Get out of
the weight room and get out and watch practice, better yet participate in
practice as coach. I can’t believe how many “strength coaches” hang out the
weight room waiting for practice to end so they can do their job. Then they have
the players go through a weight workout that has no relationship to what just
happened on the field or the court. This is the beginning of a huge disconnect.
How can you do that? You can see the practice plan, but if you do not see the
practice you do not know how the players handled that practice. You have to
connect the two; the later must complement and enhance the former. Break down
those four walls become a coach not a weight room supervisor. The weight room is not the center of the universe, that is not where they play the game.
5 Comments
phillip bazzini
Great post Coach. In our tennis facility, I always learn something new standing next to the tennis coaches and hearing them critique the players. It’s a great way to develope a better eye for movement quality, especially sport specific movement. The most helpful way I have found is to listen and watch when the coaches are using Dartfish with the athletes.
Your post serves as a great motivator to do it more often.
Thankfully, our coaches encourge the strength staff to just stand there on the court and watch.
Wasn’t it Yogi who said “you can learn a lot by watching.”
sul
As an athlete looking in it seems like this weight room/strength coach body is a sacred ground with a coded language of signs, symbols and gestures. Educating the multi-dimensional athlete on these signs, symbols and gestures will give the athlete strength, educate the multi-dimensional athlete on the body will give them power.
Rich Mowrer PTA, CSCS
AMEN!! as a strength coach I can often learn a ton just talking to the coaches finding out about their players weaknessess during play (not just @ the functional assessment), I learn things nuances about the sport that I may not know. I’m sure there are a lot of “strength guys (girls) who have played all the sports out there (sarcasm). My point is I may not have ever played Lacrosse but I understand movement and it’s implcations toward sport! Without the coaches input, watching tape of sport novice and pro. I’m left trying to figure it out, I don’t have the ego or the time to learn each sport!
Rich Mowrer PTA, CSCS
Drayer Physical Therapy Instutuite (Hershey PA)
rebecca
I love this post, we actually have a S&C that just post the same workout for every athlete and really usually is not present during all weight training sessions for critique or guidance, talk about disconnect! I think as an ATC that is was makes our job easy, we are at practice and can then relate therapy and other training to the functional things that will help them perform.
St.Patrick's
If you don’t know the sport, how can you know to train them.