I was asked last week, ‘What’s your process for choosing books?‘
A selection of books from the library
I was flattered that someone thought I had an organised decision-making process rather than the random choices that catch my eye. But, on reflection, I do have a process and when I shared it, my colleague said it was worth sharing. So here you go.
1: Have good recommendations
I never choose a book by its cover and I rarely read a book that is recommended by someone who doesn’t read much. There is often a wave of hype about an essential populist book that every coach ‘must read.’ I wait for the Tsunami to subside, and the book price to fall, and then see whether any of my ‘trusted readers’ have read it.
There is a danger of an ‘echo chamber’ here, but I find that those people who read more have a better perspective than those who just read what everyone else is reading.
Recommended by an athlete and a parent within the same week!
My trusted readers include Jane Graham (The Big Issue), Clare Wilson (New Scientist), Mandi Abrahams (Castle Books, Anglesey), Vern Gambetta (GAIN) and Andy Stone (GAIN PE).
Between them, they read a lot of books from different perspectives. If they say something is good it usually is.
Atomic Habits (pictured) was recommended to me by an ex-athlete, Sophie Jefferson, before Christmas. It is a few years old now, so it was in the library. I borrowed it and a parent, Steve Baylis, recommended it to me. Neither has recommended a book to me previously but I am glad they did.
I also pick up recommendations from other books: e.g. Ursula Le Guin recommended Beowulf and Sylvia Townsend (pictured above) in her book, ‘The Wave in the Mind.’
2: Buy or borrow?
The second part of my process is related to budget and space. Where I can, I borrow. The books above are all borrowed from the library. They can order them in for a small fee (£0.85) and even purchase the book if they think it might be of general interest.
Where the book is too niche, or out of print, I add it to my reading list and might buy it second hand from Abe Books if I have the budget. Newer books, usually reference, I might put on my birthday/ Christmas wish lists and hope that nice people give them to me. This gives time for the prices to drop and the paperback versions to be published.
I try to read a mix of fiction, education and historical/ biography. This year I aim to re-read more of the excellent books about coaching and learning that are on my shelves: there is much to be gained from revisiting books a few years later.
That’s it, that’s what works for me. Reading is my preferred method of learning (apart from doing) and it is a very cheap form of entertainment.
In an age where time is precious and life seems too hectic, the process of choosing a good book and settling down with it seems more important than ever.
I had the pleasure of coaching sports coaches at the Heinrich-Heine Gymnasium in Kaiserslautern, Germany this weekend. The focus was on the coaching continuum.
Many of us rely on just a few methods of coaching, according to our personal bias or habit but there are many ways that range from Direct, controlling to free play. All are useful and serve their purpose in different situations.
My presentations and practical sessions tried to show how all of them are used, using four different scenarios:
Spatial awareness (physical and global).
Game development and play.
Movement Framework.
Warm-Ups.
Foundational strength.
Developing spatial awareness
Mirroring the partner in an agility warm up
For example, after my first presentation that gave an overview of the three main roles of the coach and the three main needs of athletes, we spent 45 minutes ‘doing’.
I used the following coaching methods (the coaches were given handouts explaining this and the exact cues/tasks I was using before the course started):
Part 1 Problem solving, exploration.
Part 2 Guided Discovery.
Part 3: Inquiry.
Part 4 Group Task (cooperative, different roles).
This was a good way to break the ice.
I am a great believer in coaches having to ‘do‘ and practise their coaching. They don’t have to do a lot or go fast or for long, but just to try things out. This gives them a feel for the sessions and some empathy for their athletes when they start to coach.
Integrating the changes
The following four theory and practical sessions followed a similar pattern but with different information. Quoting from John Wooden, I said at the beginning,
‘You haven’t taught until they have learned.’
The handouts and the practicals gave coaches some tools that they could use immediately as well as a framework to help develop their planning and integrate into their existing good work.
There is little point in me dropping in, bombarding them with information, and then returning home with little or no changes made.
Discussions and idea sharing
Mark and Christian with Kaiserslautern in the background.
After the ‘formal’ learning and teaching had stopped, I spent the next evening and day sharing ideas, answering questions and observing some of the athletes in action. This was intellectually challenging but stimulating: I am out of practice having these discussions thanks to the COVID pandemic.
There were lots of good ideas despite the language barrier (my German is poor). I busted some myths and found some common ground. We had more discussions with Jan Christmann, the sports director, over dinner and yet more whilst hiking through the forest the next day.
The outdoors is a fantastic environment in which to share and discuss, even if the young Germans were determined to leave me behind in their biggest forest.
I watched a second-division badminton match on Sunday: that was impressive. A mixed team event, a bit like the Davis Cup in tennis, with matches only going up to 11 points. This was sport at its best: no money, no corruption, no wasted funds. Just committed athletes, umpires and supporters investing their time in their sport and experiencing the highs and lows that go with it.
Christian Stern, who had come to our GAIN Europe course, was a wonderful host and all of the coaches went out of their way to welcome me. I hope that they got something useful and can continue to help their athletes.
On Friday I had a virtual coffee break chat with several of my GAIN Europe colleagues. We met for 30 mins and talked about what books we are currently reading.
GAINers chatting over tea
The idea was to simulate the informal learning that we miss when we don’t hang out in person, rather than a ‘webinar’ or top down lesson. Thanks to everyone who took part, it was fun and much needed.
Here are some of the books mentioned, in no particular order, and just because we are reading them, doesn’t mean they are recommended (my recommended reading list is here ).
One thing we did agree on: that the quality of writing was as important, or more so, than the content. This is why many sporting books are ‘bad reads‘.
Comprehensive but dated in parts
Jonathan Livingstone Seagull: Richard Bach
The Hobbit: J.R.R. Tolkien
Open: Andre Agassi.
Mastery: George Leonard
The Element: Ken Robinson
The Illustrated Light on Yoga: B.K.S. Iyengar
Encyclopedia of Physical Education, Fitness and Sports (Sports, Dance & Related Activities: Ed. Reuben Frost, & Thomas Cureton.
Physical Intelligence: Scott Grafton
Lore of Nutrition: Tim Noakes.
A Short History of Nearly Everything: Bill Bryson.
The Body: Bill Bryson
My Turn: Johan Cruyff
Science and Application of High-Intensity Interval Training: Paul Laursen & Martin Buchheit
A fun read
Our next coffee break is scheduled for 10:30 UK Time on Friday 1st May for any other GAINers wanting to join in.
Other reading ideas
While we are on the subject, here is a list of the books that I have read so far this year.
A Slip of the Keyboard: Terry Pratchett. A series of newspaper articles and speeches made over 25 years. The first half is about writing and publishing,which is very funny. The second half is about his Alzheimer’s disease and how he is coping with that. Truly a great writer.
Night Walks: Charles Dickens. Essays on his ramblings around London. His observations are witty and descriptive. I might make Dickens a thing to read every Christmas time now.
What Matters Most: John Doerr. Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) form the backbone of this book. Case studies of this form of management. Very useful.
James S. Corey: Tiamat’s Wrath. Sci-fi soap, wearing a bit thin now.
Calypso: David Sedaris. 18 semi auto-biographical essays. Laugh out loud in parts. Very well written.
The Stinging Fly (Summer 2019): Various. Modern writing, short stories and poems. The ‘Border’ focus was excellent, but some of the new generation are self-indulgent, talking about their writing.
The Body: Bill Bryson. Superbly written overview of what makes the body work, and the people who discovered how. A page turner.
Night Boat to Tangiers: Kevin Barry. Modern and interesting, raw prose. A bit too disjointed for me.
A Movement approach to Educational Gymnastics: Ruth Morison. Read for the 2nd time, got more out of having taught for 5 years now. Superb.
The Modern Antiquarian: Julian Cope. A beautiful book that comes in a box! Covers pre-history in Britain and how the Romans and Christians wrote over what existed previously. has a gazetteer of dozens of stone circles, henges and dolmens in the UK. Very interesting.
Emerald Eye: Various, ed Frank Ludlow and Roelof Goudriaan. A collection of SF and fantasy short stories from Ireland. Very good.
An Introduction to Movement Study and Teaching: Marion North. Short, with some good ideas. A lot of dance and drama involved.
The Depths: Henning Mankell. A Swedish novel about the navy in WWI. Interesting lead character, deeply flawed.
Young Skins: Colin Barrett. A short story collection by this modern Irish writer. Set mostly in one fictional small town, great prose, interesting situations.
Life Among the Savages: Shirley Jackson. Extremely well written memoir of life in rural Vermont with young children. Funny and relevant 50 years later.
And Then There Were None: Agatha Christie. Good plot, but dated and laborious writing.
Dynamic Physical Education for Elementary School Children: Robert Pangrazi. A huge book, in depth and lots of practical ideas. A must for p.e. teachers.
The Buried Giant: Kazuo Ishiguro. A beautiful, sad mythical tale. A treat.
Consider This: Chuck Palahniuk An excellent book for writers about writing. Useful tips and relevant anecdotes.
Socratic Discourses: Plato and Xenophon. Part of the Everyman’s library, wisdom from the wisest of all. Hard to get through due to the conversational style of writing, but useful nuggets in there.
Anatomy For The Artist: Sarah Simblet. A sumptuous book by this Dr and artist. Great illustrations, I enjoyed reading this.
Martin Eden: Jack London. A semi-autobiographical account of a struggling writer who burns out. Brilliant.
The Dog of the Marriage: Amy Hempel. Four books in one. A sublime collection of short stories that are superbly written and entertaining.
The Witcher: Andrzej Sapkowski Time killing fantasy short story collection. Meh.
Life In the Universe: Michael J. Farrell. What a collection of entertaining short stories. Funny and well written.
With Lawrence in Arabia: Lowell Thomas. A super little book written in the aftermath of World War I, before Lawrence’s death. Very descriptive and atmospheric writing.
Tales of Space and Time: H.G. Wells. 5 short stories/novellas. Interesting to see what Wells thought 2020 and beyond would look like.
The Shipping News: Annie Proulx. Sublime prose and similes to die for. A great human interest novel with the Newfoundland coast being a key part.
The Stinging Fly (Winter 2019): Various authors. Collection of short stories and essays. Very good writing.
Hothouse: Brian Aldiss. Classic SF novel set on a future Earth which is dying. A Hugo award winning journey of discovery.
Thanks for reading, if you have any favourites, please share below.
A review of the first ever GAIN Deep Dive on Foundational Strength
I always write a review of my experiences at the GAIN conference. This is part of my reflective practice.
As I was hosting and co-presenting on this ‘mini-GAIN’ held in Devon, I thought someone else would be better placed to reflect. Mark Sheppard wrote this review of the Deep Dive.
Coaches from 9 different countries came to Devon
“Having known James Marshall for at least 8 years I am familiar with both his work and his philosophy. I know it has been shaped by the 9 years that James has attended the GAIN conference held in Houston, USA.
To have Vern Gambetta share the experience and knowledge accumulated over 50 years of coaching I could see the impact this has had on James and others in the group who have previously attended these events.
Vern explaining his ‘Train movements, not muscles mantra
There is a saying ‘stop learning and you stop living’. Staying curious and open while being grounded in good science and the evidence of good practice are tenets of both Vern and James.
Throughout the two days whether in the theory or practical sessions there was a clear rationale for the information shared. We were all encouraged to participate and contribute through the collective experience of those in the room from different disciplines and sports.
Gambetta Athletic Improvement Network (GAIN)
James showing how Indian clubs help strength and coordination
‘GAIN’ is very much a network. which I understood better as the workshop progressed and subsequently as a WhatsApp group was formed amongst the attendees afterwards.
Listening to the ‘GAIN’ podcasts reinforced this dynamic. Hearing people share their journey in physical development and high performance coaching where the driver is what works best for my athlete, their ability and the demands placed on them is a welcome relief from the tsunami of self-promoted, ill-informed claims found on the internet.
I came away with a clearer overview of what a well-designed programme looks like:
Appropriate to the age/gender/ability/sport.
Progressive, imaginative and
grounded in sound fundamentals.
I reviewed what I was doing and reshaped the structure of the sessions I was running with my developmental tennis players (10 – 16 yrs old). I am excited to see the impact this will have on the athletes and private clients I currently work with. I feel I have refined the tools I have been using to greater effect in the time I have with the people I work with.
‘Athletic Development’ in my experience is lower down the food-chain in most sporting environments. Buy-in from athletes, parents, and coaches is key, and educating and providing supporting information to these stake-holders is an important element in my coaching role.
Having the wealth of information shared over the two days from both Vern and James was having access to a deep well which I know I will be drawing from for years to come.
GAIN regulars Donie Fox, Matt Grainger and Jason St Clair Newman helped out.
Human-beings are complex, multilayered, adaptive systems of physiology, neurology, culture and belief systems. It’s what makes this work so interesting.
Knowing there is a support system out there to support one’s own coaching journey through this minefield has been my biggest Gain (pun intended).“
Mark Sheppard
More learning opportunities
Thanks, Mark for sharing. If any other attendees had a comment, please leave below. This was the first Deep Dive, but we shall be running others. Please contact myself or Vern if you are interested in attending or hosting.
In the mean time, I am preparing for GAIN in June, where I am looking forward to once again learning from great practitioners from around the world.
Are you looking for a good book to read on holiday? We are over half way through the year, so I have had a chance to read a few that may be of interest.
You might want to unwind with some easy reading and then gear up for the season or autumn term with something more substantial.
I try to avoid hype trains; they often make a lot of noise and leave nothing but dust and leaves spinning mindlessly behind. The reader picks themselves up, brushes off the dirt and continues along the track until they hear “You must read this, you must read this” and promptly get knocked down again.
Instead, I shall just recommend books that are well written, informative and entertaining in some fashion. At the end of this blog you can see a short summary of every book I have read so far this year.
Tsundoku: an unread pile of books
I have avoided buying books this year for the most part, and used the excellent library service. This is an effort to get my Tsundoku down to a manageable size.
I did have a small flurry post GAIN as usual, thanks to my colleagues recommending books.
Light but worthy.
West: Carys Davies. Sublime short novel about exploration and grief. Simple and elegant. If you can only read one novel this year, this will inspire you to read more
Revolutionary Road: Richard Yates. Superb novel about a dysfunctional couple in the suburbs of Connecticut. A page turner
How to Live on 24 Hours a day: Arnold Bennett. A super little book on making the most of your time. It can be read on a flight. I have written a full description here.
Words Are My Matter: Ursula K. Le Guin. A series of essays, book reviews and literary thoughts from the recently deceased author. Famous for her SF books, but the ideas and expressions in this book have opened my mind to new avenues of reading. A treat.
Writing with Intent: Margaret Atwood. A collection of essays, reviews and thoughts from this veteran writer. I couldn’t put this down. I loved the writing. I had never read Atwood until this year, taking Le Guin’s recommendation and running with it.
Impress your colleagues with your knowledge
If the staff room is full of teachers looking at Instagram for ideas for their next lesson, then try these out for size.
Well written, well researched
The Playmaker’s Advantage: Leonard Zaichkowsky. Well written, well evidenced account of how game sense is developed in the brain. Good examples throughout. Essential for those working within “Talent Development Pathways”! “Junior success is a poor indicator of long-term senior success. Their success at the age of 10 had a zero correlation with their success as a senior. Same was true with their success at ages 11-14 and 15-18. We have a zero correlation. That means those who were better at a young age were not those who were better at an older age.” Quoting Arne Gullich’s research of German soccer development academies and German Olympic sports.
Doctrines of the Great Educators: Robert Rusk. A synopsis of thoughts from Plato, Montessori and several others. Lots of good ideas. Full review here.
The End of Average: Todd Rose. Very interesting book about statistics being badly applied to humans. “The fact that there is not a single, normal pathway for any type of human development- biological, mental, moral, or professional- forms the basis of the third principle. This principle makes two important affirmations: • First, in all aspects of our lives and for any given goal, there are many, equally valid ways to reach the same outcome • Second, the particular pathway that is optimal for you depends on your own individuality.”
The Courage To Be Disliked: I. Kishimi & F. Koga. Interesting look at Adlerian Psychology, told in a student/ teacher type interview. The two main points are to develop self- reliance and to live in harmony with society. “A way of living that acknowledges only company work is one that is lacking in harmony of life.” A thoughtful quote to end on as you go away for some relaxation and reflection time.
The Full List
Words Are My Matter: Ursula K. Le Guin. Excellent start to reading in 2019 with this series of essays, book reviews and literary thoughts from the recently deceased author. Famous for her SF books, but the ideas and expressions in this book have opened my mind to new avenues of reading. A treat.
The Courage To Be Disliked: I. Kishimi & F. Koga. Interesting look at Adlerian Psychology, told in a student/ teacher type interview. The two main points are to develop self- reliance and to live in harmony with society.
The October Country: Ray Bradbury. Collection of Gothic horror stories.
The Barcelona Way: Damian Hughes. A mish-mash of ideas gleaned from observations during Pep Guardiola’s time at the club. Some good points from this: Cultural Architect, Cultural Assassin.
The Lonely Voice: Frank O’Connor. High craft, reading it makes me want to be better. A series of essays about short story writing looking at literature’s greats.
Surfacing: Margaret Atwood. Novel set in Quebec featuring a woman trying to find her identity and not submitting to cultural norms. Enlightening.
Son of the Morning Star: Evan Connell. Extensive historical account of Colonel Custer and the battle of the Little Big Horn.
Sketches From a Hunter’s Album: Ivan Turgenev. Collection of stories from 19th century Russia. Shows the plight of the peasants. Entertaining and great atmospheric descriptions.
Crazy Weather:Charles L. McNichols. Super coming of age story of a white boy living on a Mojave reservation. Very detailed descriptions.
The End of Average: Todd Rose. Very interesting book about statistics being badly applied to humans.
The Trial: Franz Kafka. Interesting story, but turgid writing and structure make it a tough read
Most Secret: Nevil Shute. A ripping war yarn about a secret mission in France. Splendidly understated.
Slide Rule: Nevil Shute. Autobiography of this engineer and author, detailed account of early aviation in the UK.
Skin in the Game: Naseem Taleb. A few good points set out in this unnecessarily thick book. If you lecture but don’t practice, or have a tangible downside if you are wrong, then you lack “skin in the game.”
The End of the Affair: Graham Greene. Short novel set in the 1940s, concise expression of human love and faith.
Brilliant Presentations: Richard Hall. Well laid out and easy to follow guidelines on improving your presentations.
Revolutionary Road: Richard Yates. Superb novel about a dysfunctional couple in the suburbs of Connecticut. A page turner
West: Carys Davies. Sublime short novel about exploration and grief. Simple and elegant.
Doctrines of the Great Educators: Robert Rusk. A synopsis of thoughts from Plato, Montessori and several others. Lots of good ideas.
Stone Mattress: Margaret Atwood. Nine tales of speculative fiction. A leaning towards the older generation. Good fun.
Where Shall We Run To?: Alan Garner. Amusing and poignant autobiography of childhood in the war.
Space,Time and Nathaniel: Brian Aldiss. 1950s SF short stories, some good ideas.
The Mint: T.E. Lawrence. Autobiographical account of Lawrence’s time as Airman Ross in the RAF basic training. Superb prose about life as a recruit between the wars. Hardly ever referenced, but I would recommend.
How Things Are, A Science Tool-Kit For The Mind: Ed. John Brockman & Katinka Matson. A series of essays written in 1994 about science based topics and ideas. Thought provoking and interesting to read now, 25 years later, how much has changed.
Winning in the Trenches: Forrest Gregg. Autobiography form this Packer great. The most interesting part is his childhood, and then dealing with the players’ strike in Green Bay. A great man, the book is less so.
The Creative Writing Handbook: Ed. J. Singleton & M. Luckhurst. A series of workshop ideas and premises for writing groups such as short stories, poetry , journalism and screenplays. Useful, but written 20 years ago, so dated in parts.
Death in Venice and Other Short Stories: Thomas Mann. A sad collection of dysfunctional individuals, written over one hundred years ago. Superbly written.
Deep Work: Cal Newport. A look at how to be productive, rather than busy. Very good ideas on switching off and concentrating on purposeful work.
The Shrinking Man: Richard Matheson. Classic SF story, focusing on the detail at home of this problem.
Encyclopedia of Physical Education, Fitness and Sports (Vol 4): Ed. T Cureton. Produced in 1985, so dated in some parts, but excellent in others. Very easy to read and well laid out. Information presented for coaches and teachers should always be this good.
The Black Klansman: Ron Stallworth. So strange it can only be true account of the black police officer infiltrating the Colorado Springs branch of the KKK. Entertaining.
Forgotten Voices, of the Falklands War: Hugh McManners (Ed). Imperial War Museum account of various people in the conflict. Heavy Para bias and critical of Sandy Woodward and 5 Brigade. Their viewpoints would have been appreciated.
How to Live on 24 Hours a Day: Arnold Bennett. A super little book about making use of the time we have got. Beautifully written and very relevant.
Live and Let Die: Ian Fleming. A James Bond novel, interesting, but seems racist in parts now.
Jeeves in the Offing: P.G. Wodehouse. Comedic novel.
The Inimitable Jeeves: P.G. Wodehouse. Short stories featuring the fall and rise of Bingo Little.
The Playmaker’s Advantage: Leonard Zaichkowsky. Well written, well evidenced account of how game sense is developed in the brain. Good examples throughout.
The Kean Land: Jack Schaefer. Collection of western short stories. Some are very good.
Writing with Intent: Margaret Atwood. A collection of essays, reviews and thoughts from this veteran writer. I couldn’t put this down. I loved the writing.
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: Robert Sapolsky. In depth look at stress and how it affects the human body. Extremely informative and entertaining to read.
Thanks as usual to Devon Libraries and the Hayridge in Cullompton for the loans, and to Mandi Abrahams of Castle Books in Beaumaris for her annoying habit of recommending two books for every one I have just read!
If you have a suggestion on what to read this Summer, please leave it in the comments below.
were the opening remarks from Vern Gambetta at the GAIN conference in Houston last week. He set out a vision for the conference that I took to heart.
What are you currently doing?
What do you want/need to do?
Gap analysis: what is necessary to close the gap?
I have some personal reflections and tasks to do as a
result. Below are some more general points that may be of interest.
1. Decision Making: Len Zaichkowsky
Breakfast with Vern, Len and Peter Vint.
The author of ‘The Playmaker’s advantage’ talked about developing excellent games players. The performance separators between the good and the great were an athlete’s ability to:
Search for cues.
Decide quickly and accurately.
Execute flawlessly.
As coaches, we need to then design practices that help develop these qualities. Len called it ‘Overspeed training for the brain.’
Tight area drills and small sided games are two ideas that
can be used.
If you remove thinking and decision making from the players in training, how can you expect them to produce on the field?
2. A Hard Look at Evidence: Dr Grace Golden
‘The path to informed expertise and reasoning is not certain, it’s a
journey.’ Grace is an Athletic
Trainer and course leader at Oregon University.
She crammed 3 hours of information into a one hour seminar which was
enlightening.
She gave an overview of definitions of evidence, and how we
can gather it to inform and improve our practice. In the UK there is much talk
of ‘Evidence
based practice’ which is usually interpreted as ‘Only do it if you read it in a
journal.’
This has never sat well with me, because my own observations, reflections and feedback from athletes that I coach have influenced me as much (if not more) than studies I have read. Of course, if I only rely on my eyes, I am subject to bias.
Grace said we need to filter the evidence to counter this bias. She gave a hierarchy of evidence, with randomised controlled trials (RCTs) at the pinnacle.
The Parachute RCT control group?
However, due to ethics and logistics, RCTs may be unsuitable or unfeasible. She gave the example of studying the efficacy of using parachutes when jumping out of a plane.
Who would want to be in the control group that didn’t get to use the parachute? There has been no RCTs studying parachutes, but we all agree that they are a pretty good idea.
Evidence based practice
Grace showed how medicine has moved from evidence based practice to evidence informed practice.
Evidence informed practice
The assessment, treatment and then reassessment of interventions lead to informed practice. ‘Evidence doesn’t make decisions, clinicians do.’ Haynes (2002).
Grace then spent some time on the art of questioning. She said that informing yourself is not about acquiring knowledge. We are drowning in data (or funky exercises). Increased knowledge can make us more ignorant. We ignore what we see and hear in front of us.
A key point was to question our questions. Allow athletes the time to question us and
for us to think and respond.
3.
Planning: John Kiely and Eddie Jones
‘The plan is the outcome of the process, not the central part.’
John Kiely.
Several of the presenters mentioned planning. What was interesting was that all looked at it as more of a framework, rather than a detailed, longitudinal work.
John was talking about rethinking adaptation and gave a detailed critique of Selye’s work on stress adaptation and how it had been appropriated for sports. The periodisation concept puts the plan at the heart and centre of what is being done with the athlete.
John suggested a different approach.
The plan is the outcome
Philosophy:
The coaching teams; belief system, created by the blending of critical analysis
of evidence, experiences and opinions (See point 2).
Process:
The set of linked actions designed to track, analyse and review relevant
information (lots of ways of doing this) from coaches and players and other
sources.
Plan:
The training detail emerges from the process outputs and the hard constraints
imposed by logistics and competitive schedules.
John likened the detailed planning as kind of like writing a letter so Santa. It is more of a soother for coaches, than something that is likely to happen. (Gary Winckler said something similar here).
Rant alert:
My #1 bugbear when working with NGBs is being asked to send my ‘Annual periodised plan’ to a spotty youth straight out of University without any idea of what the coaches are doing, or what the players do outside of my sessions. It is a total fiction and a waste of my time. It does allow the spotty youth to ‘show nice graphs’ to justify their job.
Rant over.
Relying too much on the plan can reduce your agility. Planning isn’t an excel spreadsheet and we need to move away from thinking that a good programme is a well- executed plan. This was an excellent seminar.
Eddie Jones on planning
Eddie Jones gave
an overview of some of the things he has done with Japan Rugby and now England
Rugby. He said that you have ‘Got
to plan and get on with it,’ and that ‘It’s better to have a good plan today
than an excellent plan tomorrow.’
Working within the confines and pressures of International
fixtures are examples of the ‘hard constraints imposed by logistics and
competitive schedules.’ John mentioned.
Eddie said
that as a head coach it is important to plan, but don’t get fixated. Don’t let
tradition suffocate you. ‘Traditional
thinking stops you from changing. It takes COURAGE.’ to try something
different.
‘You can’t love something if you are copying something else.’ Eddie was very keen on infusing the plan with
passion and purpose.
4. Selling the message to players: many presenters.
Trying to dodge Jim Radcliffe
My personal bias maybe meant that I was tuning into any tips on how to present evidence or explain the purpose of what we do and why to the athletes I coach. But, many of the presenters did mention this.
Grace Golden suggested sharing your verbal pitch with athletes. Draw a picture of what you are trying to achieve. She said that not empowering the athlete to engage in the process was a mistake. They need to have a voice.
Greg Gatz showed his ‘Carolina Performance Newsletter’ and communication noticeboard at the University Of North Carolina. He uses these to share success stories and create buy in.
Bill Knowles talked about ‘Inspiring stories of world –class recoveries by average athletes’ was as important as stories of world-class athletes.
John Kiely shared four points from science that underpins the art of coaching:
Build Awareness: Education (gradually).
Signal competence (with humility).
Build belief and promote expectation.
Consciously design processes, environments and messaging.
Be YOU, but your best possible You (don’t be a charlatan).
John said that people respond to signals of competence, so think about your communication very, very clearly.
Eddie Jones talked about creating a vision and making the athletes feel part of something special.
Len Zaichkowsky said to treat your clients like gold and have your passion be contagious.
One of many impromptu discussions. This one on neck strength with Andy Stone and Dean Benton.
Vern Gambetta said that ‘Culture is the greatest scalable opportunity for a competitive advantage.’
This last section is something I shall be developing at our club over the next couple of months.
Summary
Many people ask ‘What
is GAIN?’ The headline speakers draw new people in; they are an
eclectic bunch, with new speakers from different fields each year.
However, the reason I returned
for an 8th time is the quality
of attendees. The chance to share ideas and learn from professionals from
many different countries, disciplines and sports is unique. I know that if I
have a problem or an idea, then I can get in contact with one of the people I
have met at GAIN and get an expert answer.
Andy, Jason, me and Dean reflecting over Tacos
Some of the best
people you have never heard of gave me food for thought, so thanks to
everyone who sat by me at meal times, or was training at 0530 in the morning
with me.
I am looking forward to helping our athletes over the upcoming months, helping other coaches on our coaching courses.
Yesterday we hosted the Making Sport Better workshop with Wayne Goldsmith in Willand. He gave two great presentations on coaching today’s generation of athletes, plus answered many questions at the end. Here is a brief summary.
“Coaches are the masters of change”.
Nobody changes by being yelled at or being given pieces of paper and being told “do 6 or 9 of these.” Many coaches assume that the athlete is doing their session with the INTENT that the coach wrote it with. The coach puts thought into the content, science, volume and frequency, but if the athlete does it half- heartedly, then the results will be different from intended.
Michael Phelps
Wayne constantly illustrated the talk with anecdotes and examples. He talked about watching Michael Phelps doing a simple drop set session with dumbbells in the gym. He had a set each of 40kg, 30kg and 15kg dumbbells. He pressed the heaviest set as many times as he could, and then went to the next set and repeated it. There is nothing complicated about it.
But Wayne said it was how Phelps drove himself and worked. The INTENT was there, so he achieved.
“What is talent?”
Wayne asked this of a very experienced football coach, who thought about it and tapped his chest and said “Ticker.” The heart to drive and succeed and the commitment to the programme.
“I can measure Heart Rate, but I can’t measure Heart.”
Success is a choice that athletes make; the days of yelling and telling are over. So we need to change how we do things. How about rating their skill, saying “that was a 6/10” and seeing how they can improve.
“You can be hard, without being a BastHard”; Wayne talked about having standards and setting them with athletes, the emotion you should show when is coaching is “love and kindness”.
Confidence = belief x evidence
Fill this can with evidence
Wayne spent a good part of the session looking at ways of building confidence. The coach’s job is to create an environment and opportunity for people to succeed. He used a diagram of an empty can (I can) and how we can help the athlete fill their can with evidence. This can come from training, from good lifestyle habits and from results.
“Confidence comes from knowing, knowing comes from doing.” If the coach can help the teenager believe in themselves, they will go on and do more.
Wayne said that having the can model and the definition
“confidence = belief x evidence”
gives him something to work with and coach from. Without that model, it becomes too abstract.
“Culture is what you do, not what you say.” It’s about behaviours. By creating a challenging but supportive environment, you help the athlete fill the evidence can to the top.
Guided discovery
I then took the coaches outside to do a warm up activity and
introduction to jump training using guided discovery for twenty minutes.
Coaching the athlete: Inspiration not just perspiration
Coaches learning by doing
Wayne’s definition of resilience was “It’s not about what happens to you, it’s how you choose to respond.”
He said that definitions of Mental Toughness changed from athlete to athlete and is situation specific (I said that for my daughter it was just getting through the school day sometimes).
Wayne gave the example of a grid he used with a rugby team to identify behaviours that would help improve the team.
On field
Off Field (Gym)
Game Day
Social
Progression
Hard Work
Honesty
The players then identified key behaviours so they see what
these words mean in real life to them.
“You have to make the intangible tangible, the unreal real.”
By writing these behaviours down and managing them and getting the athletes to respond, you build a culture of improvement. This then leads to evidence that can be put in the can.
Performance practice
Wayne talked a lot about the myth of technical perfection. He said the model was usually based on elite performers who were outliers. Coaches then became slaves to this myth and thought that mindless repetition will fix a problem.
He then listed 3 stages of learning:
Skills- teaching
Mastery– becomes automatic
Practising under pressure– can they do the skill reasonably well at high speed, or under fatigue or under emotional pressure?
Wayne gave the example of an NRL player who dropped a ball in a big match. The obvious response is to get him to practise high ball catches in training. But this could be only part of the problem. Maybe it was the wet ball. Maybe it was the fear of three 100kg players running at him. Maybe it was the anxiety of the big match.
If we just use repetition in search of perfection, we are only using a quarter of the solution.
Dynamic core
I then took the coaches out to show them a series of progressions of dynamic core work. You can see some of in these two videos:
Example of the floor work we did
Dynamic core
Summary
We finished with a series of questions to Wayne and I. I didn’t write a full account because I was hosting the workshop. I did find the attendees asked some insightful questions, with a genuine desire to learn.
We tried to offer our advice and experiences, although we definitely don’t have all the answers! I set up this time because it is rare that we get to just chat and discuss problems that we all face. One of the coaches said “I’m glad it’s not just me.”
Wayne was friendly and approachable throughout the day. It was great to see coaches from sports including: handball, basketball, rugby, fencing, equestrianism, tennis, triathlon and cycling, as well as school teachers.
Thanks to everyone who attended and to Willand Rovers F.C. for their hospitality.
Our next course is the one day “Foundation in Athletic Development” for sports coaches and teachers looking to help get their teams ready for next season.
He took me through a series of exercise progressions that were designed to find my failing point. That then would give him more of an idea about how to design a suitable training programme for me.
I have some idea about strength training, but still managed to take a lot from this session.
The progressions were as follows:
Step up with toes up. An oldie which I have used since 1995 (Tippett & Voight), but taken to a new height by Simian. The foot on the ground has its toes up, forcing the foot on the step to do all the work.
The key here is then to lock the hip at the top of the step which requires more control. You can see the two young athletes below working on it in our gym.
The progressions around this are to do a decline step- which emphasises quad work more, or to use a higher step– which emphasises hip flexors more.
Once the height can be achieved, load can be added with dumbbells, then barbell either in front or back.
The knee on the step needs to be pushed forward so that the hip extends first, then the knee (hip-knee-ankle in that order). The exercise must reflect what happens in the sport.
These high box step ups are a great use of the box that coincidentally our club had just received before Christmas.
Split squat or lunge?
The next exercise was the split squat, the difference between that and a lunge is that the shin remains vertical in a lunge but has a positive forward angle in the split squat.
Here was another exercise that a visual demonstration would have helped me with- instead, after several misfirings from me, and less then useful input from the coaching bystanders, I got the hang of it.
Pushing the knee forward is important to lower the body so that the rear knee touches the ground, then coming out the hips must move up first and then back. This ensures that the same pattern of hips-knees-ankle extension occurs. It is tempting to push back.
I explained that due to my background- pushing in and out in a low stance without raising my hips was part of my karate sparring drills.
Still got it
The progression from here was with the front foot elevated, a low stable step is enough.
This creates a lot more hip flexion and extension and is good for those athletes who are yet unable to do a full squat.
I then had the pleasure of receiving more weight (remember, the aim was to find my failure point).
When the barbell is in front a lot more hip and buttock is used compared to when the barbell is on the back of your shoulders.
Front squats and back squats
We have covered the difference between back squats and front squats previously, but I still gained a few worthwhile cues and technical points. It is always worth getting coached by someone new to get a fresh perspective, especially if, like me, you are training on your own all the time.
Too many cues lead to athlete frustration
Simian wanted me to feel like I was “strangling yourself” and to rack the bar higher in the Front Squat. He also told me to push my knees out wider and over my toes more.
On the way down I was to flex my ankles, then knees and then my hips (the same as landing mechanics) and on the way up to do the reverse (same as acceleration).
He thought my front squat was ok, but noticed that my back squat had a shift to the left when I lowered down. He wanted me to squat with very wide hands and wider than normal legs for me.
Coaching the person in front of you
So far so good, a coach has seen some good points, but then found a weakness or error and now attempts to correct it. The back squat with load was my “failure point“.
Simian had two solutions to help me:
Practise Cossack squats (a lateral lunge with one foot facing sideways) to help my tight left adductors and my tight right hip flexors. This, he surmised, was the reason for my poor squatting technique. No problem.
He stood and held my right hand and rubbed the bones around a bit. Then he watched me move again.
Some people may enjoy having a Frenchman hold their hand and look dreamily into their eyes, I am not one of those people. I noticed no change in my movement.
At my age a decent cup of tea is essential for squats
Some helpful members of the audience then started throwing in their suggestions like “It’s because his femurs have funny shaped heads”. I was way out of my depth here; surrounded by coaches with X-Ray vision.
This was where I started to become sceptical and moderately frustrated (I had yet to have a cup of tea that afternoon).
I have injured my right knee previously whilst sprinting. It has been aggravated by landing incorrectly from a somersault. I think I favour that side when back squatting.
Repeatedly leaning to that side may well cause a learned effect and my left adductors and right hip flexors to be tight as a result of my bad technique, rather than the cause.
If what Simian had said or done had made an improvement, I would be a convert. It might well work in his environment with more time: I have empathy for trying to present to a group of coaches with a subject I have just met.
I much prefer creating movement problems for the athlete to solve, like the Cossack squats, than trying to find the magic pressure point to release.
What I can say for certain is that in the context of this environment, despite having some competency in the gym, I was confused. This could be because Simian kept referring to me in the third person and was addressing the coaches, rather than coaching me.
The good news was that it reminded me not to do this with the athletes I coach. If I do make a coaching point to the whole group using a subject, I then need to ensure that I actually coach the subject too!
Depth jumps
The final part of the workshop was a bit less structured and became more of a loose discussion. It was based around depth jumps.
Once again I was chosen to be a subject,
and to perform an exercise I rarely practise.
Serendipity: this arrived at our club before I attended IFAC
I am used to landing following vaults and jumps in Parkour, but often with a roll afterwards. I am unused to landing from height with a stiff foot and ankle. Once again I think being a subject was less useful in the context of trying to learn.
I simply couldn’t get the point of the exercise: Simian didn’t demonstrate, so there were a lot of verbal cues flying around, with heckling from the side lines.
If I was supposed to land with pretension, I think the box was too high to start. I would
always get the athletes to practise off a small
step at first and then get higher.
Simian was trying to find “failure points”, but the learning
effect would be interfering in his assessments.
I tried with shoes on and then off, and
then had my ankles and feet rubbed and moved around a bit. No improvement in
what I was doing occurred, but I kept saying “I don’t know what I am supposed
to be trying!”
My failure point was being uncertain of the
point and intent of the task we were trying to do.
A
few interesting points did come out:
Ankle mobility in throwers is important because it allows the torso to remain more upright during the rotation. Lack of mobility means that the knees or hips have to flex to get lower which means the torso is more likely to bend too.
Two of the “athlete basics” are a good hip extension without pelvic tilt, and being able to fully extend and flex the ankle.
The toe test exercise to see how your ankle and feet work when flexed compared to extended. Try this at home: keep the main part of your foot on the floor and raise your toes off, then curl them underneath. Then try the same with your ankles flexed.
You will probably find that your feet need to work a bit
harder. Remember that they are the first point of contact when running, so
neglect them at your peril.
Summary
Simian succeeded in showing his methodology. He found the “limiting factor” in myself and LC and then showed some ideas on how to develop our weak points.
This was enlightening.
He looks for the biggest limiting factor because that will give you the most gains if you can improve it. This makes sense.
Some demonstrations would have been useful, as well as remembering to coach the athlete, rather than just present to the audience. When attending a seminar I always look at how the coach coaches rather than just what they coach.
Simian was very good at explaining WHY in his approach, but less so in some of the exercises.
I took extensive notes, even though I attended only one of the four strands in the middle of day three. I have missed more than I have recorded, so other coaches may like to leave their feedback below.
I have already applied some of the lessons learnt, trialled it myself, and I will be meeting with Rhys Llewellyn-Eaton in 2 weeks’ to share ideas as he was also there.
I would recommend IFAC to other coaches who wish to learn about improving the athleticism of their players. The staff and presenters were friendly, approachable and were all there to help educate the attendees.
A review of Jerome Simian’s workshops on physical preparation for sport.
I had to choose between different “strands” of coaching topics at the IFAC conference in Loughborough. A difficult choice, not wanting to miss out on some excellent speakers. I chose to attend Simian’s because of a quote I heard on the HMMR podcast:
“I have an obligation to results, not an obligation to methods.”
This resonates with me as I wanted to hear from someone who
has to get results from the athletes he works with, or he won’t get paid. He
has “skin
in the game.” This is different from someone who is promoting a model
on paper, in print or to a captive audience.
I was all ears and ready to learn from someone I had never
met before.
I shall give an overview of Simian’s theoretical approach,
plus details on his practical applications and my experiences as guinea pig in
several of them.
Fundamental Physical Preparation: A Systematic Approach
“The best ones have the strongest fundamentals.”
Working on fundamentals
Simian recounted watching Serena Williams warm up. She hit between 80-120 shots just leaning into her backhand. Her excellence may be related to her persistence that allows her to then dictate what the ball does.
This fundamental approach guides Simian. Athletes usually
come to train with him because they have a problem to solve. He receives no
funding from a Governing Body, so he has to find a solution to help the athlete
that hasn’t been found in their usual training.
“Will the environment you provide be stronger than the environment they
came from?”
I like this concept: if we aren’t increasing the stimulus,
how will the athlete adapt and get better?
Simian then quoted Michel Pradel:
“The aim of physical preparation is to go beyond the level of motor
ability that can be achieved by the sole practice of the chosen activity.”
General to Specific Exercises
Linking back to what Martin Bingisser had talked about in
the previous hour, Simian highlighted exercises from two different events from
General to Specific (see below).
Figure 1 100m
General to Specific
Figure 2 Women’s
discus General to Specific
If you look at how this is set out, take a moment to reflect on the importance of “traditional resistance training”. A lot of heat and noise comes out of journals, social media and conferences, but very little light.
Simian then says he uses a system of thinking, rather than specific methods. This allows him a framework within which he can choose different methods (exercises, drills, outside sources) that help him to adapt to different athletes and their needs.
He did give an overview of different periodisation models and why he uses Zatiorsky’s adaptation model. In a nutshell, it is about managing fatigue better, so the athlete is better prepared at the end of the workout or day to then train again.
He uses a Heart Rate Variability app with his athletes as he has found that was the simplest and most effective measure of fatigue. It was the best marker of the Parasympathetic nervous system that is linked to overall stress.
But, I think this part of the seminar was of less relevance
than his system of training.
General Physical Preparation Planning Principles (GPPPP?)
Simian says that he
doesn’t create an athlete specific programme immediately. Instead “there
are certain things every athlete ought to be able to do.”
Each athlete goes through the system to start, this then allows Simian to gain a better understanding of how they move, what limiting factors there might be, and also what makes the athlete tick.
This graphic shows the progression of thought. Looking at what the limiting factors might be, training in core athletic activities, then some specialisation according to the sport (the context).
Then comes strengthening of the fundamentals and sport specific factors. Finally another look at what any limiting factors might be.
A systematic hunt of the limiting factor and its improvement
This seemed to be the crux of Simian’s approach (as
discovered in the practicals).
“Muscles have to handle each other around the joint. An injury in one
may mean the loss of control, or too early a deceleration in a throw”.
The art for Simian was to find out where the muscles were
lacking, and then find a solution to improve it. He then gave examples of
throwing actions and how injuries to different parts affected the overall
throw.
One thing I took from this on muscle activation:
Acceleration/
take offs- muscles activate from proximal to distal (centre to limbs).
Deceleration/
landings: the reverse, so distal to proximal (feet, ankles, knees to hips).
Simian was very good at comparing the athletics throws and
how they differ due to the different rotations. More rotations allow a longer
path of acceleration, with hammer throwers rotating over 40 metres.
In his work with Kevin Mayer (Decathlon World record holder) Simian has done a great job of analysing the movements, the events and joining the two together. The level of detail and understanding was impressive.
Now to the practicals: looking at assessment of athletes and
potential solutions.
Jerome Simian explaining the hurdles
With a group of over 20 coaches, Simian had a young volunteer take part in the practicals to be assessed. I was lucky enough to be pushed forward by Martin Bingisser and so ended up taking part too. This was a mixed blessing.
The review to follow is therefore from the perspective of a participant, rather than a passenger.
Now to the practicals: looking at assessment of athletes and
potential solutions.
Simian used the hurdles picture to assess our ability to do
repeated rebounds over them. He gains information from this to then
ascribe/prescribe further exercises in the gym.
LC and I did this several times each.
(N.B. At no point in these workshops did Simian ever demonstrate; it took a lot of time and explanation to get things right. I got tired repeating the exercises, many of which were either new, or not something I practise regularly. Information taken from my stumbling efforts was tainted with lack of skill.
As a coach are you assuming deficit of strength (imbalances) when really skill is deficient? It is easy to jump to conclusions.)
Simian’s feedback to LC was that her back was collapsing
during the rebounds, so more strength type supplemental work was needed.
His feedback to me was that more springing practice was
needed, so doing the hurdles exercise will help me get better. Strength didn’t
appear to be the issue.
Back strengthening exercises
Assessing back movement
We then spent the next hour in the gym with LC as the subject, looking at back strengthening progressions. They were as follows:
Assessing LC in the Roman Chair– showed tightness around T12 which leads to poor rotation (problematic for a thrower). Simian then pressed down on her lumbar spine and got her to extend. This isolated the thoracic spine (T Spine) to enable more movement.
In order to get a contraction in the T Spine, he tried to get a relaxation in the rectus abdominus. He rubbed LC’s tummy as a cue and then said “relax that”. Her movement improved, so he changed her position on the chair so she had more flexion at the beginning.
Once the movement was correct and the range had increased, he added a light barbell to her shoulders. LC had to hold for 6 seconds, then slowly lower down again.
The key point was to only extend the spine after hip extension. All sports (except golf) require this sequence, rather than spine extension followed by hip extension.
Sprinters who pop up
too soon may have weaker spines. It is easy to hold the spine erect upright
than in horizontal.
The next series of exercises
were off the Roman Chair and progressed as follows:
Good Mornings- LC was still hinging at T12, so a lighter load was needed. The maximal load was being taken at T12, rather than across the spine.
Hip Hinge with barbell in front (Romanian Dead Lift, RDL). Trying to extend the spine throughout the whole movement.
These exercises help athletes keep an upright chest when running without a pelvic tilt. If the pelvis anteriorly rotates when the chest is high, it creates too much “backside mechanics” leading to over striding.
Snatch grip deadlift– hips and shoulders rise together. If the hips rise first, it shows too early a knee extension. The extension should be: hips-knee-ankles in that order.
Feet elevated snatch deadlift- harder to control. Slow up for 5 seconds, then down for 5 seconds.
At no point was “Lift Heavy” used as a cue. The progressions were greater range of motions with greater technical difficulty. “The lighter weight I can use to get an effect, the better.”
Simian said that once LC had got competent in these
exercises then he would progress her through greater speed and exercises such
as pulls and snatch that encourage that speed.
“If to do an exercise properly, you have to solve the same problem that
you do on the track, then it’s probably a good exercise.”
Here was where Simian was excellent– he knew what the problem in the event was, and then used exercises to help isolate certain parts of that event and improve them. Problem solving and skilful movement by the athlete were essential parts of the process.
A review of the middle day of the IFAC conference in Loughborough.
I spent the first Saturday of 2019 at the EAAC event held at Loughborough University. Finding good conferences in the UK is hard, so I wanted to make the most of this opportunity.
I shall give an overview of what I learnt, plus some detail on the specific exercise progressions in the gym.
Whilst the term athletics may turn readers off, the principles and movement inherent in these workshops apply to many different sports. Frank Dick is the organiser. The ex head coach of UK Athletics in the early 1990s is the author of three excellent books and is the main reason I wanted to attend.
Frank and me
I have met Frank 4 times previously. The first at “Bodylife” a Health Club conference in the late 1990s where he was the key note speaker. His talk influenced me to later set out on my own path rather than continue down the management track.
I then attended a 1 day leadership and coaching workshop with him in 2000, where he took us through a great day of practical coaching and thinking exercises. I was there with a small team of my staff who were great people too.
I next saw Frank accompanying his daughter trying to rack up tennis points at the David Lloyd Club I was managing in Heston. We talked then about the tennis system and how much travelling was required in order to gain these points.
Forward onto 2012 and the buzz about the London Olympics. I attended the Global Coaching House in Piccadilly which he organised and I saw a variety of great coaches speak.
3 good books by Frank
The three books he has written are:
• Sports Training Principles: currently in its 5th edition, a sport science text that has expanded and become more detailed over the years. I first read this in 1993 and recommend it highly.
• Winning: A great short book about motivation in which Frank talks about “Mountain people and valley people”
• Winning Matters: A guide to leadership and running a successful club or organisation. Again, very useful. So, whilst I haven’t ever been coached by Frank, I have been influenced by him and he has definitely given me inspiration through speech and the written word.
Fit for purpose: functional physicality
Martin Bingisser gave the first presentation on what constitutes physical preparation for sports. Martin has represented Switzerland at the hammer throw and now coaches throwers. He runs HMMR media and I was invited onto his podcast last October. I met Martin at GAIN 3 years ago and have enjoyed getting to know him.
“Understanding why is the new functional training”.
New coaches are keen on the “What” with some “How”. Which new exercise can they copy from a famous athlete on Instagram? Martin was keen to stress the “Why” we do exercises and that as coaches evolve, they ask this more and more. (These phrases come from Simon Sinek’s book “Start with why?” and are common to GAIN coaches).
Martin split the concepts of physical preparation into 3 stages: • General • Related • Specific (attendees of our coaching courses will recognise this is also how we structure how warm up design).
General: To prepare athletes to train.
Jesse Owens long jump
Jesse Owens jumped 8:17 metres in 1936. He never did a back squat (or a mid-thigh pull). How was he able to compete in 4 different events and win Olympic Gold Medals without going in a weights room?
Growing up in the segregated south, his active youth may have been the “General” preparation that was necessary.
Martin then showed videos of the La Sierra High School physical education programme espoused by John F Kennedy in the 1960s.
The video shows what can be down outside if young people are given the opportunity (It was one of the influencers in choosing the equipment with our Parish Council for our village’s main park).
Why Squat?
Why is the back squat so prevalent and now seen as a “need to do” exercise? How about: • Goblet squat • Partner squat • Single leg squat • Half squats • Step ups as examples of developing leg strength?
Martin then gave several examples of different athletes doing different leg exercises, each of whom had a rationale for their situation and purpose.
This is different from saying “You MUST do back squats”, especially with beginner athletes and beginners in the weights room. (Martin was preaching to a choir boy with me, and our club members will recognise the patterns and themes that we follow. This is covered regularly at GAIN and in different variants).
Related: Prepare athletes for the sport
Martin showed a video of John Pryor doing some “Robust Running” drills with the Japanese National Rugby.
The difference between “cool looking exercises on Instagram” and a purposeful approach to coaching, with structures and progressions was the main point here.
Key points were: • Develop skill execution in parallel with physical prep. • Constraints- led approach so the athletes have to solve problems to create the correct sprinting pattern. • A simple approach to a complex environment means that one piece of the puzzle can be solved at a time.
Specific Training for the sport
Time needs to be spent doing this. Do coaches look for ways to structure their training accordingly? Do they know the needs and demands of their sport? Martin showed a video of a shot putter training with some “cool looking exercises”, but then explained why they were “sport specific”.
They consisted of four elements which transfer to the sporting environment:
Technical/ co-ordination– develop balance and rhythm through an altered environment.
Mental– create a challenge to help focus.
Strength– specific strength overload.
Emotional- competitive challenge.
When designing programmes to improve physical preparation for the sport, coaches need to know the basics required in that sport. Is there a relevant measurement for exercises that can be found- or, like Jesse Owens, do we just need to be fitter?
The final point from Martin was that the best coaches need:
