Jonathan Hewitt sent me the following
question in response to my post on Quantity or Quality. What do you
say to the coach that thinks if they train their team to play 5 quarters then
they will have no problem playing 4 quarters?
the mastodon mentality that buries the athletes. If the game is two hours then
you practice three hours – WRONG. What happens when you do that is that you
send a message – The message is that it is about enduring, surviving rather
than thriving. The athletes pace themselves and gear down the effort to make it
through the practice. It contradicts everything we know about motor learning. I
want to see high quality efforts, executed at game speed with precision. What
I see in long practices is mindless work, going through the motions and repetition of errors. Jack Blaterwick, Conditioning coach of five
different Olympic Ice hockey teams, including the 1980 Miracle team, has a
concept he calls “overspeed” by that he means the ability to practice at a
speed greater that you are currently able to play in the game. You start with
small periods of this and gradually increase this until the game slows down.
Gus Hiddink, the coach of South Korea in the 2003 World Cup and current coach
of Russia uses the same concept in soccer. Not really rocket science, it is
common sense. Eventually you should be able to execute technique while fatigued.
To do that you establish a sound technical model in the skill of the sport
(learn in non fatigued state). Build sound tactics on that. Add strategic
awareness. Then you play faster. It is a process. It requires patience and long
term development. It will and does work at every level.
2 Comments
jim richardson
Your comments echo the first three chapters of Brain Training for Runners. Initial small dosages of intensity greater than race/game pace, followed by a gradual increase until the athlete/team can maintain it for the duration of the contest. Simple concept, but in the world of “if a little is good, then more must be better, then morer must be betterer, etc.”, it is followed by few.
Looking forward to seeing you this week. I’ve got some fun things to think about again!
Paul LaDuke
You have wrapped up my philosophy that my athletes hear me say all the time “train fast, be fast”. Too many coaches can’t grasp the concept that slow, methodical repetitions in practice lead to slow reps in the game! It is a complete waste of time to drill with a fatigued athlete.