Author: Vernon Gambetta
Announcing 2009 GAIN Apprentorship
2009 GAIN Apprentorship Coaching athletic development from design to implementation June 19 to 24, 2009 – Ft Lauderdale, Florida The Apprentorship = Apprenticeship + Mentorship represents a combination of both in an educational journey that will continue throughout your career. You will interact with other professionals to share and problem-solve in an atmosphere designed for open interchange of ideas. It features a small teacher-to-student ratio, in a five-day residential coaching school, with follow-up throughout the year via the GAIN Network secure website. The GAIN Apprentorship represents an investment in your future. It is an ongoing program for the duration of your professional career serving as a source of new information, motivation and idea sharing with likeminded professionals. You will be able to participate in the GAIN Forum and be part of the GAIN Network for as long as you choose. We encourage you to come back each year. (You pay only for your room, meals & supplies – no charge for the seminar) In addition you will be able to attend and present at a quadrennial GAIN Network “meeting of the minds” seminar. The goal is simple, to create a community of thought leaders who will define the field of athletic development in the 21st century. This is a collaborative effort in an open learning environment where the knowledge and experience of the student is just as important as that of the instructors. The faculty is composed of professionals who have lived the experiences they are teaching. We go beyond exercises and words – We will challenge you and make you think. It will be a CAREER CHANGING experience. Go to Apprentorship at www.gambetta.com for more information or call 941-379-3455. Apply now, make an investment in your future that will pay dividends throughout your career, enrollment is limited.
Tiger Woods Amongus Syndrome
This syndrome was identified by ESPN The Magazine reporter Tom Farrey in his excellent overview of the youth sport scene called “Game On – The All-American Race To Make Champions Of Our Children.” The myth of identifying them early, specializing early in a sport, and starting to train them young as a key to future success is a myth. By doing this we are hurting kids physically and psychologically. We are certainly not identifying better athletes. I read somewhere that the odds against a child becoming a pro by the time they are 18 is about three million to one. So think about that, for every Freddy Adu, Lebron James or Tiger Woods there are literally millions out there who won’t and can’t make it. Take note of some of the conclusions from a USOC report, “The Path to Excellence,” a study done surveying US Olympians from 1984 through to 2000. Here are some cogent points from that report: Olympians were most often introduced to their sport through unstructured activities. Once enrolled in an organized sport, quality coaching was important to insure acquisition of sound technique. Clubs and community programs were primarily responsible for training these athletes. Physical education classes played a key role in developing fitness and in learning basic skills. It took the average Olympian three years to find success at the local level as a child. It took 12 to 13 years from starting the introduction to their sport before they made their first Olympic team. Many played multiple sports as teenagers, they did not specialize! It is a shame that the conclusions of these report, now at least eight years old, did not get the attention it deserves. It certainly debunks many of the myths that abound regarding early specialization. The concept that it takes ten years or ten thousand hours to achieve excellence in any discipline has received much attention. In November I had the opportunity to attend a seminar at the USOC where Dr Anders Ericsson, who came up that concept presented. After listening to him talk and asking him after his talk, I am convinced that the concept has been misapplied. It is NOT FORMAL instruction in sport; free play contributes to the ten years and ten thousand hours. The moral of the story is that it takes time, there are few prodigies. It is almost impossible to predict who will be the next Tiger Woods. Give the kids the gift of movement and the spontaneity and the joy of play. Give them increasingly complex movement problems to solve so that when they are teenagers if they choose to travel the path in pursuit of athletic excellence that they have all the tools.
Steve jobs Quote
We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and everyone should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.
True North
To stay on course and reach your destination a good working compass and a up to date map is necessary. The compass must be oriented to true north, if not and it is oriented to magnetic north then you will always be a few degrees off course because magnetic north is constantly shifting. In coaching true north is a sound training philosophy based on a blend of applied sport science and practical experience. Coaching philosophy is the anchor, the core of your belief system in regard to training and rehab. The map is your training plan to assess where you are in relation to your current destination. As a practitioner nothing annoys me more than to read an article or attend a presentation by an “expert” who espouses one thing one year and something else the next year. There is no question that we continually learn and modify our ideas but core beliefs in training should not change, core beliefs are the true north, only the map changes to fit the appropriate destination. There are no shades of gray, this is as clear as black and white. Have your beliefs, make sure they have substance and a sound scientific foundation, build your training program around them and don’t compromise. If you don’t do this you will be all over the map following the latest fads, chasing rainbows, and your results will be inconsistent.
Home
Great to be home after a hectic road trip that saw me go to Houston, Nashville, Richmond, Boston and Baton Rouge in an eleven day period. It was a bit of a flashback to the life I stopped leading in 2003, just an unusual set of circumstances, certainly not planned this way. This kind of schedule is something I work to avoid at all costs. Just wanted to explain why I have not been posting as frequently. I plan on picking up the pace of the posts again once I get settled in. Venice Baseball starts tomorrow, it will be fun to see all the work those players have done in the last six months now apply to the game. We are starting out second week of off-season volleyball with some new foundational leg work. The girls came in ready to go for it. This year they will not be denied the state championship. Spike Key women are really training great. They just finished the power endurance phase of their training with an emphasis on the “Squat Til You Drop” Routine, it kicked their butts – literally. This makes leg circuit look like a walk in the park! Now that I have turned 62 I am trying to step up my training a bit, primarily by being more consistent. I used think that 62 was old, but I sure don’t feel old. All in all 09 is starting out with a bang.
Long Term Athlete Development
This is essentially a summary of my presentation last Friday at the NSCA Sport Specific Conference in Nashville. I think there is some food for thought here. In my opinion now we are selling our kids short, we need to rethink the whole process. I hope this will get people thinking and more importantly acting in their communities. Problems & Concerns Chronological age dominates training and competition from ages 11 to 16 “Critical Periods” are not recognized by coaches Low training to competition ratio in early training ages An adult competition schedule is imposed on children Competitive calendar governed by tradition rather than growth and development and pedagogy Adult training programs are imposed on children Male programs are imposed on females Very little sport science, sports medicine input in youth training programs Costs & Results Training at the beginning level focuses on winning rather than the process Young developmental athletes over compete and under train Fundamental motor skills are under emphasized and ultimately limit sport skill Damage done at early developmental ages cannot be corrected Recommendations Reinstitute mandatory daily Physical Education in the schools – NOW – Make it physical and educational Stop trying to identify the athletically gifted and give them all the gift of athleticism Give the games back to the kids – Minimize adult and parental involvement More Play Days – Fewer Leagues and Tournaments Put play back into play Every kid will not win a scholarship or sign a pro contract – For every Freddy Adu & Lebron James there are thousands who are not playing anymore! Even if they make the professional level there is not a pot of gold there for everyone, the median income for all professional athletes in the US in 2004 was $48,000! Final Thoughts Participate in a variety of sports and activities Do NOT try to ‘hurry up’ the developmental process Do NOT specialize too early Were good life skills taught?
Non Verbal Communication
This picture of Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Manger of Chelsea during yesterdays match against Manchester United speaks volumes. It reminded about how important nonverbal communications, facial expressions and body language are in coaching.
You’ve come a long way
Last Thursday New York Times sports page had a feature article entitled – “Two Teams Made Tough, One Drill at a Time.”http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/sports/ncaafootball/08college.html?_r=1 It is an article about the two head football strength coaches for the teams playing for the BCS national Championship, University of Florida and University of Oklahoma. On several levels I thought this article was a major breakthrough. Reading it I could help help but to reflect back on all the fighting, meeting and convincing that needsed to be done to to arrive at this point. Twenty years ago there were still teams without strength and conditioning coaches. The article gives recognition to the role that strength and conditioning played in these two teams success. It served to underscore that the strength and conditioning coach is only as good as the support he or she receives from the head coach. In this case it was unqualified support. The salaries these two guys received is great, for one it was over $300,000 and the other over $200,000. That’s a long way from the $30,000 to $40,000 most people in the field are making. I hope the exposure they are getting raises the compensation standard across the field. One key point that I think many people may miss in reading the article is that the strength and conditioning coaching has more contact with the players throughout the year than any other coach, so the potential for influencing behavior and changing attitudes as wells the obvious physical component is huge. If the strength and conditioning coach knows his stuff and has the backing of the coach the contribution can be the difference.