Blog
Brian Aldiss RIP
Britain’s best Science Fiction Author dies I am sorry to hear today that Brian Aldiss has died. My thoughts go out to his family. His books have given me great pleasure over the years right up until the current day (one of his books usually features on my reading review of the year). Aldiss was…
Read MorePAR: Golf core values
Setting core values for your coaching environment Taking this golf example from Wade Gilbert’s “Coaching better every season” for coaches and players to help focus on what matters most. The golf coach ended up with the appropriate acronym PAR. Passion: Nurture love for the game of golf and competing. Achievement: Strive to achieve our competitive…
Read MoreUsing reflection and debriefs to enhance coaching: Wade Gilbert
“Why wait for a disaster to have a really open and frank conversation?” Wade Gilbert asked this at the GAIN conference in his presentation on reflection and debriefs for coaches. (This was two days after the Grenfell tower disaster where many people were asking the same thing). Wade said that systematic reflection could be the…
Read MoreCreating the Perfect Workout: Vern Gambetta and Jim Radcliffe
“We should warm up with skills not drills” Said Jim Radcliffe in his joint presentation with Vern Gambetta at GAIN. Combined they have been on an 89 year journey and “We can do better” said Vern in trying to create the perfect workout. This was an interesting dual presentation with a lot of back and…
Read MoreDeveloping the Robust Athlete: Jim Radcliffe
“Some people can negotiate the speed bumps of life, some end up in a ditch.” Jim Radcliffe talking about the Robust Athlete in his excellent presentation at GAIN this year. Jim has coached at The University of Oregon since 1989 and has been a major influence on my coaching since 2011 when I first saw…
Read MoreCoaching Better Every Season: Wade Gilbert
“If I want to get better, I need to know what better is.” Wade Gilbert gave an excellent overview of the coaching process and becoming a better coach at his GAIN seminar. This also served as an overview of his excellent book of the same name. His talk was split into 4 parts: Envision: Pre-season…
Read MoreApplying the Bondarchuk Method of Training: Martin Bingisser
Systematic Planning for Your Athletes Developing a plan for your athletes can be problematic, time consuming and potentially useless. Martin Bingisser gave some very useful tips in his GAIN presentation which will help coaches looking to develop a system. Martin is an advocate of the Bondarchuk system of training which uses a limited sequence of…
Read MoreHelping your child become happy and active within sport
“Youth sports is a business plan that fluffs egos and packs pocket books” Said Randy Ballard of Illinois University at the GAIN conference in Houston last month. He was talking about how parents try to get their children to specialise in sport too early, without realising the dangers of this. “75% of kids quit sports…
Read MoreCannonball Tennis: Mike Sangster
“Devon has everything to offer that I want in life” Says Mike Sangster in his book “Cannonball tennis”. Mike took up tennis when he was 13 (yes 13) and went on to become the British #1 player, played in many Davis Cup matches and got to the semi-finals of Wimbledon. Growing up in Torquay, he…
Read MoreReconditioning athletes: Bill Knowles seminar
“An exercise is something you do a movement is something you feel.” Was the title of Bill Knowles’ seminar on rehabilitating (reconditioning in his terms) athletes from sports injuries. The question he asks himself is “what’s in the best interest of the athlete?” This often means pulling the athlete out of the injured body and…
Read More