Tag Archive: athletic development

1. Athletic Development Workshop at Christ’s Hospital

   14th September 2016 1:42 pm Leave a Comment

   Athletic Development in action at Christ’s Hospital

   

   Lunging and bracing

   Last week I ran 2 workshops for some of the Sports Scholars at Christ’s Hospital School in Horsham, West Sussex. Whilst the title was Athletic Development, the content was all about teaching the pupils about movement.

   Movement is the foundation of physical education (p.e.). So you could just say I taught two p.e. classes.

   The Head of Sport Dave Messenger has previously done a Level 1 Coaching Strength and Conditioning for Sport course with me, as have 8 members of his staff. I shall be back there next month running the course for another 10 coaches.

   

   Partner work

   Here is the lesson plan for the first half of the Athletic Development Workshop. With the themes.
   Introduction: Why do you train? Sport is an expression of physical ability, it rarely develops it apart from the very beginners and those unfit. Get fit to play sport, rather than play sport to get fit.
   Task1: Skipping, forwards backwards. sideways. With partner count to 4s.
   What sport skills are used? Break down of skills. Try again observing partner foot position (barefoot).

   

   Squat practice

   Task 2: Tuck sequence, hold shoulder stand for 3. Rock to stand: with partner.
   How strong are your legs?
   Partner squats
   Exploratory rolls on floor. Squat, roll, stand. explore.

   Task 3: Walking game with chaos. In 3s. Walk around, tag, no tag back. Then skipping, then running 3 steps into space.
   Decision making? Spatial awareness. What happens at the end?

   

   Bracing and supporting

   Task 4: Absorbing and receiving force. Walk to brake. Jump up and land quietly. Crawling patterns. Kneel to fall, Partner lean and fall in 3s.
   Partner sequence: cartwheel over, crawl under, hips up and down.

   Thanks to Dave and all his staff and pupils for making me feel welcome and throwing themselves into the workshop with gusto.

   If you would like me to run a similar workshop a your school, please email me to discuss.

2. How a good coach can help you become a winner

   25th August 2016 10:08 am Leave a Comment

   Why hiring an expert coach will save you time and money

   Young athletes (and their parents) are overwhelmed with information from varying sources that is often conflicting. It is my job to help them navigate the maelstrom.

   Originally designed as a concept to deal with organising and displaying online information and layouts, information architecture could as easily be applied to coaching.

   “I mean architect as in the creating of systemic, structural, and orderly principles to make something work — the thoughtful making of either artifact, or idea, or policy that informs because it is clear”

   Richard Saul Wurman

   Too much information, too little time

   Athletes I work with come home from a Regional or National camp with a sheet of paper and a directive to “do these exercises or else”. They then ask me what a “SLDRDL” or a “One legged Monkey Puzzle” is.

   They go to a p.e. class the next day where they are made to hold a plank position for endless minutes to “strengthen their core”, but not told why or how to improve and if there is any transference to sport.

   Finally, they visit their club where the coach drills them through ladders, hurdles and doggies to finish off their last remaining reserves of energy and enthusiasm.

   The poor parent in the meantime is standing on the sidelines forking out cash and time for kit, petrol and accommodation. Wondering if they are “doing enough” for their child.

   Things can, and need to be, better than this.

   The real problem, (as Atul Gawande says in the current Reith Lectures) is how to use our existing knowledge effectively and consistently, rather than needing to know more.
   

   Coach as Information Architect

   The job of a good coach is to make sense of all this information, filter out what is noise, but still stay abreast of latest research and developments.

   That is different from telling all athletes to eat pilchard eggs because one study of 3 Eskimos found that they were able to run faster after eating pilchard eggs for 2 weeks.

   The coach then needs to present this information in an orderly and systemic fashion, rather than all at once.

   This does include selective delivery of information, feeding it to the parents and athletes at regular intervals. This allows positive behaviours to develop.

   3 steps to becoming a winner

   1. Find out what is happening in all aspects of the athlete’s life and write it down. I get the athlete to fill out a 4 week planner that shows all sporting and p.e commitments.
   2. Write down what current exercises are being done and when. Clarify the exact nature of these exercises and make sure the meaning is understood. Any exercise that is written down but has never been coached is binned. Look for duplication of work: hockey might be doing doggies, rugby might be doing 3km runs. Avoid doing both.
   3. Look for gaps between current ability and what is required. Put in exercises accordingly. You might be doing lots of running, but zero postural work. You might be able to hold the plank for 5 minutes (why?) but are unable to stand on one leg with free hip held high: essential for running well.

   The complete picture is often forgotten due to the confusion of information and dealing with the logistics of getting the young athlete to the venues, school and training!

   Hiring an Expert Coach

   

   Life is too short to do everything yourself. Trying to do it all on your own can cause unnecessary stress. If you want to be the best that you can be, then you will need some help along the way.

   The Excelsior Athletic Development Club was started to help parents, coaches and athletes work together.  By informing parents and sports coaches of best practice, we are working together, rather than against each other.

   • It requires coaches of different sports to stop trying to force early specialisation (a difficult task) and to think of next year, rather than next Saturday.
   • It requires parents to take an active role in planning and ask questions of the p.e. teachers and coaches.
   • It requires athletes to think about why they are doing things, and to learn how to organise their time.

   It requires us at Excelsior to continually strive to make sense of this information and develop ways of improving our ability to coach.

   Sign up to our newsletter today to get 2 free ebooks on coaching young athletes.

3. Getting fit for Archery

   13th September 2015 1:53 pm 2 Comments

   “Whatever’s wrong ain’t the bow and whatever’s right is the archer.”

   For the last 18 months I have been working alongside the Gloucestershire Archery Society and a number of local clubs as part of the.

   My role has included working directly with the young archers as well as workshops to help educate coaches and parents to apply the key principles for physical development.

   LTAD

   The emphasis of any of these sessions has been the Long term development of the athletes, and developing fundamental movement skills as a foundation on which to build.

   Although Archers rarely have to run fast or lift heavy weights off the floor (despite what a job application for a recent position with high performing archers stated!), there are many physical abilities which are important for successful performance.

   Mandigo et al., 2007 listed a number of fundamental movement skills, many of which can be directly linked to archery including:

   1)      Stability

   • Balancing- maintaining centre of gravity above base of support
   • Stretching-being able to efficiently hold different postures
   • Twisting- rotating parts of upper body/ resisting rotation of torso
   • Pushing- strengthening front shoulder
   • Pulling (drawing)- strengthening rear shoulder during rotation

   2)      Locomotor

   • Walking/Running-important for developing efficient aerobic system
   • Jumping- developing lower body strength and stability
   • Hopping- lower body stability and coordination
   • Skipping- coordination and timing
   • Climbing- increasing upper and lower body strength

   3)      Manipulative

   • Throwing (over and under arm), Catching, Striking
   • All good for improving hand-eye coordination and accuracy

   It is important to note that fundamental movement skills are the building blocks of sport skills, which is why these movements form the basis of the sessions for all of the archers I have worked with.

   Despite varying broadly in terms of age and training experience, most of the athletes have developed deficiencies in mobility and posture due to the environment they find themselves in either at school hunched over a desk, or by regularly shooting (consistently using uneven posture).

   A lot of emphasis during coach education sessions is on regularly practising exercises which will reinforce good posture, balance, stability and mobility to develop the Structural Integrity of the archers. This could include using exercises during warm ups or encouraging athletes to practice exercises away from training.

   Cooperation in Coaching

   I have been very fortunate to work with some fantastic coaches (Roger Crang, Steph and Dan Gill and Graham Williams to name a few) who have all bought into the need to develop physical skills as well as technical skills.

   The Excelsior athletic development centre was set up to help young athletes by either working with them directly, or by running courses and workshops with the coaches, parents and teachers who are working with them week to week.

   By working together with sports coaches, positive behaviours and habits can be constantly reinforced rather than competing with contradicting messages.

   Click here for the full Archery Guide to Fundamental training

   Matt Durber 

4. How to start weightlifting pt2

   27th October 2014 8:35 pm 3 Comments

   Beginner’s Guide to Weightlifting?

   

   Marius Hardiman

   Yesterday I wrote about “what kit do I need to start weightlifting“ today I shall look at the basic components of the sport in a Beginner’s guide to weightlifting.

   The Excelsior Weightlifting Club has been running for 2 years in Devon, and I shall share some of the things we do every week.

   The main lifts in weightlifting

   The 2 major exercises are the snatch (pictured right) and the clean and jerk.

   The snatch requires the lifter to pick the bar up from the floor and above their head in one quick action. They then have to stand up from this low position until the judges say that the lift is finished.

   It is a very quick action that needs great hip, ankle and shoulder mobility and strength. For beginners, just getting into the starting position is tricky. The back has to act as a lever, so it must be flat and rigid, rather than curved and soft.

   You can see in this video how to get the start of the snatch correct

   and here is Sonny Webster doing it for real

   The second lift comes in 2 parts. The first part is picking the weight up from the floor and onto your shoulders (the clean). The second part is moving the weight from your shoulders to above your head with arms fully locked out (the jerk).

   Because the weight is lifted in 2 distinct movements, with a slight pause in between, heavier weights can be moved than in the snatch.

   In earlier Olympic games, the jerk was performed with both feet staying parallel, but coming out slightly. Then lifters found that splitting the legs to the front and back allowed them to get under the bar more easily and lift more weight (pictured right).

   The clean and jerk is a very demanding exercise that uses nearly every muscle in the body. Because it is done at speed and with heavy loads it is a great way to get fit.

   Care has to be taken though to balance this with your sporting activity. It is very taxing on the mind and nervous system. Too much leads to fatigue and possible overtraining.

   Here is an example of how to prepare for the clean and jerk from Tracy Fober

   and here is the real thing done by Sonny Webster this year

   Whilst these are very impressive lifts from Sonny, rest assured novice lifters, I was training alongside Sonny when he was only 13 and just starting out: he lifted light and safe. he has worked very hard to get where he is today.

   So, that is a brief overview of the two major exercises in “Olympic Weightlifting”. (Weightlifters refer to the sport as weightlifting, outsiders often refer to the lifts as “Olympic lifts” despite only a minority of lifters ever making it to the games!)

   The exercises are technically and physically challenging, which makes them both frustrating and satisfying. The sport is safe when coached well, and dangerous when done without supervision or in the wrong environment.

   We shall be doing lots of supplemental exercises to help prepare the Excelsior lifters physically and mentally. Most of them will be playing other sports, so it is my job to help plan their weekly and monthly training schedules. .

   If you found this Beginner’s guide to weightlifting interesting and want to try the sport and live in Devon or Somerset, please email me (address at the top of the page).

   How to start weightlifting part 3: your first competition.

5. Young sports people in Oxford get expert support

   28th April 2014 1:45 pm Leave a Comment

   Excelsior Athletic Development Centre comes to Oxfordshire.

   Easter saw the first Athlete Support Day of 2014 for Oxfordshire athletes, with 5 different sports represented. 

   We got moving with some gymnastics. This challenged most of the athletes to try something unusual to them. All rose to the challenge, throwing themselves into the movements and having fun. 

   Having warmed up they then paired up to assess one another, they looked at how well an athlete can perform basic movements that are required for all sport, this enabled them to know what to look for and feel how they move themselves. 

   The day consisted of 4 main topics:

   • agility
   • injury management
   • power
   • recovery.

   Agility: specifically the  need to be able to brake before working on acceleration. We need to be able to do this in all directions. Whilst accelerating forwards with no cues is easy, doing it under pressure or having to brake is where most sports people struggle.

   After introducing a reaction cue before the acceleration we quickly found everyone moving backwards to go forwards (the false step) so then addressed this. 

   Having worked hard on agility they spilt into groups and looked at what injuries they know of and how we can manage them if they occur, going through PRICE principles. 

   Power was the next topic, after discussing how we can improve power we went through building a solid foundation, where we challenged the athletes again to get out of their comfort zone. 

   We finished the day talking about recovery methods and then going through some exercises they could use after training or playing. 

   It was a fantastic group to work with and Matt and I agreed they had all worked well and improved in different areas.

   • Excelsior Athletic Development Centre 
   • PRICE guidelines for injury treatment

6. Preparing to win: athlete support day review

   24th April 2014 8:24 am 1 Comment

   “If you’re getting into the ring with Mike Tyson, your warm up better be good”.

   Was the message of my first section of the most recent athlete support day in Exeter. We had 21 players from 8 different sports take part.

   The lack of preparation immediately before a match from young sports people constantly needs addressing.

   At the last meeting, my workshop on “how to warm up effectively”  laid the foundations of thought.

   This time round, I got the players to invest time into creating their own warm ups based on the 3 stages of :

   1. General
   2. Related
   3. Specific

   Some got it, others still put in “stuff”. I was trying to make the point that if your warm up is correct, you will be able to put your opponent on the back foot straight away. 

   Having an individual warm up routine helps you focus on your performance and preparation, rather than getting distracted by what the other person is doing.

   If you are getting into the ring with Tyson, you had better be ready straight away!

   Strength training

   I had the difficult job of coaching all these athletes in the gym at once. Some of whom were first timers. I did 2 generic strnegth warm ups with the group, highlighting correct form.

   Then I split them into 7 groups of 3, each performing a sequence of movements based around hinge, squat, push, pull, rotate, and lunge (brace had taken place in the warm up).

   They then either did a body weight exercise, dumbbell exercise or barbell exercise according to age/ stage of training.

   This could have gone horribly wrong, but thanks to the experienced athletes and the help of the coaches watching, it was very effective.

   Flexibility training

   Moving outside to the glorious sunshine, I went over the latest flexibility routines that I have been developing.

   Based on work by Eyal Lederman, I showed the athletes the benfits of moving in sequences, rather than doing static stretches. Chronic poor posture created by slumped sitting positions and desk-bound life is rarely rectified by 5 minutes of stretches a day.

   A lot of flexibility work gets you better at…. flexibility work! This has its place as part of training, and especially in relaxation at the end of the day.

   However, like strength training, I am only interested in how this work applies to the real world. Constant work throughout the day in our daily tasks, plus some free flowing sequences may be better.This was a chance for the athletes to move like dancers and express themselves. 

   Guest appearance by double Paralympian

   The last section of the day was agility training, leading into decision making and then a small sided invasion game.

   It was great to have Dan James assist on this part. Dan is the goalkeeper for the GB blind football team and has competed at Beijing and London Paralympics.

   Dan answered the youngsters questions about his training (and where he got his kit from!).

   I have coached Dan since 2007 and he talked about how he has evolved as a player and how we have changed and adapted his training. This has come about partly as a result of his development and experience, partly as a result of my development as a coach.

   Everyone who is part of the Excelsior Athletic Development Club benefits from this process. Similarly, what I learn working with junior athletes filters back up to the Senior Internationals.

   Dan then gave some valuable coaching tips during the invasion game: it was great to see everyone expressing their athleticism and competitiveness at the end.

   Thanks

   Thanks again to Exeter University for hosting. Thanks also to Denise Austin (Beach volleyball), James Elkin (badminton) and Christine Farr (netball) for bringing their athletes along. Thanks to all the parents who were taking their children.  “Turn up, try hard, stand tall.”

   The next Support Day is on Wednesday May 28th.

   Any teenager who is playing more than one sport is welcome to come. Please contact James for details.

7. 4 reasons why conditioning coaches hamper athletic development.

   15th March 2014 8:29 am 6 Comments

   Brian Ashton has written an interesting piece on his blog about conditioning coaches working with athletes. In it he quotes Simon Shaw who worried that young rugby players were becoming “gym monkeys” and losing their playing instincts.

   Is that the players’ fault or the conditioning coaches? It is a common trait amongst sports teams, and sometimes the work is hampering athletic development, rather than helping it.  Here are 4 reasons why:

   There is a disconnect between the Head Coach and the Conditioning Coach.

   The head coach doesn’t ever see what goes on in the gym, he just sees some test scores and some injury reports. He may or may not visit when it is testing time.

   The strength and conditioning coach doesn’t see what is happening on the field or on the court, he never watches the players actually training.

   How can they influence and inform each other if they don’t actually see what is happening elsewhere?

   As a strength and conditioning coach in Devon, I endeavour to get out with the good coaches as much as possible.

   (Kevin Skinner, of Exeter Harriers, is 1 of the coaches I enjoy working with)

   The Conditioning Coach is a JAFA

   Coming straight out of University (taught by JAFAs not coaches), or performing the role part- time as part of a “research project” the players are actually treated as test subjects. Lots of measurement, evaluation, scores and pseudo scientific graphs.

   Little or no observation of movement, accounting for outside influences such as matches, travel and that horrible thing called “life” which has a major impact on training.

   The use of confirmation bias will bluff the head coach into thinking that it is all scientific. Little or no critical evaluation of the research will take place, it will usually be a single discipline quoted. Whereas sport covers multi disciplines, all having an effect at different times, to different extents on different players.

   A good coach can filter the research and knowledge and apply it as required. Similarly, they can just alter the session planned to what has immediately preceded the athlete appearing. Sometimes this is raising the intensity, sometimes it is lowering it. Sometimes it is just doing something for fun or for challenge.

   They keep the athlete in the frontal plane

   If you just train the athlete in the frontal plane, they become better at moving…. in the frontal plane. Whole gyms are designed around platforms and cages that encourage this.

   Stick a few benches in there so the athletes can lie down and you are actively encouraging non -athleticism.

   For those coaches who obsessively quote research on weightlifters- the old style lifters did lots of work outside of the gym. Hill sprints, throws, dbell complexes, and strongman work.

   They were athletes who did a lot of work on the platform, but worked on their athleticism as well. Just looking at them as great vertical jumpers and 10m sprinters and transposing that onto every other athlete is naive.

   Bend, twist, run, jump, throw, crawl. Load all of these things. Then unload them and move fast. Then add decision making. Now you will help create athletes (see 8 ways to move like an athlete)

   They take shortcuts and miss the fundamentals

   “Have you seen this latest potion on the internet“, “have you heard of exercise X” “have you seen this workout“? It is easy to become an internet tart and jump from one website of training ideas and expensive equipment to another.

   It is easy to follow “gurus” and not develop your own ideas. The problem is that you may not have a plan that systematically develops your athletes, rather than breaking them or confusing them.

   I got asked on a coaching course last year by a Personal Trainer to “skip all the boring bits” and get onto the exciting exercises (the same “expert” also asked me to train him and use his body as test for my methods- just a bit too up close and personal for my liking!).

   If by boring bits you mean the ability to squat, hold your body in different positions and run properly, then yes I am probably boring. But guess what? The “boring bits” are what help you develop as an athlete.

   Taking shortcuts only results in deficiencies and injury potential later on. If you can’t make the fundamentals FUN, or if you get bored of coaching them, then you are probably in the wrong job.

   In short- widen your horizon of knowledge and understanding, develop a plan and method of training, work with the coaches, and challenge your athletes.

   Further reading:

   • An example of me working putting this into practice within fencing
   • 5 tips on how to get started in strength and conditioning coaching
   • Book on on of our strength and conditioning courses

8. Getting teenagers to take control of their sport preparation

   20th February 2014 10:15 am 1 Comment

   “I don’t have a warm up routine”

   was the quote of the day from a 16 year old experienced competitor on our Athlete Support Day on Monday.

   Another young athlete I work with was a bundle of nerves before a recent competition. I am trying hard to get these young people to establish a warm up routine that is regular, specific and gives them confidence.

   Too often I see the well prepared athlete unravel as the competition approaches: distracted by the venue, other competitors or their own inner demons.

   I got the athletes to divide the warm up into 3 different phases and to come up with exercises that were suitable for each phase:

   1. “Just out of the car”. They have travelled to the comp for 1-3 hours, or been sat down at school. The body has to just move and get warm. General work
   2. “Sporting movements”. Build up to run, jump, throw, tackle in different directions. This can be similar to the event, rather than replicate at this stage: long jumpers can do 2 footed jumps for example, rugby players can do some grappling drills, soccer players can practice pass and move.
   3. “White line fever”. 5 minutes before the event you need to be moving fast and furious, with the warm up looking very similar to what is about to happen. You need to be ready to beat your opponent as soon as you cross the line.

   Despite my best efforts, this is still a work in progress. When asked to show me each stage I often see the default “pull arm across the body stretch” or the “jog“. 

   Regeneration

   Sorry to disappoint Dr Who fans, this is about regenerating the body and mind after exercise and life. We have covered nutrition on other support days, this time we looked at the improtance of getting a good night’s sleep.

   We discussed sleep routines and reasons why sleep may be disturbed. We then did a Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR) session (which had a delayed start due to a fit of giggles from the team, laughter being an important part of regeneration).

   PMR is a useful tool to have as an athlete. It helps toward getting sound sleep, and it is also useful in sport itself if practiced regularly.

   Eventually it becomes possible to shorten the relaxation time to a few seconds. This can then be used to calm nerves pre match, or in the match in itself for things like free kicks, free throws and pistol shooting.

   Strong and agile

   I introduced the athletes to the “Squat matrix” followed by either a dumbbell complex or snatch variations. Teenagers seem to be caught between “no weights” or “beach weights” with “adult weights” being imposed upon rugby players somehere in between.

   The squat matrix is designed to develop leg strength through multiple planes, angles and speed whilst challenging balance and coordination. It is somethingI learnt from Kelvin Giles who reminded me recently that it is all too easy to do body weight squats for a few weeks then “load ’em up” with a barbell.

   Young athletes need to fully develop their spectrum of movement abilities as this helps their overall athleticism. It is easy for teachers and coaches to regress to “what teenage boys want” or “what the senior players are doing“. 

   I finished the day with a series of agility exercises, moving over and under things, from two foot to single foot and challenging coordination again. This is something I have been working on the last 4 weeks with the senior footballers I coach.

   It does require the athlete to be strong and agile, but they are seeing the beenfits on the field: where it matters.

   Thanks again to Exeter University for hosting and for the parents for supporting their children.

   Please contact me if you wish to attend our next workhop.

   Further reading

   • Athletic Development Centre celebrates 1 year anniversary 
   • Why your warm up isn’t dynamic  
   • How much sleep do I need after training? 

9. Multi planar movements

   6th February 2014 2:10 pm Leave a Comment

   Get off that machine

   

   One example of multi planar stretching.

   As beginners we are often taught to isolate movements down to their simplest form.

   In gyms this is done as single joint resistance training exercises or stretches.

   There is definitely a place for this in the asymptomatic individual with problems, and in juniors when we are trying to ensure balance between left and right and also front and back.

   However, the body does appear to be stronger moving across diagonal planes, rather than in isolation. We often use this in the gym, and even more so outside in the field.

   But, flexibility work is often done in a very basic fashion along single planes of movement.

   If you try to strengthen across multi planes, then surely stretching should follow the same principles?

   Further reading:

   • Top 8 tips to move like an athlete
   • Are girls more flexible than boys?

10. Athletic Development in Schools

    27th November 2013 10:15 am 3 Comments

    “You can power clean 9000lbs, but if you can’t synchronise, you won’t be able to apply it.”

    Jim Radcliffe said this at GAIN this year. “Synchronisation” was one of the main themes of the Coach/Teacher CPD session last Saturday. I was presenting some of the key lessons I learnt from attending GAIN, plus looking at how schools can implement an effective Athletic Development programme.

    Where we are now

    When reading about fitness programmes for young people, the outcome is often emphasised. Especially when dealing with “academies” or National Governing Bodies. However, if we try to do a “mini me ” version of what professional clubs or senior players are doing, then things can go wrong in a hurry.

    Instead, I look at what state of physical readiness the kids are in, plus what their playing; training ratio is. We discussed at some length the amount of competition that kids are forced into: school, club, county and the pressure they are under.

    This lifestyle together with enforced periods of poor posture, means that they commonly exhibit:

    • Limited range of motion in thoracic spine
    • Tight hip flexors
    • Poor ankle, knee, hip integrity
    • Poor body composition
    • Poor running mechanics
    • Unstable torso

    Putting the athletic into LTAD

    Knowing this, and knowing where we need to be, it is then important to devise exercises and training programmes that work on rectifying “lifestyle” type ailments: the “disease of disuse” (Gambetta).

    I showed the coaches some of the exercies that I use regularly with all my young athletes: working on hip and knee control, hip and T-spine mobility. These are done in sequences and also help synchronisation of the muscles.

    (I have moved away from doing things such as flexibility and balance in isolation, instead I look to combine the movements).

    Sprint mechanics

    After lunch we looked at putting this theory into practice, more specifically at sprint mechanics and a resistance training session.

    I kept the speed session simple, and just used these 3 points gained from Gary Winckler:

    

    Winckler went through this in more detail at GAIN, but in summary he says that:

    • Posture highly dependent on the means of force application.
    • A correct force application should result in an appropriate posture.
    • A correct posture will improve the result of a good force application.

    (There is that word posture again). I then took the coaches through a practical warm up drill (courtesy of Jim Radcliffe) that worked on all these aspects. The use of some rusty old athletics hurdles was especially poignant as they resembled the fluidity of the coaches’ hips!

    Strength training

    The final session was the work done in the gym. Here I showed two sessions that follow my “4 cornerstones” principle of preparation, adaptation, application and regeneration.

    Both are designed for field hockey players in mid season. The beginner is for those relatively new to resistance training, but with sound mechanics. The intermediate is for those who have been training for at least 1 year.

    

    I went through the practical aspects of these sessions, plus the rationale behind each exercise and the sequencing. Our aim is to get the players more athletic, robust and to be able to express this on the hockey pitch: where it counts.

    I start assuming the players have either been hunched over in classrooms, or spent time driving in the car to get to training: we have to get them moving. We then work from fast to slow, co-ordinated and synchronised to more simple exercises.

    Each session finishes with the players moving fast and in different directions, followed by regeneration work to help prepare for the next training period.

    Coaching the people

    We discussed at some length ways of getting young female players involved and enthusiastic about resistance training (the boiling frog scenario).

    We also discussed how to get young male athletes away from the “look good nekked” programmes and instead following programmes that help them as athletes. This is an ongoing source of frustration, but these coaches at least recognise what should be happening.

    Brett Richmond and Tom Tuthill at Bloxham School have done a great job with their gym: very well designed.

    Thanks to the school for hosting, thanks to the coaches and teachers for getting stuck into the learning and asking some really good questions.

    If you would like to host a CPD event for p.e. and games teachers at your school, please contact us.