Author: Vernon Gambetta
Walking on Eggshells – Creating Fragile Athletes
What I am seeing today is an ever-widening gap between how the athletes prepare for the game in contrast to the actual game demands. This gap is creating fragile athletes more prone to injury than ever before. Due to artificial restraints placed on training load imposed by a negative medical model that emphasis what the athlete can’t do as opposed to what they must do to prepare. In the attempt to “protect” the athlete we have severely restricted training load instead of systematically overloading the athlete to prepare for actual game demands. I was taught many years ago that one of the purposes of training was to make the game easy, in essence to slow it down by imposing stress in practice that was beyond what was imposed in the game. In other words, don’t try to duplicate game demands, distort them! We need to rethink our approach, because it is apparent the current approach of walking on eggshells in practice is not reducing injuries. We need to be informed by science, practice sound pedagogy and impose training loads that are realistic to develop robust, resilient athletes who thrive in competition. You will NEVER be able to perform above your level of training but that is what we are currently expecting out athletes to do week after week. There must be progressive overload that exceeds game demands in small doses. We can never forget you play the way you practice. Let’s recognize that being risk averse in unrealistic. To perform at the elite level demands playing on the edge.
Herb Elliott – Some Quotes & Thoughts
I don’t have many heroes in sport, but from the time I first saw this picture in Life magazine of Herb Elliott and his coach running the sand dunes at Portsea he became my hero. Here are some thoughts and quotes from a presentation he recently did in Australia. He is 82 years and sharp as a tack. He retired from running at age 22 and has never looked back. I think there are many lesson todays coaches and athletes can learn from Herb Elliott. “Turn yourself into a better human being through sport” He related that he ran to exhaustion 4 days a week, the other two days he just ran for the pure joy of running. As a note most of this time he was working an eight-hour day! He related a workout on a very windy day when his main competition in Australia, Merv Lincoln was also doing a workout at the same track, as it turned out it was almost the same workout. He observed that Lincoln chose to run with the wind while he ran into the wind. Herb said he knew could beat Lincoln after that day because he was ok with being uncomfortable. For all you complexifiers out there this is a gem:” Running is so bloody simple – you are born, you walk, then you run. Don’t make it complicated!”
The Learning Journey – Clinics, Symposia & Other Resources
From the time I committed to be a track & field coach in January of 1968 I started the learning journey. Last post I talked about the books that were learning resources that influenced me. In this post I will talk about the Clinics, symposiums and other resources that were influences in my development, particularly in the first twelve years. Theory of Track and Field class taught by Red Estes was the foundation for everything I have done since. We had to prepare a detailed notebook of each event. In addition, we had to show proficiency in each event so that we could demonstrate for our athletes. I continue to use the lessons learned in that class today. Good old-fashioned pedagogy never goes out of style. In January of 1968 Red Estes, organized the first Fresno State track & Field Clinic. Red was a University of Oregon graduate, so he was able to bring in Bill Bowerman, who was the iconic coach at U of O. The other speaker was Ken Shannon, who was the field event coach at UCLA. Both were great. Terrific presentations with great information. I have to say it was Bowerman who sealed the deal on me becoming a track coach. He was so inspirational and passionate I decided that night that I wanted to be a track coach. I have never looked back! Each subsequent year I would go back to the Fresno Sate Clinic each January. Later in the seventies I was honored to be asked to speak at it. In February of 1970 I attended my first MTSAC Clinic where I first heard Tom Tellez. The MTSAC clinic became an annual event for me, there was always a great lineup of speakers willing to share. 1972 Olympic Trials Clinic was held in the morning during the trails. The presenters were top coaches, it was my first exposure to coaches from other regions of the US, up to that time my main exposure had been to coaches from the west. AAU Learn by Doing Clinic in July 1972 organized by Fred Wilt. This was five-day 12 hour a day clinic attended by every coach who did anything in track in the US for the next thirty years. The evening session with Tadeusz Starzynski, Joseph Schmidt’s coach was a highlight for me. A terrific insight into a system not dependent of heavy weights.1976 Olympic Trials Clinic was another experience much like 72 Trials clinic. This time I my depth of knowledge was a little greater and I could ask better questions. Track Technique edited by Fred Wilt. Issues that I found particularly useful were: #33 Javelin Throwing Russian Style by V. Mazzalitis, detailing Janus Lusis training and #34 The high Jump by V.M. Dyahov detailing Brumels training. In 1978 I was honored to take over as Editor of Track Technique. Assuming that position gave me access to coaches and information worldwide that was amazing. Meadowbank Convention notes from an annual seminar held in Edinburgh every year. It was put on by Scottish Athletics and organized by Frank Dick. Eventually I was able to obtain most of the notes from each annual convention. I found these notes really informative because they had speakers from the eastern bloc countries that I would not normally have access to. In fact, there are presentations from those notes that I go back to periodically. Athletic Journal and Scholastic Coach were sent to our athletic department each month. Even though they were multisport journals they contained a wealth of information. There were tremendous sequence photos of technique in all sports that helped to understand athletic movement. Athletics Coach was the technical of British Amateur Athletic Board. Tremendous articles by top British and European coaches. The BAAB also put out a series of instructional manuals that were indispensable to me, particularly because they all included teaching progressions Modern Athlete and Coach published by the Australian Track Coaches Association. It was edited by Jess Jarver who was a native Russian speaker, so the translations published were very accurate. A great journal. USTCA Association Journal which consisted mainly reprinted clinic notes. Research Quarterly published by AAHPER. A good source for research articles in physical education. 8mm and Super 8 films sold my Ora McMurray were invaluable. There was no YouTube, so we depended on Ora and his network of contacts throughout the world for high quality film of the best in their respective events in action. In fact, with my first paycheck as a teacher I paid $495 for a Kodak M95 projector that allowed me to stop, start and reverse film so I could study technique films. In addition, there were sequence photos shot and developed by Phil Bath that came in rolls you could take them out to the track. They were of unbelievable high quality and invaluable for the athletes to see good technical models. The 1976 Olympics were a great learning experience for me. I tried to be first at the practice track in the morning and last to leave in the evening. What an education, getting to see the top athletes in the world with their coaches training and warming up for competition was invaluable in my development as a coach. Finally attending the 1978 Commonwealth Scientific Congress in Edmonton was an eye opener for me and to what science could potentially do. Top scientists and coaching presenting were not only informative but inspirational.
The Moon Landing – Where Were You?
In my lifetime there are events that stand out in my mind where I can tell you exactly where I was and who I was with. Third period religion class my senior year in high school when Kennedy was assassinated. In a barber chair the morning of 9/11. The night of the moon landing in 1969 I was in the Yankee Clipper bar on upper state street in Santa Barbara with three of my friends. We chose to watch there because it was one of our hangouts and they had a TV, a rarity in bars in those days before 24-hour cable news and ESPN. The TV was located next to large aquarium full of small fish and a very large, very ugly frog that we always refer when we recollect that night at the Yankee Clipper. Next to the aquarium was a small stage where there was a girl singer who could really sing, in fact her singing got better with more drinks. If you can imagine it was here that we watched one small step for man. It hardly seems like fifty years ago. The anniversary of the moon landing brings back a flood of memories of that summer. It was the summer before I stared teaching. I worked as a ranger for the Santa Barbara County park department. I had some money for the first time in my life. That July I went to the USSR/USA Dual Meet in the LA Coliseum. I got to see Janis Lusis , Bob Beamon, and Victor Sanyev up close. The only worry I had was the draft, but I had an occupational deferment as a teacher. As a I look back it was time of great change with many portents of things to come, but that magic night at the Yankee Clipper will forever be imprinted on my mind.
My Learning Journey – The Coaching Classics
I am going to share my learning journey to help coaches both young and inexperienced as well as older more experienced coaches to streamline their learning process and hopefully not make some of the mistakes and missteps that I have made. My goal was simple: to know more than anyone I coached against, I figured the more and faster I learned the more edge my athletes would have in competition. For me it was and is a point of pride. Today in my role as a mentor coach I advise the coaches I work with to know history to know where ideas have come from how they have evolved, how some have changed and other have stood the test of time. The soundest advice that received when I started coaching was if in doubt go back to basics and review the fundamentals. Here is a reading list of works that I think every educated coach should read. It reflects what was done by pioneers in coaching and sport science. The following are recommendations of readings that influenced me. They are go to resources, some of which I review periodically to keep me grounded in fundamentals. (Those that review on a regular basis are in all bold) Next post I will go over the other resources that influenced me on my learning journey Scientific Principles of Coaching by John Bunn Track & Field Omnibook (Fourth Edition) by Ken Doherty Modern Track & Field by Ken Doherty Modern Training for Running by Ken Doherty The Inner Athlete by Bob Nidefer The Science of Swimming by James E. Counsilman The Mechanics of Athletics by Geoffrey Dyson Better Athletes Trough Weight Training by Bob Hoffman Hidden causes of injury, prevention, and correction for running athletes by John Jesse Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia by John Jesse Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation: Patterns and Techniques by Dorothy Knotts and Margaret Voss Scientific Principles and Methods of Strength Fitness. By Patrick O’Shea Total Body Training by Richard H. Dominguez and Robert Gajda Kinesiology by Gene Logan and Wayne C. McKinney Skill in Sport by Barbara Knapp Acquiring Ball Skill – A Psychological Interpretation by H.T.A. Whiting The Thinking Body by Mabel Todd Run Run Run by Fred Wilt Run to the Top by Arthur Lydiard Franz Stampfl on Running by Franz Stampfl Track and Field Dynamics by Tom Ecker Biomechanics of Athletic Movement by Gerhard Hochmuth Sports Physiology by Edward L. Fox Interval Training – Conditioning for Sports and General Fitness by Edward L. Fox and Donald K. Mathews Biomechanics and Energetics of Muscular Exercise by Rodolfo Margaria Biomechanics of Sports Techniques by Jim Hay Introduction to Biomechanic analysis of sport by John W. Northrip, Gene A. Logan and Wayne C. McKinney Principles of Sports Training – Introduction to the Theory and methods of Training by Dietrich Harre Fundamental of Sports Training by L. Matveyev Sports Training Principles by Frank Dick Training Theory by Frank Dick Track and Field – Textbook for Coaches and Sports Teachers Edited by Gerhardt Schmolinsky International Track and field Coaching Encyclopedia by Fred Wilt and Tom Ecker The Hurdlers Bible by Wilbur Ross Mechanics of the Pole Vault by R.V. Ganslen The Triple Jump Encyclopedia by Ernie Bullard and Larry Knuth Tendinitis: it’s Etiology and Treatment by Sandra Curwin and William D. Stanish Weight Training In Athletics by Jim Murray and Peter V. Karpovich Weight Training in Athletics and Physical Education by Gene Hooks Circuit Training by Manfred Scholich Circuit Training by R. E. Adamson and G.T. Morgan The System of Physical Education in the USSR Edited by G. I Kukushkin The Soviet Road to Olympus – Theory And Practice Of Soviet Physical Culture And Sport by N. Norman Shneidman 1000 Exercises d’ Athletisme by Kurt Murer and Walter Bucher The Pursuit of Sporting Excellence – A Study of Sport’s Highest Achievers by David Henry
LTAD is Becoming Cliché
Let’s look at where we have been over the past seventy years. What has changed? Society has changed immensely; youth sport has become commercialized. There is no longer mandatory physical education in the schools. Then and now child development does not follow a neat linear progression, so-called windows of opportunity for development of various physical is a myth, sport development is all over the place, youth phenoms rarely turn out to be senior champions. We need to stop following recycled eastern European so called LTAD models. They were developed for a different society in a different era. We need to put a concerted effort to get mandatory daily physical education back in the schools, not just for sport development but for general health. Physical education will provide the physical literacy and movement skills base that are foundations for specific sport skills. Let’s stop following the flock, think critically and recognize the current socio-cultural milieu in America and come up with a workable framework that fits our society and current reality. We can do it!
The Hamstring Paradox
This is from the 2018 AFL Injury Report produced in collaboration with AFL Doctors Association, AFL Physiotherapists Association, and AFL Football Operations Department. “Hamstring strains remain the most common injury, with an incidence of 6.3 new injuries per club and are the most common cause of matches missed (25.2 matches missed per club), with a recurrence rate of 20%. These are the highest rates we have seen for a number of years.” This is in the hamstring paradox: we have more research, more data, and more experience. Yet we continue to injure hamstrings at high and higher rates. Ever since my first trip to Australia in 1996 I have followed the AFL. The sport is one of the most demanding in the world. I thought their approach was systematic and progressive, so it appealed to me. They were the first league in the world to embrace sports science and came to be looked upon as the global model. They were the first league to allow in-game GPS monitors. In short, they are very progressive except one area: hamstring injury prevention. On a visit to OZ in 1999 some of my Australian colleagues and I started brainstorming on this because hamstring injuries have always been a problem. We offered solutions which eventually were published a couple of years later in an article that Dean Benton and I co-authored. You can read that here. There are some changes I would make today in exercise selection which I will go over either on a podcast or another post. The only result of that article was abuse I received for listing Nordic Hamstring Curl as a contraindicated exercise. But nearly 20 years later I stand by that. Why? Just look at the statistics. No one does more NHC and measures the movement more than AFL teams. So why the continued increase in hamstring injuries? I would suggest they need to rethink their approach; injury avoidance is not a good strategy. They need to look at teams and systems that do not have hamstring injuries and see what they are doing and what they are not doing. If they keep doing the same thing, the problem will only continue to grow more.
Stop and Think
Before you blindly copy and use an exercise you see on YouTube, take a deep breath, pause and think. Ask yourself what is this exercise or drill intended to do? Is it better than something I am currently doing? Why? If it is a strength exercise is it isolating a muscle or coordinating movement? At the end of the day there is no limit to the number of exercises available, but will the exercise make your athlete better or just make them tired. It has taken me a long time to learn to hunt with a rifle instead of a shotgun. Be on point, think sport and movement appropriate, understand muscle function and learn what works in your system for your athletes.