Author: Vernon Gambetta
Evidence
Evidence Based = Research Practice Based = Experience Effective coaching demands a blend of the two, the art and the science. The ultimate measure is reproducible results by resilient adaptable athletes in the competitive arena.
Barriers
This post is in honor of the birthday of one of my heroes (I don’t have many) – Sir Roger Bannister who is 87 years old today. He refused to believe in barriers. He broke the four-minute mile barrier while training one hour a day during his residency in medical school. He opened the floodgates within a short period of time three others broke four minutes proving the artificial nature of barriers. It takes one pioneer to question conventional wisdom, to not believe the myths. Banister did that, he knew that it was well within the realm of human physiology when the “experts’ were saying it was well neigh impossible. The same is true for all so-called barriers. They are artificial; they are stepping-stones to excellence. Get out there and get after it, don’t let anyone hold you back. Focus on what can be done, the possibilities, leave the naysayers in the dust. Thank you Sir Roger for inspiring me as a youngster to not believe in barriers and have wonderful birthday.
Basics
The basics are the essential foundation of performance at any level of sport. Know the basics Have command and mastery of the basics Don’t deviate from the basics Build on the basics If in doubt always go back to the basics Never forget that simplicity yields complexity. Are you practicing and reviewing the basics today?
Words
Words matter! So use words that matter. Words can be helpful or hurtful. So select words with intention to gain the desired attention. Use action words that evoke the desired outcome. Be on point. Clearly coach the correction. If one word will work don’t use two. Be a twitter coach – get the message across in 144 characters. Make the words count!
Were Talking
Coaches love to talk. They talk even when no one is listening. They talk just to hear themselves talk. Stop talking! Start listening! You will be surprised how much your coaching will improve. We need to remember that coaching is not something we do to the athlete; it is something we do with the athlete. How can we work with the athlete to help them be better if we don’t listen?
The Why of GAIN
I just finished reading Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why for the second time. It got me thinking about the why of GAIN. For those of you who don’t know GAIN is an acronym for Gambetta Athletic Improvement Network. I plan on GAIN being the main focus of my work for the rest of my career. It is easy to look at what and who of GAIN and dismiss it as another workshop, clinic or a summit. Of course you will see names of experts you recognize on the faculty and you will see a busy schedule of lectures and learn by doing opportunities that superficially look to be the same as what everyone else offers. Look again, look at the WHY, that is what is important. GAIN is an experience. We are in our ninth year because we are different. It is because of the experience and the network. GAIN is about people connected to grow personally and professionally. GAIN is Gary Winckler and Jim Radcliffe, two of the most accomplished coaches on the planet, sitting in the front row taking notes and asking questions during Nick Garcia’s (A high school coach with one fourth of their experience) presentation on the Bondarchuk principles. GAIN is a facilitator for connecting with other professionals to share and learn. The GAIN vision is to provide a global platform for education, innovation and motivation in athletic development. It is intended to challenge conventional wisdom where necessary, to build on the basics with an emphasis on the human element. The GAIN focus is on developing and strengthening the connection between all the professionals of the sports performance team to produce adaptable athletes that are prepared for optimum performance. If you want to learn more about the why of GAIN listen to the GAINcast http://www.hmmrmedia.com/2016/02/gaincast-episode-3-what-is-gain/ where I give the history and background of GAIN. If you need more information please feel free to email me at gstscoach@gmail.com or call me at 941-378-1778. Better yet go the http://www.thegainnetwork.com/ and apply to attend GAIN 2016.
Is there any there there?
Learn to look beyond the hype, the marketing, the promotion and see what is really there. What is the substance? Evidence based? Where is the evidence? Is there practice to back up the evidence? What is their body of work? What is the why? You will notice that gurus and keyboard cowboy coaches focus on the what and the how usually backed up by volumes of “peer reviewed” journal articles. That’s not good enough. Call BS on the BSers. Always default to sound training principles and oh yes don’t forget common sense and intuition. If you instincts tell you it is not right, then chances are it is not right!
Injury Prevention – Getting It Right
In so many ways injury prevention programs are a lost cause. My sense of it is that the more time spent on injury prevention the more injuries there will be. Do I have proof with hard numbers? No rather it has been my observation over the years. The current emphasis on injury prevention has led us down a one-way dead end street. More time devoted to so called “injury prevention” to the exclusion of time spent on actual training. Therapy & corrective exercise does not make up for good consistent training. The best way to prevent injury is to not have an injury prevention program. Let me suggest a more proactive approach. Design, implement and hold players accountable for a comprehensive athletic development program that addresses sport demands, meets the athlete’s individual needs and addresses the pattern of injuries in the particular sport. Injury prevention should be an implicit and transparent part of this comprehensive program. This is the approach I have always taken. It has worked in a variety of sports. Try it and you will see the difference. It is much more work than rolling out a packaged injury prevention program. It requires thorough planning and total buy in from all involved. Good sound comprehensive training goes a long way toward bullet proofing the athlete.