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. Blind Football World Cup – England finish fourth.

   25th August 2010 9:07 am

   Well done to Dan James (far left) and Robin Williams (kneeling far right)for their efforts in helping the England blind football team finish fourth in the World Cup.  I have trained both players through their TASS funding.

   Robin especially has made vast improvements this year, and will hopefully benefit from a productive off season.  Dan has consistently been the fittest player on the squad over the last 2 years.

   0 Comments | Read More | uk school games

2. Repeated jumps versus single jumps

   24th August 2010 4:14 pm

   Bondarchuk in his Transfer of Training in Sport highlights research from Eastern Europe that shows that performing repeated jumps is more effective in improving sporting performance than doing single jumps for distance.

   0 Comments | Read More | pliometrics

3. Top Training Tip

   20th August 2010 10:42 am

   The top training tip – is get started. Don’t delay, get started.

   Once you have got started, then you can worry about the specifics.

   It is like starting a new essay or project, sometimes just writing the title is enough to get going.

   0 Comments | Read More | planning

4. Fencing Camp

   17th August 2010 8:35 am

   Just came back from working on a 2 day fencing camp in Grantham with various fencers. Two of the girls I train were on the camp, so it was good to see them in action. (Jenny McGeever is pictured).

   The camp has been run in the past by Army personnel, and the two PTIs from Headley Court did an excellent job on the camp. Something you can rely on is professionalism and enthusiasm as well as being able to walk the walk.

   3 Comments | Read More | brain circulation, coaches

5. Confucius and Reading

   13th August 2010 8:01 am

   “No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”

   Confucius.

    

    

   0 Comments | Read More | clothing

6. Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

   11th August 2010 9:38 am

   I am just about to embark on a 10 day Marathon trip working around the country.

   Truro, Plymouth, Exeter, Taunton, Henley- In -Arden, Grantham and Newcastle.

   The good news is the variety of work and the great people I will be trainign and working with. The bad news is the dead time spent travelling.

   I have to be self disciplined on the eating and exercising front, as well as getting to see the family.

   Should be fun!

   0 Comments | Read More |

7. Training mixed groups

   21st July 2010 8:12 am

   It is quite challenging training groups of athletes from different sports and at different ages and stages of development as a group.

   1 Comment | Read More | book review

8. Athlete empowerment- gone too far?

   20th July 2010 11:21 am

   One of the buzz catchphrases for the last year has been “athlete empowerment” when dealing with young athletes. The young athletes (a loose term, most of them are recreational games players)are supposed to be able to choose what type of training programme they follow, and even give feedback on it.

   Has this gone too far?

   Is this an excuse for athletes to dictate how and where they train,

   1 Comment | Read More | equestrian, fitness, reading

9. PE Teacher Inset- Stanbridge Earls School

   1st July 2010 2:53 pm

   I did a 3 hour inset last week with the PE staff at Stanbridge Earls school.

   We looked at the principles behind LTAD and how physical development matched this model.

   We then looked at ways of identifying structural problems in the school children and how we could improve their structural integrity.

   1 Comment | Read More | creativity, running

10. Planning and Methods of Physical Preparation for Combat Sports- Mike Favre, Uksca conference

    14th June 2010 8:47 am

    Mike Favre works at the University of Michigan, and delivered this lecture on combat sports preparation, specifically looking at wrestling and judo.

    Having some considerable experience and knowledge in this area, I went along not expecting much, but open to some different perspectives.

    0 Comments | Read More | combat