Athletic Development not Strength and Conditioning

Do we
really need strength and conditioning? Over the past several weeks I have seen
and heard different situations that make me question the viability of the
concept of strength and conditioning and underscore the need for athletic
development. I am a firm believer that words create images and images create
action. Strength and conditioning creates two images, heavy
lifting all the time and running until you puke conditioning; the subsequent
actions reinforce those images. It is difficult for me to understand why with
all the knowledge, experience and sports science research that we have
available that it is so difficult to move off this paradigm. Athletic
development is a complete polar opposite of the above. Athletic development
coaching builds better completely adaptable athletes. Athletic development
addresses all components of the individual athletes and a team’s development
based upon the needs of the sport, the position or the event and the qualities
of the individual athlete. At the risk of offending people it is easy to get
strong in the weight room and fit for a running test, but the real art and
science is to apply that strength to the sport and the fitness to the game.
Athletic Development demands a systematic long term plan with everyone on the
performance team involved in the process. Today S&C works in isolation. The
players go to the weight room, disappear for an hour or two and come out magically
stronger and conditioned. Who knows what they do there, does it connect with
what they are doing in their sport training, most of the situations I have seen
there is no connection, S&C is an end unto itself. Athletic Development is
all about mindful movements that connect to the sport. Why are you doing what
you are doing and when are you doing it? I get criticized that I do not believe
in lifting weights, or that I do not believe in Olympic lifting, that is totally
wrong. I believe in strength training as part of a bigger picture. Olympic
lifting MOVEMENTS are an integral
part of a good strength training program, but remember Olympic movements do not
have to done with an Olympic bar, it is the movement that matters and how it
helps the athlete apply the strength gained to the sport. Remember a good
strength training program should incorporate pulling, pushing, squatting and
rotational movements.

What about
conditioning? What about it? A good sound athletic development program
thoroughly analyzes the fitness needs of the sport and addresses those needs in
a systematic manner. It all about getting match, game or race fit. Mindless
running without a purpose does not mean you will be fit for the game. Game fit
is a cumulative process that incorporates all elements into building the
complete athlete. Arbitrary “fitness” tests that do not reflect the demands of the
game have no place in a good athletic development program. To use a test to
determine if someone is fit is an easy out. Most of the time the standards for
these tests are arbitrary at best, I recently saw a situation where a player
was one step from passing the “fitness” test; they did not pass so they had to
do extra fitness work. That is absurd. Use the testing to determine where each
athlete is and determine the workouts accordingly. Make conditioning specific
to the game and to the position within the game and to the individual’s
strengths and weaknesses.

So where
are we headed – I am afraid that we are heading down a one way dead end street.
We need to wake up and rethink the approach to all of this. None of this is an
end unto itself, it is all about preparing the athlete for optimum performance
in the competitive arena. I think sport coaches and administrators need to wake
up and reassess this field. More importantly those of us in the field need to
shift the paradigm to developing completely adaptable athletes who have the
ability to thrive in the competitive arena.