Author: Vernon Gambetta
Experience or Experiences
The older I get, the longer I teach and coach the more I value being around and learning from people who have had a multitude of experiences. One of my mentors, Joe Vigil summed it up quite nicely for me 25 years ago. He said that there are many people who have thirty years experience on their resume, but what they really have is one experience thirty times. I don’t know about you, but I want to be around someone who has had a multitude of experiences, success and failures, wins and losses. Those kinds of people are genuine; they are usually willing to share. Those are the people I want to learn from, not some cocksure know it all that has had one experience ten times with no failures or at least none they will admit to. If you are just starting out in your career as a coach look for someone who has fought the battles, who has had experiences, who has battle scars, find a Yoda, not a poser or an imposter that has all the secrets. Call them up, go visit them, watch them coach and you will see the way and the light so to speak. It is not about glitz and glamour, it is about being basic, honest, true to your beliefs, willing to risk and make mistakes and learn from them. I am so thankful for people like Bill Crow, Red Estes, Sam Adams, Marshall Clark, Joe Vigil and countless others who helped me and shared what they knew and did not know. I hope all of you who are in the formative stages of your career can find people like this to guide you and help you. Even if you are well into your career you always need people like this. I know, I depend on the advice and counsel of many to help me in my coaching and teaching. I look for people who have substance, who are open and willing to share, who have nor secrets, who are not seeking fame and fortune, to share and learn with. May the force be with you.
Mental Toughness, Motivation and Teaching
Last evening I was channel surfing and came upon a one-hour program on this year’s pre-season training of the Alabama football team. I usually don’t watch this stuff, but I heard “mental toughness’ so I decided to watch to see if I could learn what this was. I watched it and still am not sure what to think. I definitely did not learn what mental toughness was. It brought back some real bad memories of my college football days in the sixties. All Nick Saban, the head coach and the other coaches talked about was mental toughness. Over and over they preached it. Then there was the strength coach; all he did was scream, no instruction, just screaming of mindless platitudes vaguely related to mental toughness. This left me cold. I have done my share of screaming, but over the years I learned that when I controlled my voice that the athletes responded and listened and the more I was able to teach. If you scream all the time they will tune you out. I have watched Jim Radcliffe (University of Oregon) with his players, he does not have to scream, he commands respect with his presence, his persona, his knowledge and actions. But this mental toughness thing bugs me. What is it? Everyone talks about it, but I have still not found a good explanation of it and how to teach it. (I know I posted on this last year and got the same old worn out responses). Do mindless drills that elicit fatigue build it? Do punishment runs do I it? Do trite slogans on the back of t-shirts enhance it? I don't think so. I just don’t believe in it. I do however believe in mental discipline and athletic intelligence. Every great athlete that I have seen has those qualities. Mental discipline is having your head in the practice, training and the game. It is being completely engaged and mindful. You show up everyday with a plan and a goal to help you execute the plan. You don’t have to have someone screaming at you for motivation, because the leaders have set out the goals and means to achieve those goals. You just need to put your nose to the grindstone and go after it. Don’t get me wrong I am not some fluffy wimp who lets the athletes run the show. I believe that the coach is a teacher who must be firm and fair, must teach the athlete the qualities that make up mental disciple and praise the efforts to achieve it. That does not mean you need to be any less demanding, you just need to lead and teach. Leading and teaching will enhance mental disciple and increase athletic intelligence. Both of which will give the athlete a chance to excel in the competitive arena. That is all we can ask.
Training Basics – A Quick Review
First let me start by saying that I had an amazing conversation yesterday with Jim Steen, the swim coach at Kenyon College. Under Jim’s guidance the Kenyon men have won 31 straight Division III championships. For the first time in his career at Kenyon he will not be coaching the women so that he can focus on a smaller group. We were talking about how he starts each season; he starts each season with a clean slate; he starts out as if he knows nothing. Sure better to start there than to think you have it figured out and know everything. If there is a secret, this might be it. He got me thinking, we should do the same with training, start with a clean slate, and assume you know nothing, start with the basics, the three movement constants are the most basic place to start. They are 1) The Body 2) Gravity 3) The Ground. Every time you start with a new training program this is where you must start. Training is how these constants interact to achieve optimum results. Start with the body. This is what we are trying to improve. The body is a self-organizing organism that will respond to the stress placed upon in training. If the training is adequate, then it will respond positively, if it too easy there will be minimal adaptive response and if it is too hard it will shut down. Adaptation takes time and it is cumulative over time. Gravity is always there; we live in a gravitationally enriched environment. Gravity loads us. We are in a constant struggle with gravity. Strength training enhances our ability to work with and against gravity. Gravity will always win, we may be able to cheat it at certain times and in certain situations, but it will prevail. The ground is where we live, work and play. The ability to use the ground effectively to produce force is crucial to training adaptation in terms of force production, force reduction, speed and movement enhancement. I know this seems simple and it is, but it is not simplistic. It does not take much to mix and match the constants to the demands of the sport to end up with a complex program. Complexity is not the goal, it is a logical outcome of working on the three movement constants.
The Body is not a Machine
The mechanistic view of the body is passé. The body is not a machine, you can’t turn muscles on and off, and there are no switches to activate or deactivate muscles or for that matter energy systems. I struggle to understand what is going on when I hear statements like “the glute is not firing” or “I need to activate that muscle.” Statements like that demean the wisdom of the body; the body is so much smarter than that. Muscles do not turn on and off, they are always on, within one movemnt a muscle can perform many different functions depending on the requirements of the task, the movement problem that is being solved. Muscles do not work in isolation, they in work in synergy with other muscles to produce smooth efficient movement. When there is a problem with the movement it is usually a problem of coordination between muscle groups. I think the problem arises because of the way we are taught traditional anatomy that focuses on individual muscles and how they are innervated. It is a mentally convenient approach that does not reflect the realities of movement. We do not move and function in the anatomical position. The body is designed to solve movement problems, as coaches, teachers and therapists we need to present the body with increasingly complex problems to solve. Different individuals find different solutions to the same problem – that is OK. That is what makes the body special. If we all did everything the same we would be robots and all we would have to do would reprogram and replace parts. Frankly as a coach that does not appeal to me. I love the variability and the challenge of helping guide the athlete toward solutions to their movement problems. It is a constant challenge that resists a formulaic approach. I must use sound principles and apply them individually. I urge you to embrace the challenge.
Back to Reality
I just figured out I have been away from home on the road traveling 19 out of the last 21 days. (Not sure if I am getting too old for this or if it is making me old) Excluding the travel days, those are very draining and stressful, the trip to Trinidad, then California and ending in Colorado Springs was a great learning experience. I realized as I was Chilin yesterday how blessed I am to have the family I have, and the friends and professional colleagues that I can learn from. Over the next weeks I will post on my experiences, the things that I saw and observed and the people that I met. It is going to take me a few days, some long bike rides and swims to absorb it all. If anything became clear to me on the trip, it is that the field of Athletic Development is crying put for definition. I learned that personal trainers are not the answer; they are a big part of the problem. It was also reaffirmed time and again that everything old is new again. Talking to Bob Ward at the Dartfish Conference only underscored that. He was doing things thirty-five years ago in training that are considered cutting edge today. I implore all of you, no matter what your experience level, to explore where the ideas and methods have come from. Study the history of training (For that matter history – Training and sport do not exist independent of society), it will give you a context and above all you will not repeat the mistakes of others, you will learn from them and grow. Find someone with gray hair who has made a ton of mistakes and hang out with them, you will be surprised at what you will learn.
California – Here I am
Have seen so much, learned so much and I still have two days to go here before I head for Colorado Springs for the Dartfish users conference. Being around real coaches who quietly go about producing day in and day out has been very inspirational. I will write several longer and detailed posts on what I have seen, what I have I have learned and the people I have visited here when I get back to Sarasota. This morning I am going to the pool to see the prelims and watch warm-ups with the Carmel coaches. Lunch today with Larry Knuth, an old Fresno State Bulldog and great track coach, tomorrow to Santa Barbara for the day to see my brother and family. The only negative of California is the freeways, I have gotten used to the old people in Florida driving slow. Talk about reading the game and reactive agility, try driving out here. Someday I am going to find a way to get back out here to live. There has to be someone who needs a broken down old track coach that will work for retirement and health benefits.
Perspective and Perception
So interesting to see how two people can hear and see the same presentation, observe the same movement or read the same book and come to profoundly different conclusions. I guess it is this diversity that makes life and learning so interesting. If we all were the same and reached the same conclusions life would be very dull. I am convinced that it is why it is so important to read and associate with people that have different perspectives and perceptions. They may not make you comfortable, but they make you think and they make you better.
California Here I Come
Heading off to California until next Thursday and then to Colorado Springs for two days. It is going to be a whirlwind tour mixing business with pleasure. Fly into LAX today and drive to Irvine to meet with Stepf Moraski, Harvard women’s swim coach to evaluate last years dryland program and start working on this years program. Saturday head up to Carpenteria for the “The Know It All Clinic”, an informal gathering of some great track & field coaches, from the Santa Barbara & Ventura area. Looking forward to listening and learning from some great coaches at this one. Sunday morning in Long Beach, speaking at Perform Better Summit, probably will not endear myself with personal trainers and FMS disciples after this. Will be sharing some wisdom and a lot of mistakes. Sunday back to Irvine to meet with Carmel swim club coaches. Monday and Tuesday in Irvine, will catch up with Jim Richardson from University of Michigan and hopefully drum up some new consultations in swimming. While in Irvine looking forward to catching up with Steve Odgers, Larry Knuth and finally Bill Farrington at ASICS. Wednesday, north to paradise, Santa Barbara for the day to visit family and friends. (Honestly still trying to figure out why I ever left) Thursday and Friday in Colorado Springs for Dartfish Users Conference. Going to get my Dartfish channel up to snuff and make it the best. It will be a hectic trip but a ton of fun.