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. Why are you still using the plank?

   8th October 2019 11:36 am

   Why are teachers and coaches still using the plank? I have no idea when this exercise was introduced but, much like the Grey Squirrel, it has eliminated its predecessors and become the dominant species. I was coaching my ‘Strength and Co-ordination’ group last night and I asked them if they did the plank at school […]

   0 Comments | Read More | core training, physical education, physical literacy

2. Is your school stopping your child from learning?

   13th September 2019 11:00 am

   “Education, with its supporting system of compulsory and competitive schooling, all its carrots and sticks, its grades, diplomas and credentials, now seems to me perhaps the most authoritarian and dangerous of all the social inventions of mankind. “ John Holt So says John Holt in his sublime book, “Instead of Education.“ There are many lessons […]

   0 Comments | Read More | book review, education

3. How to make your warm up sport specific

   31st July 2019 7:30 am

   Is your warm up sport specific?

   As many people in the world know and understand you can learn so much by watching and observing other people.

   How society works? How people act in different situations, being a couple of examples.

   6 Comments | Read More | warm ups

4. Summer Reading Recommendations for Teachers and Coaches

   10th July 2019 11:51 am

   Ideas on what to read this summer Are you looking for a good book to read on holiday? We are over half way through the year, so I have had a chance to read a few that may be of interest. You might want to unwind with some easy reading and then gear up for […]

   6 Comments | Read More | book review, cpd

5. Four takeaways from GAIN 2019

   19th June 2019 12:21 pm

   ‘Make GAIN 2019 a personal audit’  were the opening remarks from Vern Gambetta at the GAIN conference in Houston last week.  He set out a vision for the conference that I took to heart. What are you currently doing? What do you want/need to do? Gap analysis: what is necessary to close the gap? I […]

   4 Comments | Read More | Coaching, coaching courses, cpd, GAIN, reflective practice

6. How to live on 24 hours a day

   7th June 2019 11:34 am

   Time is precious, how do you budget it? We all have 24 hours a day; it is one thing that unites us as humans. How we spend them differs vastly. Two Arnolds (Schwarzenegger and Bennett) have recently influenced my thoughts on how to spend my time. Here are some ideas on making the most of […]

   0 Comments | Read More | goal setting, motivation

7. Making Sport Better with Wayne Goldsmith

   22nd May 2019 7:28 am

   Coaching the Art and the Heart Yesterday we hosted the Making Sport Better workshop with Wayne Goldsmith in Willand. He gave two great presentations on coaching today’s generation of athletes, plus answered many questions at the end. Here is a brief summary. “Coaches are the masters of change”. Nobody changes by being yelled at or […]

   0 Comments | Read More | Coaching, cpd

8. Doctrines of the Great Educators

   9th May 2019 9:36 pm

   Coaching is teaching. It is just applied in a different context. Whilst we can get caught up in the Xs and Os, or the latest buzzwords- “constraints led coaching!”, if we look back, we can learn from those that preceded us and find out what truly stands the test of time. In the book “Doctrines […]

   0 Comments | Read More | book review, Coaching, physical education

9. How to get big for rugby

   5th May 2019 8:19 pm

   How Can I get Bigger for Rugby?

   I was working with a group of young players this week- pretty new to physical training.

   6 Comments | Read More | athletic development, rugby, strength

10. Manual of Physical Training -1931

    24th April 2019 2:29 pm

    Just got hold of a copy of this and there are some relevant points 80 odd years down the line:

    1 Comment | Read More | book review, Old School, Physical Training