Author: Vernon Gambetta
More to it than meets the eye?
In the nine years I have been writing this blog I have written many times about the role of warm-up. Despite that I continue to be amazed at the lack of understanding about this crucial part of the training process. There is so much more to this than meets the eye on first glance. Last week I had a phone call from a colleague (One of the best in sport – he has worked with some of the most high profile teams & individuals of our generation). His pre- soccer training warm-up was evaluated by a representative of a national federation (Best unnamed, it could be one of many) and it was rated poor and ineffective because it did NOT include the soccer ball! I almost dropped the phone – how ridiculous. The purpose was to warm-up for soccer, not to play soccer to warm-up, a subtle but very important distinction. This just underscores a huge problem in soccer (and a myriad of other sports). Soccer is plagued by injuries at all levels of play and varying degrees of severity. The trend is to do more with the ball including warm-up, the theory is that more touches will produce better players faster. Injuries have increased there is an epidemic of niggling groin, hamstring and calve strains that result in missed practices and matches. The solution is really quite simple and it what my colleague was given a poor evaluation for – Warm-up to play don’t play to warm-up! 10 to 15 minutes of an active warm-up that emphasizes all planes of motion in multiple directions based on fundamental movements on their feet (no rolling around on the ground) gradually building in intensity will get the job done. Then and only then introduce the ball. The result will be quality ball touches and a reduction of injuries. In some ways it is just too easy because it is common sense. The clear message is: warm-up to play do not play to warm-up. Other sports take heed this is not just a soccer phenomenon.
STOP – Don’t Just Do it!
One of the biggest enemies of excellence is just doing do it. Just doing it is in most cases is good, but there is a big difference between good and great. So much of training consists of mundane tasks that must be repeated to achieve excellence; it is very tempting to just do it to get the stuff that makes a difference. I maintain that it is the mundane tasks, the details, the basics; the fundamentals that when repeated with quality will provide the big pay off. It is things like paying attention to detail in warm-up, to finishing off each run or swim the way you would finish a race that will be the difference makers in the pressure of the Olympic Final or when the game is on the line. As coaches we cannot afford to let our athletes just do it. We have demand quality in everything the athlete does. We have to set a standard and level of expectation where excellence is a habit. Nothing in high performance sport is routine or mundane, every movement counts so practice the way you will compete – with quality. Remember you are what you train to be.
What does it take to develop athletes?
In researching for my new book and several other projects I am working on I keep coming back to what it takes to develop athletes? There is certainly not one formula or one clearly defined model. If anything it is an involved and complex process. What keeps jumping out at me is that it is not facilities and equipment. It is not sport science. It is human resources in terms of the raw material of athletes with some degree of talent/ability and the spark to ignite the fire – coaching. That coaching may not be particularly sophisticated, but it must be effective in terms of building the foundations of basics – basic movements, basic technique and basic conditioning. Once the fire is burning then it is a matter of providing varying degrees of support and direction to keep fanning the flames. To keep fanning the flames of excellence the coach must continue to grow their competencies along with the athlete. However you look at it, the coach is at the center of athlete development process. It is the coach who has the eye for talent identification; it is the coach who nurtures that talent when no one else sees what he sees. We must remember this and keep the coach at the forefront. In today’s high tech world it is easy to marginalize the coach in favor of sports science and sports medicine. Developing athletes is a high touch process made up of intricate human connections that are best directed by the coach and supported by sport science and sports medicine.
Risk:Return
Without risk there is no return. Certainly no truer words have been spoken. As coaches in preparing our athletes for competition one of our big jobs is to manage risk. Each training session contains an element of risk and to optimize the training benefit the risk must be calculated. In order to achieve adaption we must push the envelope of function, therefore higher risk. The question is how hard and how often? Obviously it is highly individual, sport and event specific. There is no way to have the athletes on the edge all the time. Something will eventually breakdown. As I have mentioned many times in this blog Bill Bowerman was a huge influence on my coaching. His mantra was a very strict adherence to a hard day of training followed by an easy day. Without sophisticated monitoring technology he was able to achieve great success following this principle. His simple hard easy sequence was his method of managing risk. We know that training is cumulative. Every workout does not have to be at the edge of the envelope of function. The key is to stay healthy and allow the training effects to accumulate. Find out how much and how often you can push it to expand the adaptive horizon, but be sure to balance that with adequate easier work that allows time to adapt.
Late to the Party
One of my former assistants with the White Sox sent me an email yesterday that gave me a good chuckle. He was told that one organization in Major League Baseball was doing something really innovative, they had stopped icing their pitchers arms. Welcome to the party – We stopped icing after pitching with the White Sox Minor League system in the 1988 season! Instead of icing which was a complete “shut down” we instituted an extensive cooldown routine. The problem with baseball is that it is a sport that is bound by tradition, because Sandy Koufax iced his arthritic elbow and he pitched well, then everyone began to copy it without asking questions. Monkey see, monkey do. Always ask why? There was and is no science to validate icing a healthy shoulder after pitching – that is the bottom line.
Thoughts on Professional Development
Professional development is an ongoing process of continual self improvement. Here are some thoughts and ideas that might help you in your journey of professional growth: Start with a passion for what you. For me that is the fuel that drives learning Have a detailed learning plan. Develop a personal network of peers that you can exchange ideas with and who will challenge your ideas. Read voraciously – Read the classics, read current research and read coaching literature also read outside of coaching. Go outside coaching to learn. I have picked up some great ideas on planning and debriefing from some management books. Research and analyze. Keep copious records of training plans and results. Observe – Watch others and see what they are doing. Ask why? Ask how? Practice – Try new training methods yourself before you use them with your athletes. Prototype continually. In the words of management expert Tom Peters fail forward. Recognize that mistakes and missteps are learning opportunities. Become part of the GAIN Professional Development Network – Come to GAIN, join now http://www.thegainnetwork.com/joingain/
Marginal Gains – The Challenge
Seeking marginal gains is the buzzword of late. Looking for marginal gains is all fine and well, but there are no marginal gains if you have not taken care of the basics. You can search low and high for that last 2% that will put you on top of the podium but if you have not taken care of the first 98% the last 2% will never come.Know the basics and never stray far from them and you will be surprised how the marginal gains will accrue.
Talk is Cheap
It is so easy to talk about excellence, winning, commitment and leadership but what actions are you actually taking to achieve those things? What is you specific action plan? Who is going to help and guide you? What changes do you need to make to be the best you can be? What are you willing to sacrifice? Stop talking about it and do something now. The path to excellence is paved with good intentions – turn the intentions into action now!