Tim wrote to
me in response to yesterdays post: “Vern do you subscribe to the theory that you coach all
athletes the same. I recently attended a one day learning seminar with some
highly sought after coaches and they were preaching, it doesn't matter if you
have a soccer athlete, baseball, hockey and a football athlete all in the same
group you just train them, a push is a push a pull is a pull a jump is a
jump…” I absolutely and positively
disagree. That might work when you are running a commercial training center and you
have to put a bunch of different athletes together to make it profitable, but
that is not coaching, that is CROWD
CONTROL. Each sport has unique demands, each position in the sport has
specific demands, each individual brings something different to the sport and
you also need to address injury prevention. In strength training I do pulling movements,
pushing movements, squatting movements and rotational movements with every
sport. The mode and method varies from sport to sport and individual. For
example now with my volleyball team we have 12 players starting to squat with a bar
(Well into the third year of training), but they are not all going the same
depth. Four athletes are using the Hexlite Bar for their leg work, because I do
not want to load their spine. Some of the freshmen are using sandbags and some
are using bodyweight. Yes it is confusing, but to me that is coaching. It is
not confusing to them, because each day the goal and objective is communicated
to each athlete verbally and in writing. It would be too easy to fit everyone
into the same box and let the survivors prevail. I want all the athletes I work with
to get the best from me and to thrive not survive.
3 Comments
Ken Vick
Vern, I agree in general, but there is some consideration for age and development level.
I run 3 commercial training centers and have visited many, so I can say I have seen time and again the situation you are referring to. There are many places that do run cookie cutter programs and make no differentiation. I hate to see it.
However, there is something to be said for young athletes developing general athleticism. This can also be true if they are a bit older, but are getting there first exposure to training outside of just practicing their sport. In those cases, I think it can be appropriate to teach a push is a push and a jump is a jump so to speak.
Now as they have some basic training and/or progress in age/training age, it should differentiate. Just as you gave the example, I expect our coaches to coach. That means they may have a group of athletes with different needs, but can address them in the same movement category with different exercises.
End of the day, the question is are you coaching or just giving exercises.
Paul Davis
What exactly IS ‘general athleticsm”? That phrase gets tossed around very loosely IMO, without much thought to what it means. What I interpret Vern to be saying (correct me f wrong!)is that ALL training is essentially movement training. Every athlete can perform the movements demanded within sport contexts – because essentially they are human movements that are being executed in the act of playing a game. So, every athlete any of us work with in any capacity can move; they all vary in their ability to execute the movement with speed, efficiency, grace, power, etc. Therefore, it seems to me that it is imperative to make a proper assessment of where they are at and design a training regimen for them, no matter the age, skill level, or physical capacity. And Vern, it really isn’t that confusing, just a matter of communicating with each athlete!
Mark Day
I certainly appreciate providing individual attention to an athlete. I do not think it is required in all cases though to provide a quality service to the athlete/team. This will be my 4th summer of doing a 7 week long performance camp. I started small and it is growing. In the past I have been able to do a fairly good job of having athletes of fairly equal goals and ability in the same group. It is going to be impossible to do that this year. The goal though is to expose them to different training concepts and get them more fit from a general level (lack of a better term). It is amazing what we can do using the leg circuit and medball and JC band stuff in a park. I may have 25 in a group this year with some college guys and ranging to high school girls wanting to play in college. They learn what tri-planar is. They learn they do not need walls for a weight room. They learn from doing and watching others doing. I often also print out posts from on here for them to read. I do not charge much and I try to educate them on what else they need to be doing to reach their goals. Each week I also try to have a special theme whether it be jumping/ lateral movement or running a faster 40. This type of work can not be all bad as there is an ad on this site promoting a cart with equipment that can handle 60 people in an hour (smile!) Best of all they learn who Vern Gambetta is.