Tag Archive: cpd

1. How to Create Excellence In Coaching

   15th January 2019 11:23 am Leave a Comment

   Improving your coaching

   

   Reviewing and improving

   For a start, I am not sure I have achieved this, but there are a few things that you can do to help make yourself and your coaching better.

   • Learn- observe, participate, read, practice. Not just from the usual key texts, if all you do is read the same 3 books as everyone else, you will do the same as everyone else. Look outside your usual sphere of influence, try different things, listen to what your athletes are telling you.
   • Analyse– look at what your athletes do when they move, don’t come with a prepared programme to hand out, see what they can actually do. Look at what the sport requires in the game, using both top performers and beginners as benchmarks. Don’t take an exercise as gospel because Tiger Woods does it. Try to understand why he might do something, and then see if you need to do that.
   • Share– share your ideas and opinions and thoughts with others. Physiotherapists, biomechanists, physiologists, coaches will all see the same thing as you, but from their perspective. This will add colour, depth and clarity to your own vision. This should help prevent group think, but also be aware of summating that information into a workable package for your athletes.
   • Review- constantly, all the time, after every session, every day, every week, every month, every year. The mini reviews will help you adjust things before your next session. But the bigger reviews require time and no distractions.

   Take the time out away from the immediate pressing issues of the day and sit down with a blank piece of paper and a clear mind. Revisit where you want to go, think what you need to get there. Think what you have done and then match the two. Where there are gaps, look to improve.

   Why not book onto our new “Foundation in Athletic Development” 1 day course to help improve your coaching?

2. Creativity in Coaching

   6th December 2018 11:00 am Leave a Comment

   How do we become creative in our coaching?

   

   Try looking at things from a different perspective

   For those of you studying at University, you may be under the impression that there is only one way of doing things. Try to look outside of the parameters of the people who are marking your assignments.

   Here are some useful tips to get the ball rolling:

   • Get some space between you and the daily grind- 15 minutes of non-electronic communication\ noise time. It is difficult to be creative with your mind being full of bills\ work\ relationships.

   • Look at something different that you have never read or seen before, something completely unrelated to the norm. E.g. read Good Housekeeping magazine,watch how a beetle moves, or study a postcard in detail. Then write down 3 things that you have observed, or learnt.

   Creative coaching to help solve problems

   Once your mind is a bit clear, and you have been exposed to some new ideas or concepts, then it is time to try and apply this to your coaching or training.

   You have written down 3 things that you have observed, now write down your 3 best coaching points and your 3 biggest coaching problems.

   See how you can connect the good coaching with your problem via one of your observations on a non related subject.

   It sounds bizarre, but in order to change, you have to try looking at things from a different perspective.

   It is a lot more interesting than just copying someone else’s drills.

   Why not learn more by booking onto one of our upcoming coaching courses?

3. Getting to grips with infographics and data visualisation.

   10th June 2017 3:07 pm 4 Comments

   “Sometimes Excel just has to be beaten into submission”

   After many hours of staring at screens and wrestling with Excel, I have finished my final work on the “Introduction to Infographics and Data Visualization” course.

   What started as interest in infographics turned into an understanding of how data should be presented in order to clarify and educate, rather than to obfuscate.

   Not knowing what you don’t know

   Do you know much about defence spending as part of GDPs, tax rates around the world for incomes over $300K, or the Eigen factor? Neither did I before this course started!

   The sketch to the right shows my idea for an infographics showing how defence spending as a proportion of GDP is correlated with geographical location around the Middle East.

   This is an example of the work we were assigned: look at existing data and how it was presented, then come up with an alternative way of presenting that data.

   Marks were not given according to drawing ability (thankfully). Instead, we were encouraged to start with a blank sheet of paper and start with the end in mind.

   This then lead to storyboarding and telling a story for the reader using images. My first effort on Academic tenure and what it means for University education in the USA can be seen here.

   Thematic mapping and data:ink ratios

   The course started off with reading chapters from Alberto Cairo’s “The Functional Art” plus watching video lectures. Extra reading included Stephen Few’s “Data Visualization for Human Perception” which goes through in some detail how the human eye can perceive height and depth, but less able to perceive area.

   This is important when choosing which type of graphic to use to present the data.

   Pie charts are popular but are ineffectual in showing comparisons amongst data sets.

   (The exception being this Yoda pie chart!)

   It is easy to get caught up in what looks cool, rather than what is easy to interpret.

   Pretty is different from functional.

   Once you have chosen the right type of graphic, it then has to be made easy to read. The default option of programmes like Excel is to make things overcomplicated, but pretty.

   A few simple edits and background effects that add little meaning can be removed, such as:

   • gridlines
   • extra words on axes
   • too many different colours
   • text that is replicated in charts

   This increases the data: ink ratio

   Making my eyes bleed

   Throughout the course, Cairo emphasised that design came first, the ability to use the software came second.

   We were given access to adobe illustrator and tableau publishing software to help produce the graphics. However, I thought I would use Excel as I have got continued access to that.

   I designed my Coach’s dashboard, then tried to programme accordingly. I then got sucked into a vortex of functions, formulae errors, circular references and other pop up boxes that constantly reminded me why I avoid spreadsheets.

   I was inspired by this series of videos on Excel Tricks for Sports but was unable to get past the second minute!

   My coach’s dashboard was designed to show an overall picture of work being done in the gym with that on the field and in matches. My experience has shown that often no one sees the overall work being done. (With young athletes factor in different sports and p.e lessons and the result is a shambles).

   Here it is:

   

   This is the front page of the Excel document, with test data and individual programming on the other sheets. The spin button is designed to scroll through players so that the coach can see how much work is being done by each player.

   I split it into current work and future work. That way the coach can see how things are looking over the next 4 weeks, compared to the last 4 weeks. Pitch and gym time can be planned accordingly.

   Without the overall picture, it is difficult to see what is going to happen.

   That was the theory: having the programming skill of an amoeba stopped it from working as I had wished!

   Summary

   The course was well set up with interaction amongst students, practical work, lectures and reading. I learnt quite a bit and in conjunction with reading Dan Roam’s back of the napkin, I think that my ability to use diagrams and portray data has improved.

   This is an essential part of communication which almost every Coach says is important when coaching.

   I absolutely detested getting stuck with Excel, exactly what I had tried to avoid. However, I have come through the other side and whilst no Excel Jedi, I might be an acolyte. (Too much time on Excel will lead to the Dark Side I am sure).

   Thanks to Alberto Cairo for running the course. The opening quote came from Tara Richerson who runs a good blog on excel for educators and gave some great feedback to me. Thanks to Ollie Whitehead for providing some of the data.

   I use a lot of this information now when delivering strength and conditioning qualifications as it helps the coaches present information more clearly to their athletes.

   Previous MOOC: Crash Course on Creativity Next up: How things work  . 

4. Anatomy and Physiology Learning in the 21st century

   22nd March 2017 8:13 am 4 Comments

   Here are some free resources that may help you get to grips with learning your anatomy and physiology.

   Introduction Level

   BBC GSCE Bitesize – GCSE revision guide

   BBC Learning – links to various revision guides and other information

   Exercise Physiology– Basic physiology

   Heart & Circulation – Basic animations

   Teaching Resources

   Ken Hub anatomy : good series of videos breaking anatomy down into sections.

   TES – Teaching resources under all topics for all ages (you need to register for free)

   Intermediate Level

   Massachusetts Institute of Technology – College level courses from Biology to weightlifting

    Video Lectures

   UC Berkeley – Biology video series 39 videos

   Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Introduction to Biology series 34 videos

   Coursera Great variety of online courses running for 4-6 weeks and more. I recently did the Exercise Physiology course (review here) which was very in depth.

   There are more ways to learn than going to University.

   There are many ways to learn, and paying £30,000 to sit in a lecture hall with 200 other students 6 hours a week, for 90 weeks total may be a bit too much to swallow.

5. How to acquire skill in strength and conditioning

   28th February 2014 1:08 pm 8 Comments

   “Skill learning isn’t just skill learning, it’s preparation”

   John Brierley in his skill acquisition lecture on our level 3 coaching strength and conditioning for sport course.

   Ever see the 5 sets of 5 programme for squats, power cleans and bench press? Dull as dishwater!

   If we want our athletes to develop, we need to challenge their skill. If we fail to do that they get bored.

   John’s theme was how can we make ourselves redundant as coaches: “It’s not our responsibility to keep control of their learning.”  Instead, we need to “Get people to be in love with the activity” and then that stands them in good stead later on.

   That’s coaching. How do you coach in the gym? Is it just handing out sets and reps and increasing the weight?

   Do you crank up the music to create “atmosphere” and remove the human contact between coach and athlete?

   These were the questions John was asking us as coaches. If we are to be successful (and by that I mean getting our athletes performing in the arena) then we need to improve our coaching, including motor skill acquisition.

   Motivation and motor skill acquisition go together

   

   Juggling is fun

   If we get the athlete motivated, then they are more likely to acquire the skill.

   This comes down to structuring the practice well, using the right level of task difficulty and then using the correct cues and feedback.

   We spent some time doing this as a group as John broke out his Mary Poppins bag of coaching aids.

   We had to perform a juggling task, test it, then do 2 minutes of practice with some video feedback, rest, then practice more. We then retested at the end.

   There was minimal chat, some cues such as “think drainpipe rather than teapot” and short focussed practice. The idea was that by looking at the video, and trying 1 or 2 cues, we could improve.

   (Duncan proved to be a juggling whiz, so whilst we were dropping tennis balls, he was progressing from 2 to 3 balls, to mishaped objects, to juggling clubs: John was well prepared with stuff!).

   This structure was similar to the micropractice work we did in December.

   “People are never as physically tired as they are mentally“. We can give the athlete breaks in practice when the skill is hard to achieve. Rest them physically, but work on something else.

   I apply this with athletes as just when they are looking comfortable or familiar it is time to move on (temporarily) to something else. Boredom sets in otherwise, and the learning stagnates.

   Decision making counts

   Skill rarely happens in isolation in sport. Instead, it is the decision making that counts. “Don’t take the decision making out of it“. Practice needs to be variable:

   • Short, long or medium length.
   • Shooting/ rehearsing dominant/ non-dominant.
   • Slower vs faster.
   • Change the environment and context.

   As we set down our learning pattern, we won’t remember the rep, but we will remember the context in which we practiced.

   • How do you structure your practice?
   • Is it the same every time?
   • Are your athletes getting better at some pre-programmed activities?
   • How do you know if that can then be applied to the sport?

   I left the course with a lot of questions I have to ask myself, and I was the lead tutor!

   Summary

   John’s wealth of experience working in football and athletics enabled him to share practical examples of challenges within teams and high pressure situations.

   His approach of “how to get everyone working together” was insightful and useful for all the coaches.

   “Less is more” seemed to be one of the themes of the course: simpler, more effective cues. Have fewer exercises, but coach them really well, and change the context and environment in which we practise them.

   Marius and Andy had emphasised this on the first weekend of the course too.

   The rest of the weekend was spent looking at how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together: planning the year, the month the week and the individual session.

   I wanted the coaches to be asking the right questions of themselves and of their athletes; perhaps most importantly

   How can I help my athletes improve their performance where it counts?  The competitive arena.

   If you would like to host a course at your school or club, please see what we offer here

   Further reading

   • In pursuit of excellence 
   • Training design do’s and don’ts

6. The Uncertainty Principle: From the Big Bang to Dark Energy Review

   7th November 2013 9:23 am Leave a Comment

   “Physics is uncertain. There is an overall predictability of patterns, but individual prediction is hard”

   Hitoshi Murayama, Tokyo University.

   I took this 5 week course due to having an interest in Astronomy and the big ideas of the Universe.

   I have seen Martin Rees, Michio Kaku and Simon Singh present on various themes and read their books on “Space science“.

   I thought this course would help me understand more. I was unprepared for the mathematics that would be involved (which caused more than one cup of coffee being spilt by me banging the table in frustration).

   Answering the big questions

   The course was based around answering these questions:

   • How did the Universe begin?
   • What is its fate?
   • What is it made of?
   • What are its fundamental laws?
   • Where do we come from?

   The video lectures by Murayama were entertaining, and very interesting. I got lost with some of the maths (well, most of it), but the concepts were well explained.

   Atoms make up less than 5% of the Universe (pictured), the rest is made up of Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

   The Universe was crumpled at the beginning, then has gradually smoothed out. This has left some wrinkles in the patterns and density of matter (pictured). This explains why there are clusters of galaxies together.

   How scientists are discovering and measuring these concepts was explained really well in the course. Massive collaborative projects that are underground such as the hadron collider, group arrays of telescopes, the Hubble Telescope and underwater stations.

   Patience and luck seem to be two of the main factors responsible for discoveries.

   The big numbers

   It is hard to grasp the sheer size of what is out there. The Universe started out less than the size of a virus and expanded into galaxy size in less than 1 second.

   The initial state was one of disorder because of the heat and energy being released.

   When it cooled (?) to 4 quadrillion degrees the Higgs Boson was able to freeze. The Higgs Boson is a crucial component because it slows (!) every elementary particle down to the speed of light.

   It keeps our atoms together; without it we would evaporate in a second. Electrons are therefore able to fly around the atom without falling apart.

   Some galaxies are colliding at a speed of 4500km/ sec!This can be seen by light being distorted due to the mass distorting gravity and light bending. If you can get out at night and look up at a clear sky, think of what is happening up there.

   Summary

   I really enjoyed learning about the history of the Universe, and what it contains.

   There were no reading materials associated with the course which I thought was poor. Each of the MOOCS I have done has had different materials associated with it. The best have a balance of video and links to reading materials, along with the homework assignments, exams and discussion forums.

   The maths involved in the course was horrendous, and there was no warning beforehand. If it had stated “You should be familar with advanced mathematics” then I would have taken a different course.

   The graduate assistant setting the homework realised this and added some remedial videos. But, my time is limited and if I had wanted to do a maths course, I would have! I still managed to get 83.6% for the overall course.

   I am no scientist, but I like studying and reading proper science. This course gave me a greater understanding, for which I am grateful and inspired.

   Next up for me “The Fundamentals of Neuroscience” run by Harvard: switching to the science of the very small.

7. Hope, mindfulness and compassion

   18th July 2013 11:00 am 3 Comments

   “Do you coach with compassion or for compliance?”

   Effective leaders bring out the best in people, they do this through inspiring hope,being mindful and coaching with compassion (1).

   That was one snippet from my recently completed 6 week course led by Richard Boyatzis called “Inspiring Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence”.

   The premise of the course was to make us more aware of our own emotional states and how it impacts our decision making and interactions with others.

   It showed ways of creating true empathy which genuinely opens up to the other person which is very powerful (The less effective empathy is seeing the other person through a reflection of yourself.)

   It showed how inspiring hope and dreams are important coaching tools. Athletes respond to that and sometimes get caught up in what other people think they “ought to do” rather than what they “love to do” (2,3).

   It showed how being mindful is important for my relationship with athletes (I can respond better to their needs and desires) and also for my own benefit (clarity of thought, renewal).

   It was tough, with a bigger workload than expected, but well worth it.

   “When we use the term compassion, we go beyond the typical Western interpretation to one coming from Confucian philosophy. Compassion is the experience of benevolence, of being open to others. It is caring for others who might be in pain (more hedonic) or those in joy (more eudemonic) or those in search of growth (eudemonic) (4). 

   Who has inspired you?

   Try this simple exercise: take 5 minutes out and write down a list of people who have inspired you throughout your life: Family, teachers, coaches, colleagues, friends.

   Think about what was it they did that inspired you? Remember as much detail as possible, again write it down.

   If you have done the exercise, well done. How did you feel when you were doing it? You will probably be feeling pretty good now.

   You have activated the parasympathetic nervous system by thinking of positive emotional attractors. You are now in an open state of mind and have experienced some “Renewal“.

   Our daily lives are filled with encounters and events that are quite stressful: being held on the phone, dealing with the National Governing Body that wants meaningless reports, stuck in traffic etc..

   This activates the Sympathetic nervous system which is good when you need to focus on an essential task or deal with an immediate event. The downside is that it limits access to all of your neural networks and the excess cortisol produced hinders your immune system.

   You become narrow minded and risk illness.

   A daily dose of Renewal helps counter this: play, moderate exercise and learning new things are examples of how to activate your Parasympathetic system.

   One of the discussion points on the course was what ratio do we need to have between the Positive Emotional Attractors (PEA) and the Negative Emotional Attractors (NEA)?  We need to consciously build in PEA time due to the amount of NEA we experience (5). For me, it was about 5:5 normally and 8:2 if I am thriving.

   Hearts, Minds & Bodies

   As a coach do you activate the PEA in your athletes or the NEA?

   I have found myself in the past looking to “fix weaknesses” in athletes.

   By focussing on their “problems” it means that I am less tuned into them as people.

   I have tried now to win their hearts first by inspiring hope, then explain why we do what we do, then get their bodies to follow.

   Some coaches are very good at this (e.g.Clay Erro) and create an environment where “eyes are shiny with the art of possibility“. 

   If you think of how NGBs often try to get their athletes to get fit, you will see how flawed it is.

   • They put athletes through a series of fitness tests and then tell the athletes what they are bad at (NEA)
   • They give out a bit of paper with some exercises with funny names on it. Give a quick demonstration (often by sports coaches who are poor at them) and say “do these at home “(compliance).
   • See the athletes again in 6 weeks and tell them off for failing to do their homework! “They are not engaged“.

   They test the body, confuse the mind, and then break the heart! (This is why I refuse to work in that type of environment and have resigned from some contracts).

   The key to sustaining good effective coaching is building relationships. One way to do that is to focus on what people love to do rather than need to do. Find out what the athlete is good at and buiild from there.

   Once trust is established, a shared vision can be created that is very strong and will lead to success (6).

   Summary

   I learnt huge amounts on this course. It enabled me to deepen my relationship with a lot of the athletes and coaches I work with. That has had immediate results in their performance which was unexpected.

   I have also ditched some work that was just too negative. Life is too short to be dragged down by trolls!

   The course had a balance of:

   • video lectures
   • extensive reading
   • essay writing
   • group discussion
   • quite tough self reflection exercises

   All of these were very useful, except the group discussions which were unwieldy due to the sheer amount of people involved. That could have been better structured.

   I would recommend the course to all coaches: in fact it should be an essential part of every coaching course/ pathway. Far too many “coaches” are in fact “instructors“.

   This course was hosted by Coursera and was my fourth MOOC follo

   wing “Crash Course in Creativity”, “Data Visualisation and Infographics“, “How Things Work”.

   I start “Exercise Physiology: Understanding the Athlete Within” next week.

    References

   1. Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2001). “Primal leadership: The hidden driver of leadership. Harvard Business Review, December.
   2. Smith, M., Boyatzis, R.E. & Van Oosten, E. (2012). Coach with Compassion. Leadership Excellence, 29:3, 10.
   3. Boyatzis, R.E. & Yeganeh, B. (2012). Mindfulness. Leadership Excellence, 29:3, 4.
   4. Boyatzis, R.E., Smith, M. & Beveridge, A. (in press). Coaching with Compassion: Inspiring Health, Well-Being and Development in Organizations. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science.
   5. Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C. & Vohs, K.D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5, 323-370.
   6. Van Oosten, E. (2006). Intentional Change Theory at the Organizational Level: A Case Study. Journal of Management Development. 25(7), 707-717.

8. “It’s the people business stupid”: GAIN 2013

   17th June 2013 3:17 pm 3 Comments

   Coaches are in the people business

   I have just returned from another fantastic GAIN (Gambetta Athletic Improvement Network) in Houston, Texas.

   The 5 day event was full of ideas, tips and sharing of coaching philosophies.

   This year Vern Gambetta opened the conference with a quote from Frank Dick “We don’t coach javelin throwers, runners or jumpers. We coach people who happen to throw, run or jump”.

   This idea occurred time and time again throughout the conference. There was plenty of whys, whats and how tos, but it all means nothing if you fail to bring the people with you.

   I shall be reporting on the nuts and bolts in more detail in a few weeks time. I need to reflect on what we did, review my notes and then practice some of the things. It’s all too easy to come back with “Monday’s workouts” written down.

   Cross Pollination of Ideas

   This conference is unique in my experience in that it brings people from different nations, different sports (e.g. lacrosse, cricket, track and field, soccer, gridiron, ice hockey, field hockey, wrestling, Aussie rules, rugby, cross country skiiing, downhill skiing, swimming) and different practices (sports coaches, chiropracters,athletic development coaches, physiotherapists, athletic trainers, strength and conditioning coaches) and puts them together to share knowledge and practices.

   We all tend to be a bit bunker bound within our own sport, country or profession. Looking at an athlete from all these different view points enables us to step back and see with fresh eyes. This was true interdisciplinary learning.

   It is refreshing to see people like Jim Radcliffe and Bill Knowles sat through lectures furiously writing notes down.

   Highlights

   

   • Some highlights for me, in no particular order:
   • Every day is pancake day at GAIN, meal time conversations is where the real learning takes place.
   • Andy Stone skipping master class (not on the agenda, but added bonus).
   • Land training for swimmers by Nick Folker, learnt more from this hour and chats with Nick than I have done in last 3 years observing “dryland training”.
   • Clay Erro on coaching young people in a school setting. “Everything we do in life is a cooperative endeavour”.
   • Olympic Panel: lessons learnt from the past Olympics and ones before, including how to get the athletes self reliant and their warm ups robust.
   • Greg Thompson’s P.E. class one morning: every kids should benefit from this type of teacher and session content.
   • Cross country skiing chat with Head Coach Bryan Fisher: learnt more about Heart Rate training at breakfast than I have in my life. Gold dust.
   • Steve Magness on applying science in the coaching environments: YES he gets it and does it.
   • Jim Radcliffe’s practical sessions in the gym and out of the gym: this guy is outstanding and he works hard at being able to do it.
   • Vern Gambetta on coaching pedagogy “Know the basics, master the basics, don’t deviate from the basics”.

   But the overall highlight is having great people, who are all trying to get better, sharing ideas and inspiring each other to do the same.

9. Are you a Dot Collector or a Dot Connector?

   17th September 2012 1:24 pm 2 Comments

   Connect Dots, Don’t just collect them

   This came up time and again over the weekend as aspiring coaches sat their Level 2 S&C exam on Saturday and when we ran a 3 hour intensive workshop on Athletic Development on Sunday.

   Anyone can go to a workshop, read a book or watch a YouTube video and get a drill or exercise.

   A good coach knows how to assess whether this fits into their System of training, and if so how and when to use it.

   This is the difference between just collecting dots and knowing how to connect them.

   (Thanks to Seth Godin for analogy)

   Lessons learnt in the last year

   Sunday saw our first Excelsior intensive workshop for coaches who have attended our Level 1 or Level 2 Strength and Conditioning Courses.

   I introduced an overview of Athletic Development and what I have learnt over the last year, especially lessons learnt from GAINV

   This included looking at:

   • Power development and resistive, spatial and temporal overloads.
   • The need for work on Force Reduction, not just Force Production.
   • Coaching and how to improve it.
   • Nutrition advice for athletes based on real world situations.

   This was not a comprehensive review, but more of a stimulus to spark off ideas and thoughts for the coaches.

   Agility Principles and Progressions

   Having given an overview, I then extrapolated agility and looked at it in much more detail. I explained the three stages:

   1. Fundamentals
   2. Motor pattern development
   3. Autonomics

   Each stage has various aspects that need to be included, but none can be addressed if the previous stage is not firm or entrenched.

   I spent some time looking at each stage and giving the underlying reasons why each is important and the components of each.

   By having a systematic approach to agility the coach can then select the right exercise or drill for the athlete/ team at each stage. Rather than doing STUFF.

   We then spent over an hour going through this in practice. I emphasised the need to Coach each aspect, each drill and each player.

   A lot of the time I just watch people going through the motions and not trying to get better.

   It was good to see the Coaches grasping the concepts and connecting the dots, learning what to look for and how all the activities were inter related.

   Community of Practice

   We then wrapped up by discussing how we were going to implement and develop the Excelsior community of practice. 

   A community of practice is just a way of sharing ideas informally, it is free and is a recognised form of learning. A lot of best practices come from informal conversations or “coffee break coaching“.

   It was great to see the coaches sharing ideas and information at the end of the day. If anything, it is soemtimes just to know that the problems you have aren’t unique!

   Any coach who has completed a level 1 or level 2 course gets free access to specific resources here. We are expanding this into idea sharing and problem solving by using the Google+ community and the workshops to really help each other develop and improve.

   Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed.

10. Coach Development Workshop: John Brierley

    11th May 2011 8:11 pm Leave a Comment

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

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

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

    A few of the points that I found useful:

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

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

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

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

    Read more from here: “skill acquisition workshop“