Excelsior

Follow us on

excelsiorathletic@gmail.com

07976 306 494

Main Menu

Latest Blog Entry

New book published: ‘Coaches’ Corner’
7th November 2024
Essays to help sports coaches and P.E. teachers. My latest book, ‘Coaches’ Corner,’ is now available to buy on Amazon. It contains over 50 essays about athletic development, coaching, and physical education based on my work over the last ten years as Head Coach of Excelsior Athletic Development Club. How and what I’ve coached has […]
More

User login

Lost password?

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.

Comments are welcome (please leave your name) and you can subscribe by clicking on the RSS feed.

Thanks for taking the time to read it.

James Marshall

  1. 12 coaching lessons learnt in 2018

    Things I think I have learnt this year 1.Athletes, especially young ones, have so much happening in their lives that our influence is minimal. Coaches need to realise this. 2. Periodisation planning is flawed in group settings in all but the most controlled environments (see #1). Every athlete doing your sessions has eaten, slept, socialised, […]

    1 Comment | Read More | , ,
  2. Why Parkour should stay out of the Olympics

    Parkour as an Olympic Sport? The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has included Parkour as a new gymnastics discipline to be included in the Olympics. This is a concern for all those who enjoy the freedom of expression and creativity that is at the heart of Parkour. Young men running and jumping through the woods is […]

    2 Comments | Read More |
  3. Creativity in Coaching

    So how do we become creative in our coaching? For those of you studying at University, you may be under the impression that there is only one way of doing things. Try to look outside of the parameters of the people who are marking your assignments.

    Here are some useful tips to get the ball rolling:

    Get some space between you and the daily grind- 15 minutes of non electronic communication\ noise time. It is difficult to be creative with your mind being full of bills\ work\ relationships.

    0 Comments | Read More | ,
  4. An A-Level PE strength guide

    Working with young athletes, many of whom are P.E. students we are asked the same questions a lot. Here are some answers to a few common ones on strength training.

    1 Comment | Read More |
  5. The Daily Mile: Teachers “Must Try Harder”

    Why the Daily Mile should not be mandatory for pupils Two Primary School head teachers have mentioned the “Daily Mile” to me in the last 6 months. The first said he was going to introduce it in his school. The second asked me about it and had concerns because she didn’t want any of the […]

    0 Comments | Read More |
  6. Improving coaching communication through writing

    Coach communication: writing On every coaching course I have attended, the tutor has pointed out the section in the workbook entitled “communication”.  There follows a group nodding of heads where every budding coach agrees that “communication is a good thing”.  If we are lucky, the tutor might divide communication further into “verbal” and “non-verbal”.  We […]

    0 Comments | Read More | , ,
  7. 5 Tenets of Sports Injury Rehabilitation

    Movement is the foundation of sports injury rehabilitation Dr Grace Golden gave an insightful presentation on returning to sporting activity at GAIN 2018. I liked her systematic approach which was well illustrated with video examples. She also had a large amount of creativity and fun involved in her rehabilitation sessions. Coaching the injured athlete Grace […]

    0 Comments | Read More | , ,
  8. Football training programme for under-18 player

    Needs Analysis of under- 18 football player A guest post by Simon Worsnop, this study provides a needs analysis and periodised football training programme for an 18-year-old male academy fullback, based on the requirements of football and the individual. (This is a case study of a player that Simon coached. For football players in Devon […]

    5 Comments | Read More |






Client Testimonials

David Ardley- triathlete
I had the pleasure (I think !) of working with James for a year or so focused on getting my Triathlon times down. Its amazing what was achieved in the space of an hour before work. What stood out for me is the constant variation of exercises and his ability to set the difficulties levels just right. His sense of humour and competitive spirit always helped when my energy levels were not quite there. I can attribute his structured training to my eventual success competing in the World Triathlon championships (age group) in Hamburg.
 
More

Upcoming Courses