You don’t have to rewrite your programme, but a little variety will keep you fresh and adaptable.
I spent Monday in the presence of some Coaching giants: Frank Dick, Bill Sweetenham and Vern Gambetta at the Global Coaches House.
The Hot Topic in the morning was about the Olympic Legacy. Who is going to light the fire of the next generation of coaches, athletes and teachers?
I made the point that Parents are at the frontline of all that needs to happen. Either as role models or taxi drivers.
Vern said “make it small, make it local, make it neighbourhood“. It starts from there.
Frank emphasised the need for encouraging aspiration not expectation in our younger generation.
How are you going to make a difference after the Olympics?
Bill Sweetenham talked about how to create a winning profile in your athletes, support staff and coaches. He wants his athletes to focus on their best performances, and look to improve from the bottom up. It is hard to improve on oyur best all the time, but you can improve your 11th best performance.
If you do this every 6 months, then you are making progress. Your best performance is the one that is yet to come.
Bill then talked about identifying 9 key aspects of your performance, then looking to get each one of those better by 1%. If you can do that, then your chances of achieving your goal have will improve by 25-30%.
The importance of emotional stress was then covered, especially as this is a big factor in the Big Championships. Physical and mental stress are common in training, but the emotional stress is often under rated (British Cycling response to Winning the Tour de France?).
In domestic and International competitions, there is less recovery time needed for emotional stress, as it is not such a factor. Things change when you get to the big games, and coaches and athletes need ot be prepared.
All the time Bill referred to the athlete and to the Coaching team. It is not just down to the athletes. The team has to be the best it can be: either through training or through recruitment. The Coach has to keep progressing and working.
He had some really useful metrics that I shall be using with my athletes and on myself to help us improve. I haven’t seen him present before, but I was very impressed with his simple but effective tools, and his emphasis on the need for accountability from everyone in the team.
How are you going to improve your Coaching after the Olympics?
“The opposite of right isn’t wrong, it’s left” was something Frank had been told in his past. He then expounded on some specific case studies and real life examples and asked us what decisions we would have made and why.
This was a really useful exercise, and I benefitted from hearing how other people think. (Of course, you need a supportive, no blame no fear environment for this to work in!)
Who was Andrea del Verrocchio?
He was Leonardo Da Vinci’s mentor.
Frank talked about how the athletes get all the attention, but who is the person standing behind them? Who has helped them along their path?
Who was the person who got Da Vinci started?
Da Vinci “Took the process of homework as being important”. His mentor instilled this in him, and his use of this and practice, practice, practice allowed him to develop into greatness.
Some things can’t be taught, they can only be learnt. “Experience is a cruel mistress because she gives you the exam before you have had the lesson.” So, how can we accelerate that experiential process?
I last saw Frank present in 2000 on a Coaching Day for Health Club Managers. That inspired me to set up Excelsior. He is just as inspiring now. Coaches need motivating too!
As usual on these days, it was just as useful mingling chatting before and after the seminars.
There were some great coaches present, and it helped clear up some thoughts for me.
I was both inspired and challenged.
It was great to catch up with people I had last seen on GAIN in Houston.
In this Olympic Year, I thought it would be a good idea to hear from coaches who have worked with developing athletes and their thoughts. Today Marco Cardinale who is the head of Sports Science and Resarch at the British Olympic Association.
I started my career coaching young athletes. I was in fact a Handball coach, interested in developing young handball players. Our programmes started with kids in primary schools all the way to the senior national teams.
Working with young athletes has always been rewarding as you see them growing and improving and very quickly you can see the ones having the right attitude about hard work and commitment which will lead them to sporting greatness. Rewards don’t come only from the one winning medals, they come from seeing everyone reaching their potential and maximising learning to become better.
1) Each training session counts, but only if the athletes are connected and willing to engage
2) Each training session has to have a purpose, athletes need to know why they are doing it
3) Learning happens with deep practice, so make sure the athletes are immersed in what they do
4) Use random practice to create challenging environment, however keep in mind progression needs to be appropriate to the skills of the athletes you are coaching
5) Make sure athletes write things down and are actively engaging in learning what they are doing
6) Give ‘process orientated praise’. For example, praise the athlete’s effort and strategy. E.g: ‘You really tried hard’; ‘That was a good way to do it’
7) Emphasize hard work and learning, you can get better if you learn more than your opposition
8) Use interactive technology, the young generation likes interactions, persuasive technologies can be very effective
The way we coach/teach athletes now needs changing as new generations cannot be coached in the same way as the old one. Some fundamentals are still valid. Hard work and learning are the fundamental aspects for a young athlete, deep practice, passion for the sport and knowledge are the building blocks of elite performers.
Young athletes willing to excel in sport should look at young musicians or artists. You can only excel if you study your sport, if you develop a deep inquisitive knowledge of all the aspects relevant to your sport (equipment, nutrition, tactics).
So, look at the best in the World, learn what they do, write notes, take pictures, save videos, analyse their performances, admire the skills and think about how you can develop new ones.
Marco Cardinale
If you wish to have an easy to follow guide to training young athletes, then click on the book cover to the right. I wrote this standing on the shoulders of giants.
This came up last week in conversation with 2 of the England Blind Football Team. I was unable to physically demonstrate some exercises to Dan James the goalkeeper, (who is sighted) and is a clear example of someone who learns by watching.
Later that day I was working with Robin Williams (blind) who has never been able to see demos, so has to learn by auditory cues and feel.
How would I be able to coach Robin if he was a Visual learner like Dan?
This rapidly turned into some sort of Zen Koan with us racking our brains as to whether this is a learned trait, or an inherited one.
I know this is a bit old now, but reading a lot of quotes from Steve Jobs and think a lot of it applies to how and why I coach too.
I am not an Appleophile, but do think Jobs was a special individual who did change things.
Having some thoughts and interactions with other Coaches recently and here are some questions that have arisen:
It might be time to start reflecting on this.
Then why not put it in this fruit salad?
Looks good in this green salad doesn’t it?
– Marilyn Vos Savant
When Coaching athletes, there is no point being a holder or disseminator of random facts. Look at the context and then use the information accordingly.
Sorry to keep banging on about experience: but this helps discern how to use information.
Most coaches I know are short of time, short of money and short of patience. Trying to develop their practice as well as juggling work, family and coaching is pretty tricky. I put myself in this category.
I think the way forward is to deliver bite size chunks of information that allow the Coach to access it when needed. This may be in the form of videos, online resources or workshops. The information has to be clear, easy to access and affordable.
Every Coach that has completed a Level 1 or Level 2 Strength and Conditioning Coaching course with Excelsior gets access to a free online library that is updated every month with relevant articles.
I am currently delivering a series of workshops across the South West of England. The first was an Injury Prevention workshop in conjunction with Active Devon. The feedback and vibe I got from this workshop was very rewarding. In fact I couldn’t get to sleep afterwards because I was buzzing from the experience.
Some of the feedback included:
“I think introduce it into Schools – into the curriculum”
“Achievable and well presented”
“Good to promote correct application of strength and conditioning exercises and general wellbeing”
“Everything is everything – Fits reality – Doable at next coaching session and it will fit in”
I was also told that my “style” of presenting was unusual. When asked for more details, the Coach said that I adapted the session to the audience, answered questions and made it relevant. I didn’t dleiver an “off pat” series of set points.
Surely that is Coaching?
You can read more on coach development here
But how many Coaches help the athlete learn how to deal with this stress? Getting them tactically, technically and physically prepared is only part of the job; getting them to put this into practice when it is needed most- under pressure- is tricky.
Some of the things I have found to work both as an athlete and when working with developmental athletes are highlighted below.
How an athlete views a stressor (the event, person, or situation that causes the stress) is critical to how they respond. Things will happen in competition that you may not have ever experienced before.The higher the level of play, the more likely it is that you will lose. If you are accustmed to beating lesser opposition, meeting someone your own level or better is a big shock.
Concentrating on those things within your control keeps you focussed on what is important/ It helps reduce anxiety and help improve performance.
Things within your control include: concentration; physical and mental effort; physical fitness.
Concentrating on those things outside of your control distracts you from what is important, can increase anxiety and lead to a drop in performance.
Things outside of your control include: the weather; opponents skill level; opponents tactics; the crowd; travel delays.
Try these 2 exercises to help you practice what might seem obvious. But if you don’t practice, you migth come unstuck.
List all areas of performance that are within your control. Include physical, technical, tactical and psychological aspects of your performance.
List a set of situations where the outcome is important. List a series of thoughts that will help you concentrate on those things within your control (from exercise 1) that will improve your performance.
Practice using these thoughts in simulated training. (see distraction training).
Try to make these a part of your weekly practice at least.
One of my projects this summer has been to sort out the Tools in my Coaching toolbox.
After 20 odd years of training and coaching, the tools can get a bit disorganised. What you learn in the last year tends to stay at the top of the toolbox and is first reached for.
The good stuff that worked 20 years ago is getting a bit rusty at the bottom of the bag.
I am sorting out warm ups, strength exercises, power exercises, flexibility work, work capacity drills, speed sessions, agility progressions and coaching concepts into a system that I can access all of them more clearly.
I hope to make it as tidy as this garden shed.
