Tag Archive: GAIN

1. “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.

2. Physical Literacy/ Athletic Development: Vern Gambetta

   26th September 2012 3:18 pm 3 Comments

   “Paper is 1 dimensional; humans live and breathe in 3 dimensions”.

   Vern Gambetta delivered the first lecture of GAIN V on the importance of Physical Literacy and how it underpins everything else we do.

   (I know I have reviewed this backwards,but it also acts as a summary of everything I learnt this year).

   Gambetta’s lecture emphasised the fact that the Human body is a self organising system that is capable of amazing things: our training should reflect that, not inhibit it.

   In the rush to use Sports Science, the most important element is the Human element. Hence the quote above.

   The workout starts with the Warm Up and this should include “Linking, synching and connecting movements”… or you could sit on a foam roller.

   The training must include Force Reduction and Proprioception, as well as Force Production.

   Putting Physical Literacy into practice.

   Gambetta expanded the Physical Literacy analogy by putting this sequence together:

   • Physical Literacy (your ABCs)
   • Physical Competence (A sentence)
   • Specific Sport Skill / Technique (A paragraph)
   • Sports Performance (A Novel)

   No one tries to write a novel before learning how to read, but are Coaches and Parents trying to get their kids and athletes to do things without the correct tools?

   “Sports reflect society”. Kids have less opportunity for informal play and experimentation. PE classes are sports classes, rather than physical education.

   We need “Mandatory DAILY physical education, taught by trained EDUCATORS.”

   Another problem is the lack of sleep that teenagers are getting. Constantly wired into their screen devices, or staying up late to catch up on studies, means they don’t get enough REM sleep for development.

   Kids are not miniature adults

   Too much training + too formal= not enough play

   Kids must be able to play. This leads to better all around development: Cognitively; physically and socially. (That doesn’t mean adult organised play based on mini versions of team sports).

   Kids grow upwards first, then outwards. So trying to change that sequence through loading and lifting is damaging.

   (Dave Ellis also made that point when showing different frames and sizes of NBA players).

   These areas are crucial for development and must be included in the overall training plan:

   • Rhythmic awareness (timing, use music).
   • Directional awareness (all directions, up down, left and right, forward/ backward).
   • Visual awareness (tracking, balls, people, objects, use balloons early on).
   • Spatial awareness (where you are in relation to other players. Lining up in formations helps this).
   • Tactile awareness (the ground, other people. Judo, wrestling help here).
   • Auditory awareness (footfalls, problem of loud music in the gym).
   • Body awareness (hand in relation to foot, hand to hand, hand to head, head to foot etc).
   • Temporal awareness (jumps, change of direction, catching).

   Locomotion is key to Athletic Development

   None of these qualities operate in isolation. Instead, they sequence and operate together. The gait cycle is fundamental in this.

   (I did talk to Vern about training blind athletes who have not had the opportunity to develop this gait cycle: it inhibits everything they are trying to learn and do later on).

   Movement is a series of dynamic postures. Working on static posture such as pilates is fine, but we must look to progress and sequence these postures.

   (Posture was mentioned in one form or another in every lecture).

   Vern then discusses Assymetry vs Symmetry in posture, saying that the body is assymetrical and we shouldn’t get too hung up on this.

   (I disagreed to some extent, working with developmental athletes we are continually trying to balance front/ back and left/ right. Especially with sports like cricket who do too much assymetrical work and the kids are getting injured).

   “Skill ’em not Drill ’em”

   Another common theme in GAIN, was the emphasis on creating skills through challenging environments and scenarios. This compares to endless drill practice, where the kids get good at drills, but with zero transfer to the sport (ladders anyone?).

   Vern also used the example of tyre flipping as part of Strongman training that encourages the use of slow movements. Much slower than the demands of the sport. (Subsequent discussions have agreed on a time and place for this type of training, but not to exclusion of other things).

   One of Vern’s mantras is to “Keep competence development one step ahead of skill development”. That means the athlete’s phsycial skills are developed before their technical skills.

   (I have seen kids being taught triple jump who can not stand on one leg, can not do a body weight squat with control and can not stick a 2 foot landing).

   In young kids, running actions are quite good. Giving the kids games and races that encourage them to run around are better than doing run drills. Changing surfaces, taking off shoes (sometimes), running up and down inclines all help.

   Lessons Learnt

   For those of you (if there are any) who have read this series of blogs, you may think have gone into too much detail. I haven’t: I have just scratched the surface.

   Here are some of the other thoughts gained from informal conversations at meal times.

   • Everything is everything (Tracy Fober quote) do not work in isolation.
   • Interdisciplinary conversations and meetings are essential.
   • Sharing ideas gets away from silo mentalities.
   • There is a continuum from child development to professional athlete. Nearly every coach or lecturer mentioned posture for example. What affects the PE teacher is also relevant to the physiotherapist, track coach, strength coach and football coach.
   • Coaching is essential, drilling is mindless.
   • Testing or random number gathering? Data and information is important, but it must be relevant and not get in the way of training.
   • Don’t move up a run distance until you can at least run a decent time over a shorter one. Do you run marathons or endure them? (Randy Ballard!)

   Thanks again to roomie Andy Stone for sharing his wrestling and PE ideas and being a good training partner.

   Thanks to Vern Gambetta and all the lecturers for their insights and sharing. They are all very approachable and they are all there to learn too.

   Thanks to all the attendees who also shared and imparted their wisdom and experiences. The whole environment was one of learning and sharing by consumate professionals.

   Most importantly I have had time to take an Operational Pause over the summer and reflect on my current practices and training programmes. By trying things out and applying them I am able to consider how they fit in.

   Further reading:

   What is Physical Literacy?

3. What has happened to P.E in this country?

   4th September 2012 9:16 am 5 Comments

   Progression, Variety, Precision

   These were the 3 cornerstones of Physical education and a gym culture where “you went to learn, not to train” according to Ed Thomas at GAIN V this year.

   Dr Thomas is a mine of information on the history of P.E. (I don’t mean a GCSE syllabus) and its educators.

   He is pictured here helping Andy Stone get to grips with inverted brachiation training (read more on this from Thomas here)

   “A perfect storm of ignorance” has led to sports replacing physical culture. If you look at our “PE” lessons you will see that they are really games lessons.

   Blame it on basketball

   Schools used to have gymnasiums filled with equipment that allowed participants to do a myriad of different exercises in large groups safely. They were taught in formations and shown how to teach each other.

   This led from the floor, to above the floor training using ropes, beams and bars. This is why pull up scores were so good in those days (In 1948 the Iowa high school fitness manual stated that in order to get an A grade, you had to be able to do 44 pull ups).

   Then, someone invented basketball and the schools had to remove all the kit and allow that to take place.

   This meant that the PE had to move into the playground, which depended on the weather, and so a decline took place.

   Look at the girls in the picture on the right, and compare that to the “fitness suites” that schools insist on using nowadays where girls completely disengage and listen to ipods on cross trainers!

   Methods, Materials and Motivators

   3 things the ancients had according to Thomas. I can’t really do justice to the depth and width of his knowledge, but the detail of the systems and structures that were in place hundreds and even thousands of years ago was enlightening.

   Some key points I learnt:

   • Systematic teaching methods and organisation of big groups helps learning
   • Posture in the workplace or school classroom needs addressing (I will cover this in more detail soon). It is the foundation of all sporting movements.
   • PE assumes greater importance every time a nation goes to war
   • The link between Restorative, Martial, and Pedagogical systems is key.
   • The link between Personal, Interpersonal and Transpersonal health is also key.

   Seeing him speak and spending time with him over the 5 days made me realise how poor and shoddy PE in this country is. We have gone backwards over the last 100 years, and especially over the last 30 years.

   That is why I am running a series of workshops and offer training courses for the PE teachers who do want to try and influence the next generation. Otherwise our whole country will suffer from a lack of knowledge and ability.

   This is the first in a series of blogs looking at some of the key concepts that were discussed and delivered at the Vern Gambetta GAIN conference in Houston I attended in June this year.

   Further Reading:

   • How to create an outstanding physical education programme
   • History of Gymnastics in British Schools
   • Doctrines of the great educators