Coach Development Workshop: John Brierley

Last week I was lucky enough to attend a workshop at Exeter University led by John Brierley . This was part of the Transformational Coaching programme organised by Paula Jardine and led by Wayne Roberts.

John has a massive range of experience, including being the Team Leader of Athletics at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, and fitness consultant to Birmingham City FC for 4 years.

John imparted 90 minutes of useful information, and was able to answer many questions that I had. It was especially useful for me as I am working with a lot of track and field athletes and their coaches.

A few of the points that I found useful:

1. Learning the culture of the organisation is as important as just nuts and bolts knowledge. Having lots of knowledge without understanding can lead to rapid unemployment.
2. Agents in football: what do they do? They could be a lot more useful than just wage brokers. They could be lifestyle consultants and actually earn their money helping footballer’s families settle and adjust to new towns and countries.
3. Prozone at Birmingham City FC- how it was useful, and how data got interpreted differently by Owners and other players. Inexperienced Coaches are often emotionally attached to data or the latest gadget. Experience helps filter new information into the system.
4. After looking at sweat rates when playing in Kuala Lumpar and the UK, because players wore more layers in the UK in winter, they actually sweated more.  Hydration should be emphasised all year round, not just in the summer.

We then spent quite a bit of time talking about UK Athletics. For 2012 the target is 10 medals, despite never having won more than 4 in any Olympics. That is a big ask. The other aspect is the ongoing state of injuries, and what is causing that. Lack of conditioning, over playing, over competing?

Changing the culture of Athletics (or any sport) is difficult. What often goes on is “sports practice” which is not necessarily the same as “preferred practice” or “best practice.”

This was a most beneficial evening for me, thanks to all concerned. John was my MSc supervisor at Brunel University, and always offered practical, professional and thoughtful advice.

Read more from here: “skill acquisition workshop“