Author: Vernon Gambetta
Coaching Classics
Every year I post this because there are many new readers to the blog and followers on Twitter @coachgambetta and friends on Facebook http://tinyurl.com/lezv8tr and Google Plus who have not seen it. These are classic works that I think every coach should read. They span a range of areas from scientific and technical to sport sociology. Just as with any classic they are timeless. They are rich with knowledge. There are many works in this list that I go back and review each year, they never get old. Challenge yourself and see how many of these you can read in the year if you do you be a more knowledgeable coach for doing it. The Inner Athlete by Bob Nidefer Problem Athletes and How to Handle Them by Tom Tutko and Bruce Ogilvie Psychology and the Superior Athlete by Miroslav Vanek and Bryant J. Cratty Scientific Principles of Coaching by John Bunn What Research Tells The Coach About Sprinting by George Dintiman Track & Field Omnibook by Ken Doherty Modern Track & Field by Ken Doherty Modern Training for Running by Ken Doherty 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 How They Train by Fred Wilt Mechanics Without Tears by Fred Wilt No Bugles, No Drums by Peter Snell The Unforgiving Minute by Ron Clarke with Alan Trengove Run to the Top by Arthur Lydiard Franz Stampfl on Running by Franz Stampfl The Jim Ryun Story by Cordner Nelson Another Hurdle by Dave Hemry Run To Daylight by Vince Lombardi and W.C. Heinz Track and Field Dynamics by Tom Ecker Championship Track and Filed 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 Speed – Hurdles, Sprints and relays by John Le Masurier Track and Field – Textbook for Coaches and Sports Teachers Edited by Gerhardt Schmolinsky Olympic Track And Field Techniques by Tom Ecker, Fred Wilt, and Jim Hay International Track and field Coaching Encyclopedia by Feed Wilt and Tom Ecker Track in Theory and Technique Edited by Thomas P. Rosandich 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 The Sweet Spot in Time by John Jerome 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 Miracle Machine by Doug Gilbert 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 Winning Volleyball – Fundamentals, Tactics and Strategy by Allen E. Scates The Pursuit of Sporting Excellence – A Study of Sport’s Highest Achievers by David Henry The Athletic Revolution by Jack Scott Meat on the Hoof – The Hidden World of Texas Football by Gary Shaw Out of Their League by Dave Meggyesy
Beyond the Numbers
In today’s world of high performance sport we have the potential to bury ourselves in numbers. There is not much we can’t analyze, measure or monitor. In many ways this is a positive step forward and it some ways it can be negative. The key is keeping the numbers in context. If you are letting the numbers dictate everything you do and don’t do then it is time to reconsider. This is where I weigh in on the human element in coaching. We coach people who do the sport not machines, there is a huge about of individual variability to the same training and competition stress not to mention the emotional and psychological factors that weigh in. Talk to your athletes; closely observe their body language when they come to training and during warm-up. Find out about the rest of their lives, remember they are athletes only two to four hours a day the other hours of the day can and do have more of an impact than the training – the twenty four hour athlete. In short sharpen your observation and communication skills. It will add a dimension to the numbers, sometimes it will validate the numbers and other times it will dictate throwing out the numbers and following your coaching instincts. I cannot help but think how we did it before we had the ability to gather the numbers we have today. After all in high performance sport the only number that counts at the end of the competition are those numbers on the scoreboard.
What’s Behind the Medals
The bottom line is that for a long time our “non-system” has served us quite well. What has happened? The first thing that changed was the erosion of mandatory physical education to the point where today there is only one state that has mandatory physical education K – 12. The most obvious impact is that youngsters are no longer exposed to systematic physical activity. They are no longer taught basic movement or sport skills as part of an organized curriculum. What we failed to notice is that because physical education was no longer mandatory that less physical education teachers were being hired. The physical education teacher made up the pool of trained coaches. Then there came an increased emphasis on academic achievement to the exclusion of physical education. In addition, there were budget cuts due to declining enrollment and tax cuts. Therefore less qualified coaches were hired in the schools. Club sports began to take the place of school sports. These coaches had no educational requirement. Teacher training colleges changed their mission from teaching to research. Title IX put an increased burden on the schools because in many sports it was now necessary to field two teams instead of one. This served to further deplete the pool of trained coaches creating an obvious staffing problem. These problems are a reality in the United States in 2018.
Some More on Drills
It is important to be clear on one thing regarding drills. If you use a drill or drills know why you are using the drill. In my experience drills are most effective in closed skill activities where they can be used to correct a part of the movement or reinforce a concept. But always go back to the whole movement, remember Whole – Part – Whole. In any situation drills are most effective when the athlete has a clear image and feeling for the end result – the whole action. I know from personal experience that the longer I have coached the less drills I have used. My menu of drills has grown but the actual use has decreased. For me drill are highly prescriptive to the individual athlete.
The Seduction of Drills
Ask yourself we do we spend so much time teaching and perfecting drills? Wouldn’t the time be better spent coaching skills? No doubt drills are seductive, some even look like the skill, we can repeat them until they are flawless and then what? 95% of drills have no transfer to skill so what is the attraction. Focus on what will make the athlete better at their sport, not better at drills. There is so much good evidence and practice today in nonlinear pedagogy to guide us so don’t be seduced by the allure of drills. Drills do not equal skills!
Meaningful Practice
I know the term deliberate practice is the current buzzword but I don’t think it is getting the job done. Words create images and images create action, so I use the term meaningful. Meaningful clearly communicates what I want from practice, it leaves little room for nuance. Practice must have a clear plan and purpose that the athlete understands. It must relate to the competitive demands of the sport the athlete is preparing for. It must be relevant to physical and developmental age of the athlete (Adult drills and training methods imposed on children are counterproductive). Mindless repetition does not count as practice. If you want examples go watch a typical tennis academy practice where they hit balls for four hours or watch a baseball infielder take 100 ground balls repetitively. That is the norm just look around, nothing meaningful, just work. Each drill, each exercise must have a purpose that the athlete clearly understands or it is just time on their feet punching a clock accumulating time toward that magic 10,000 hour number. Focused meaningful work that chooses to distort the competitive demands not replicate them is the answer. That is meaningful, the athlete relates to it because they see the relationship of the technique they must master or the game situation they must improve. At the end of the day less is more to make the practice meaningful.
Growing the Athlete
Growing the athlete is an organic not a mechanistic process. For years I used the metaphor of building the athlete but over the past few years I have become uncomfortable with that characterization. Certainly, building is part of the process, but I find that building evokes a reductionist mechanistic image of constructing, of replacing parts as opposed to the cultivation of synergistic relationships between training means and methods and the systems of the body. The whole is much more than the sum of the parts as the athlete is nurtured and develops throughout their career. It takes time and timing of the appropriate stimuli for the level of the athlete’s stage of development. My father was a gardener and I remember the first time he took me to work with him, I was probably ten or eleven years old. As any youngster I was impatient and full of questions. I wanted to know why this patch of garden had no plants. Why we had to water this area and fertilize another section. Why we had to trim these plants and let others grow. I wanted to know why he didn’t plant all the seeds at the same time. He explained it to me, but I must admit that I did not fully understand it until years later after I had started coaching. The carrots had to planted at a certain time. The winter and summer squash were different. Some vegetables thrived in the cold of winter and others need the heat of summer. The same is true with the nurturing of the athlete. You must carefully cultivate the soil by developing physical competencies. Then you plant appropriate levels of training of the various physical capacities. You allow those capacities to grow and develop and then you carefully harvest them in competition. Nowhere is anything forced, it is a long-term time-consuming process that requires constant attention from the gardener/coach. Lest we forget the nurturing never stops.
Forest for the Trees
In course of day to day coaching it is easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. Good or bad training sessions can easily get blown out of proportion. The same is true with exercises, sets, reps and rest intervals – coach the athlete that is in front of you that day. Keep the big picture in mind. Never lose sight of the ultimate goal – preparing the athlete to thrive in competition.