In this Olympic Year, I thought it would be a good idea to hear from coaches who have worked with developing athletes and their thoughts. Today Marco Cardinale who is the head of Sports Science and Resarch at the British Olympic Association.
I started my career coaching young athletes. I was in fact a Handball coach, interested in developing young handball players. Our programmes started with kids in primary schools all the way to the senior national teams.
Working with young athletes has always been rewarding as you see them growing and improving and very quickly you can see the ones having the right attitude about hard work and commitment which will lead them to sporting greatness. Rewards don’t come only from the one winning medals, they come from seeing everyone reaching their potential and maximising learning to become better.
So, here are few hints and tips.
1) Each training session counts, but only if the athletes are connected and willing to engage
2) Each training session has to have a purpose, athletes need to know why they are doing it
3) Learning happens with deep practice, so make sure the athletes are immersed in what they do
4) Use random practice to create challenging environment, however keep in mind progression needs to be appropriate to the skills of the athletes you are coaching
5) Make sure athletes write things down and are actively engaging in learning what they are doing
6) Give ‘process orientated praise’. For example, praise the athlete’s effort and strategy. E.g: ‘You really tried hard’; ‘That was a good way to do it’
7) Emphasize hard work and learning, you can get better if you learn more than your opposition
8) Use interactive technology, the young generation likes interactions, persuasive technologies can be very effective
Coaching Generation Y
The way we coach/teach athletes now needs changing as new generations cannot be coached in the same way as the old one. Some fundamentals are still valid. Hard work and learning are the fundamental aspects for a young athlete, deep practice, passion for the sport and knowledge are the building blocks of elite performers.
Young athletes willing to excel in sport should look at young musicians or artists. You can only excel if you study your sport, if you develop a deep inquisitive knowledge of all the aspects relevant to your sport (equipment, nutrition, tactics).
So, look at the best in the World, learn what they do, write notes, take pictures, save videos, analyse their performances, admire the skills and think about how you can develop new ones.
The young athletes of today will be tomorrow’s champions only if they will play a different game than today’s champions.
Marco Cardinale
If you wish to have an easy to follow guide to training young athletes, then click on the book cover to the right. I wrote this standing on the shoulders of giants.
For many of our athletes Hindu press ups and Hindu squats are a regular feature of our training. I got these from today’s guest author Tom Kurz. He is an example of a Coach practitioner who sets a great example to others. His book “Science of sports training” is an excellent and very readable resource.
“I will begin with tips not for the the young athletes themselves but for those who train them. I begin by commenting on a concept from the post by Frank Dick, “before you get into teaching young people techniques they must have the physical competencies to do so without building in compensatory movements.”
I don’t distinguish very much between teaching general exercises and sport-specific exercises (techniques of the sport). In both cases one has to observe athletes to see whether they are ready for the exercises, if needed correct their defects, and then, with the defects seemingly corrected, still correct those defects or others as the exercises reveal them.
To do so effectively one has to pay attention to the athletes and know how to dose the exercises, their form and internal load. (External load = External resistance, number of reps, distance, etc. Internal load = Physiologic effect of the external load.)
Now I will end the fuzzy generalities and give examples.
A gymnast learns vaults. Soon after the warm-up he does well, but as the workout progresses his form gets worse. Eventually he misses jumps, more and more, and yet the coach encourages him to keep trying as if trying harder could help when inhibitions have set in. The coach is not paying attention to a technical flaw in the landing on arms, that in turn has its source in a posture defect. Every landing is causing a discomfort and raising an alarm in the athlete’s motor centers, “This hurts, this damages, stop this.”
A young female gymnast lags behind the group in hip flexibility. She is skinny but much taller then the rest of the group. Her Russian coach, a former gymnast, makes her do the same flexibility exercises as the rest of the group, even though they evidently don’t work for her. The coach has no clue that there are other flexibility exercises than those that work only with little children built for gymnastics. The coach has no understanding of anatomy that would give him a way of adjusting her position in stretches so to make them effective for her.
A high school track-and-field sprinter has a pronounced upper and lower cross posture, which forces his legs and arms to move in inefficient patterns. His coach, a high school p. e. teacher, has never given him corrective exercises. The athlete was allowed to sprint prior to undergoing a corrective exercise program.
A judo wrestler ends a practice bout, and walks off the mat with a slight limp, which he had not prior to this bout. Time for another bout, so he steps on the mat again, with a limp. His instructor acts like all is well. I stop the wrestler and order him to have his knee examined. The exam revealed a severely sprained ACL, that took several months of rehab to get back to normal.
Now tips for the young athletes themselves.
A good technique feels comfortable. If it does not, then you are taught wrong. It does not matter whether you were not prepared well for learning that technique, or you were taught a wrong technique, or you have misunderstood the instruction–you were taught wrong. It is a responsibility of the instructor to instruct according to the athletes’ capabilities.
The most effective training loads (resistance, number of reps, distance, etc.) are such that do not distort good form. If your form in exercises or techniques deteriorates, you are doing too much. You are erasing good technical habits and ingraining bad ones.
A good coach is the one who looks at the athletes when they exercise and not into notes on a clipboard or in a laptop, notepad, or whatever. If your coach or instructor doesn’t catch your errors on the first or second repetition, you need to go elsewhere for instruction.”
Read more from Coach Kurz on the practical application of principles of training at Stadion Publishing and also his blog
Thanks to all of our guest authors who have given such great tips on training young athletes. It is very useful to hear from such a wealth of experience.
If you wish to have an easy to follow guide to training young athletes, then click on the book cover to the right. I wrote this standing on the shoulders of giants.
Strength and conditioning for children appears to be a popular topic. Unfortunately, short cuts are often desired (4 hour International Athlete anyone?). One of the common, if unpopular, themes from the guest Coaches this week has been fundamentals, process and detail. Today’s author is a great exponent of that.
Kelvin Giles has a vast experience working with International athletes. His “This isn’t a text book” is on my recommended reading list.
These are probably best for coaches:
‘Give them the physical competence to do the technical stuff and the technical competence to do the tactical stuff – in that order.’
‘In the early stages let them solve movement puzzles in their own way. Don’t overcoach – let them work things out.’
‘Progress exercises in a variety of ways – Static to Dynamic; Slow to Fast; Simple to Complex; Unloaded to Loaded.’
For the Athletes: ‘This is a test of your patience – you might not get it right to start with.’
‘Have you had your water bottle with you all day?’
‘The best way to recover is to get a good night’s sleep.’
‘It’s not whether you try hard today but whether you try hard all the time – tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, next decade.’
‘Don’t worry about what the person next to you is doing – focus on what you have to do.’
‘Be smart in training and more importantly be smart outside training. You are an athlete all the time.’
Kelvin Giles
Thanks to all of our guest authors who have given such great tips on training young athletes. It is very useful to hear from such a wealth of experience.
If you wish to have an easy to follow guide to training young athletes, then click on the book cover to the right. I wrote this standing on the shoulders of giants.
In order to become a successful athlete, each individual needs to take responsibility for their own actions, whilst gaining the support of coaches, team mates, teachers and parents. This week we are looking at advice for young athletes looking to get better.
Yesterday’s guest blog by Frank Dick set the bar high.
Today Vern Gambetta and Roy Headey offer some insights into what a young athlete needs to do to prepare.
Vern Gambetta is an Athletic Development coach based in the USA, his book “Athletic Development” is a must read for aspiring coaches in this field. He also runs the GAIN programme for coach development.
“Be consistent.
Have a routine.
Know your body so that you can test your limits.
Work smart.
Be great for 24 hours, not just the two hours you train because great people make great great athletes.”
Vern Gambetta
Roy Headey is the head of Sports Science for the England Rugby Football Union
“Elite athletes are different – everyone knows that, but it’s difficult to define why and in what way. One difference though, has been proven; during their teens, developing elite athletes consistently get more out of their training than their less successful counterparts. They prepare for training, mentally and physically; they set demanding goals for themselves and work on their weaknesses, however painful or frustrating; they demand accurate, honest feedback from their coaches then reflect and learn from it.
So my tip is this: make your coach work hard for you, by setting demanding goals for yourself and turning up to train with an intensity that means your coach has no choice but to be at the top of his or her game”
Roy Headey
If you wish to have an easy to follow guide to training young athletes, then click on the book cover to the right.I wrote it standing on the shoulders of giants.
I am starting this Olympic year with a focus on training young athletes. With all the hoo ha about the top end, it is important to remember how to get there. This week some expert coaches from Track and Field, Athletic Development and Strength and Conditioning have kindly donated some ideas.
First up is Frank Dick, who has coached many of Britain’s best athletes, written several great books and is well sought after public speaker. If you get a chance to hear him speak, or meet him, take it up.
“Back in the 80’s I designed a simple set of steps for development. It started with “Train to train” and subsequently Istvan Balyi used it as his LTAD basis.
My reason for that starting point was that before you get into teaching young people techniques they must have the physical competencies to do so without building in compensatory movements. Otherwise you are building thereafter on a compromised foundation.
The steps now I see as:
Excite to practice
Practice to prepare
Prepare to participate
Participate to perform
Perform to compete
Compete to learn
Learn to win
Mostly people leave out step 6. This represents the years of learning how to get the final 1% needed to deliver personal excellence under pressure and on the day
When deciding what to do and how to do it re a coaching issue, always go back at least one stage and make sure that is as it should be. The original thing you are looking at is a consequence of what has gone before.
When coaching technique always look at the athlete’s performance from a distance first. This will give a clear picture of rhythm, flow etc and where this is fractured. Then coach from the ground or attachment to fixed equipment up or out
Finally, when teaching or coaching young and early developing athletes fit the discipline/equipment to athlete then fit athlete gradually to the formal discipline/equipment etc”
Frank Dick.
If you wish to have an easy to follow guide to training young athletes, then click on the book cover to the right. I wrote this standing on the shoulders of giants.
But, you don’t want to turn up for school or matches that start in September out of shape.
In this Olympic Year, I thought it would be a good idea to hear from coaches who have worked with developing athletes and their thoughts. Today 
If you wish to have an easy to follow guide to training young athletes, then click on the book cover to the right. I wrote this standing on the shoulders of giants.
Kelvin Giles has a vast experience working with International athletes. His 
Vern Gambetta is an Athletic Development coach based in the USA, his book “Athletic Development” is a must read for aspiring coaches in this field. He also runs the 
First up is