Author: Vernon Gambetta
Experience
Experience(s) are important. I emphasize the plural. In my professional career that spans fifty years I have had too many people who claim thirty or forty years of experience when in reality they have had one experience thirty or forty times. To me accruing experiences is about growth and learning with credibility established through demonstration of a high standard of performance sustained over time. It is understanding within this high standard or performance both success and failure are learning opportunities. Gaining experience means taking risks, getting outside of your comfort zone, your area of specialization and expertise to see your world with different eyes. You learn from people, places, situations, books, movies, art – anything that can challenge your thinking. I have learned on this journey that no one has all the answers and that those who have the best questions are the most successful. I know as a young coach when I thought I had all the answers my athletes were not growing and reaching their potential. Fortunately, through mentors and role models and above athletes I was able to grow and understand that no one has all the answers. Continual learning and challenging yourself are essential steps in gaining experiences that will make you and the athlete better.
Big Picture
Never ever lose sight of the big picture. It is easy to get bogged down in small meaningless details and minutiae and lose sight of the ultimate objective. This is particularly the case in this age of uber specialization. Instead look for connections, step back and take a look at the rhythm, tempo and flow of the movement. It is not about individual muscles or small parts of a movement, it is about how everything links, syncs and connects in a coordinated manner to produce smooth flowing movement. Respect the wisdom of the body and put it in position to make the required shapes and change those shapes as needed. Movement is a symphony and you the coach are the conductor.
Step by Step
Adaptation to various training stimuli take time. You can’t force adaptation to happen faster than the athlete’s current level of trainability and physical capacity. You must be willing to go step by step. Sometimes it is small baby steps forward, sometimes there are steps back and sometimes there are giant leaps forward. Have a system that defines the process, then trust the process and take it step by step.
The Art of Coaching
We must recognize that coaching is a creative process. What differentiates a good from a great coach is the ability to see the same athlete, the same skill, the same movement and see what others cannot or have not seen yet. Coaching is constant iteration, prototyping, tinkering to get it right for the athlete. The coaching process is not a reductionist paint by numbers algorithm. A creative coaching process recognizes that the body is smart and as coaches we tap into the wisdom of the body to help the athlete get better. Have a basic technical model and a defined system of training and then fit and adapt that model to the athlete. Too often we try to fit the athlete to the model and the system, more often than it results in the athlete not reaching their potential. As coaches we learn to see the shapes the athletes needs to make and then reconcile the shapes they can make. That requires a careful blend of art and science. The coach must know the science but that must never be a constraint. A good coaching eye informed by science but not limited to science will make the athlete significantly better.
More or Less?
Does it have to be a binary choice – that in training you have to do more or do less to stimulate adaptation? Ultimately the goal is to get progressively better. I find it interesting that the default usually seems to be how much more needs to be done? I seldom see the option of doing it better. In my experience, more often it is about better. Instead of a search for more and defaulting to volume as a stimulus for adaptation, I implore you to think about what can be done better. Emphasize quality and recognize that quality is a measure of perfect. Look carefully at your training programs and look for the areas that can be done better. If you are training for 90 minutes are your athletes getting 90 minutes better or are, they just getting tired? I think you find that less is more.
Chet Diemidio – A Great Coach
I received word on Saturday that Chet Diemidio, a great friend and coach had passed way. Fortunately, I was able to speak to him last Wednesday. I called him from Zurich Switzerland because I got word, he did not have many days left. His last words to me were “I love you.” Chet was an amazing man. He started coaching with the White Sox the same year I did in 1987 after a career as a Philadelphia policeman. He continued to coach up to four years ago when he was well into his eighties. Chet would get the complex between 4:30 and 5:00 am every morning to workout. He had a strict routine that he followed accompanied by the songs of Frank Sinatra played on a cassette tape recorder. He was a great coach and I do not use the term great frequently. He was knowledgeable about the sport of baseball, schooled and grounded in fundamentals. Just like any great coach he was a great communicator, patient and selfless. He would work one on one with a player to get them better no matter if they were a first-round draft pick or fiftieth. His signature became the baby carrots he had in a small plastic bag in back pocket that he would give to the players, along with a handy pat on the back. He was a big supporter of the conditioning program at a time when what we did was out of the norm in baseball. I loved being around Chet. He was always so positive and uplifting. I never heard him raise his voice or speak ill of anyone. After I left the White Sox, I would visit him at various times in Philly, that was always the highlight of my trips to the northeast. He influenced many generations of young White Sox players. Only a small number of whom made it to the big leagues, but Chet helped them all become big league people. Chet, we miss you already. The world is a better place because of you, and I am eternally grateful for your friendship and that smile to start our days with the White Sox. Chet, I love you – RIP
Where did all this come from?
I was inspired by two events to write this post 1) Preparing a presentation on the evolution of the Gambetta Method- GAIN System. 2) Watching the Ken Burn documentary series on Country Music https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/country-music/ that over eight episodes spanning sixteen hours attempted to define the genre of country music. Well, just like country music which defies boundaries and crosses a myriad of genres so does the GAIN system. Country music draws from mountain music, blue grass, folk, gospel, R&B, rock, rockabilly, and jazz – mixing, matching, blending rhythms and tempos, and phrasing into a genre all its own. A genre that defies boundaries, pushes the envelope and ends up with unique sounds that continue to evolve. Like country music the GAIN system is an eclectic mix that crosses disciples and mixes methods. It goes outside of sport for inspiration and concepts. It many ways it defies convenient labels. I have always chosen to cast a wide net in the search for knowledge. I have learned that the best ideas come at the boundaries where various disciplines and schools of thought converge. I have drawn from weightlifting, power lifting body building, gymnastics and wresting to better understand how to develop applied strength. I have explored and adapted a range of concepts and methods from rehab including stroke rehab and classical PNF. I have looked at many disciplines of dance – ballet, modern dance, jazz dance, and hip hop to better understand rhythm, tempo, body control and spatial awareness. I have looked at martial arts and combat sports to understand the dimensions of the body. I have looked at speed in all forms of human locomotion, on land, in the water and on the bike. I have looked at endurance from the extremes of human survival to the formal systems of Bowerman, Councilman, Igloi, and Stampfl. To better understand how to get better and make more effective application of practice and training I have studied performance psychology, cognitive neuroscience, motor control and skill acquisition. The result is a dynamic progressive system whose primary goal is to develop robust, resilient athletes who can thrive in the competitive arena. The system is based on foundational principles derived from my studies and research, grounded in pedagogy, informed by science and proven and tested in the competitive arena. It is still evolving after fifty years as I continue to accrue experiences, broaden my research into other fields, make mistakes and learn from them. I will leave no stone unturned in the search for ideas and methodologies that help refine and the system and improve my teaching. That like country music that defies definition and resists labels the Gambetta Method – GAIN system will continue to push the envelope of performance and continue to evolve to address the ever changing reality of sport performance.
What is Functional Training?
Functional Training is training that incorporates a full spectrum of training methods, designed to elicit optimum adaptive response appropriate for the sport or activity being trained for. No one system is emphasized to the exclusion of another No one method or physical quality becomes an end unto itself Each athlete is a case study of one. In essence it is what good coaches have done for years, very basic, not about toys, all about refining movement.