisk walking that takes you out of […]

   0 Comments | Read More | walking

4. Coaching the coaching continuum

   25th October 2021 8:31 am

   I had the pleasure of coaching sports coaches at the Heinrich-Heine Gymnasium in Kaiserslautern, Germany this weekend. The focus was on the coaching continuum. Many of us rely on just a few methods of coaching, according to our personal bias or habit but there are many ways that range from Direct, controlling to free play. […]

   0 Comments | Read More | Coaching, cpd

5. Two good books for the sports scientist/ sports coach/ interested reader.

   17th August 2021 11:35 am

   Good books about sports science and statistics are as rare as rocking horse dung. I have read two, back to back, that were both readable and informative: ‘Everest’ by Harriet Tuckey and ‘How to Read Numbers’ by Tom Chivers and David Chivers. One of the problems with sports science is that it has disappeared down […]

   0 Comments | Read More | book review, sports science, statistics

6. Don’t be cruel to kittens…or children

   17th June 2021 9:49 am

   An experiment involving two kittens took place in a lab in the early 1960s (1). The kittens were put on a small carousel that rotated with a view of the lab. Kitten A could move its feet and the carousel spun as it walked. Kitten B was suspended in a box that rotated to give […]

   2 Comments | Read More |

7. The importance of a network: exchanging information and ideas

   5th June 2021 5:09 pm

   I don’t know the answer to every question an athlete has but I know a man (or woman) who does. I have had reason to call on my network of coaches, medical professionals, p.e. teachers and athletic trainers over the last fortnight (that’s two weeks you American readers). Athletes, or their parents, have asked me […]

   0 Comments | Read More |

8. The Marshall Plan: Staying fit in my 50s

   9th May 2021 8:29 am

   If I had £1 for every time someone said to me, ‘I need to get fit,’ I would have enough money to pay for a month’s food shopping. If I had a £1 for every time someone told me about their ‘steps’ or ‘Strava’, I would have enough money to pay the Council Tax too. […]

   0 Comments | Read More |

9. Is there such a thing as sport specific training?

   14th April 2021 11:40 am

   The (insert sport here) specific agility programme

   Or, endurance, or power or speed and so on.This is what is advertised, and it is what sports people want. Basketball specific, tennis specific and so on. But the question I always have is.

   Is it Athlete specific?

   Whether you are running after a rugby ball, basketball or tennis ball, the initial start is the same. Recently working on some fundamental movements with athletes from different sports has been interesting. Not only are some sports more open minded, but also athletes within those sports.

   1 Comment | Read More | jack Dempsey, running

10. Lessons learned from Lockdown PE

    3rd March 2021 10:18 am

    After filming 72 PE videos over the last year, here are some thoughts. To paraphrase Admiral Ackbar in ‘Return of the Jedi’: “It’s a wrap”! Our final PE video was filmed and edited last week: #72. We initially started by planning only nine when I first contacted Willand Primary School 50 weeks ago. None of […]

    0 Comments | Read More | motivation, pe, physical education