Author: Vernon Gambetta
Injuries
Change the focus from injury prediction to injury prevention. Make injury prevention a transparent part of a comprehensive training program that addresses sport demands & individual athlete needs on a session-by-session basis. Start simple with a multi-stage warm-up that prepares the athlete for the demands of the session – warm-up to train or play don’t play to warm-up. This should consist of foundational movements – basic movement skills leading into more complex movements. Second use training to prepare for the demands of the sport, do not duplicate the sport and add stress to stress. Third focus on what the athlete can do, not on dysfunctions and deficits. Fourth be sure to do all this in a systematic and progressive manner that will yield results over time. Training accumulates; Rome was not built in a day. Simplicity yields complexity.
Athletic Development – An Introduction to the Concept
Introduction I prefer the term athletic development rather strength and conditioning because it denotes an integrated system to develop the complete athlete. No single component of conditioning is solely responsible for the athletic development of any team or individual. This underscores the need for a program designed to meet the needs of all the sports with balanced development of all components of physical performance: strength, power speed, agility, endurance and flexibility. Mission Statement To enhance athletic performance through a systematic, sequential and progressive approach to the total conditioning process in an environment that ensures success in athletics and life. Athletic Development – The Concept The body is a kinetic chain with movement occurring from toenails to fingernails, a sound program emphasizes integration of all the links of this chain. We must remember that the goal of athletic development is to enhance performance, and develop athletes that are completely adaptable not adapted. This dictates a focus and intensity to optimize the training time. Athlete Development – Steps to Success The program is based on scientific laws, functional movements, and experience based practice. Each training program takes into account individual athletes’ needs, team and season goals. Development of the training program is a team effort involving input from the sport coaches, athletic development staff, sports medicine staff, and the athlete where necessary. Program development is a five-step process: Step One – The Sport Conditioning requirements and game demands vary from sport to sport. It is also necessary to take into consideration the position or event within the sport. The overall training program must reflect differing demands in strength, movement speed and direction, and specific fitness requirements. Step Two – The Athlete The program must account for the different physical qualities that each athlete brings to their sport. Step Three – The System The components of the system are: Work Capacity – The ability to handle a workload and recover from that workload Speed – Perhaps the most important of all athletic qualities, this can be significantly improved with a systematic program. Strength – Simply the ability to exert force, measurable strength Power – The ability to express force in athletic movements Agility, Balance, and Coordination – The ability to start, stop, change direction and control the body Step Four – The Plan The plan is based on measurable goals and objectives. It must take into account for the various phases of the training year and distribute the work accordingly. The phases of the training plan are: Introductory – A short period to orient and teach techniques as well as establish the routine of training Foundation – The base period where the emphasis is on increasing work capacity Specific Preparation – The application period where the base work is applied to the demands of the specific sport Competition – To fine tune some components and begin to maintain others Peak Competition – A period to sharpen and “peak” Transition – The “active rest” phase where fitness is maintained but the athlete is given a break Step Five – Testing and Evaluation Testing establishes a baseline to begin a training program and set appropriate training goals. In addition testing allows the coaches and athletes to measure progress in the athletic development program.
On Coaching
Coaching is not something you do to the athlete; it is something you do with the athlete. It is a cooperative venture, a partnership. Never lose sight of the twenty-four hour athlete concept. The athletes we work with train for two to four hours a day. It is a fundamentally unbalanced equation because the other twenty to twenty two hours have more of an impact on the athlete’s success or failure in their chosen sport than the training time. It is easy to fall into the trap of training not coaching. Training only pays attention to the actual workout; manipulation of sets, reps, heart rates, maximum lifts etc. Coaching on the other hand develops the whole person, mentally physically and socially. Coaching is working closely with the athletes to define their goals and give them the tools to be able to achieve their goals. Coaching is a creative process that takes imagination and enthusiasm. Coaching empowers the athlete to take a degree of responsibility for their actions. As the athletes career progresses the athlete should assume a greater degree of responsibility so that coach assumes more of an advisory capacity. Frank Dick, former chief coach of Athletics in Great Britain, put it best when he said that during the course of athlete’s career the coach’s role evolves from that of a guiding light to a mirror. Coaching, like parenting, teaching, and managing provide the roots to grow and the wings to fly.
Youth Sports – A Position Statement
In developing young athletes it is one thing to say that children are not miniature adults and then to turn around and treat them as miniature adults by imposing adult competition and practice schedules on children. They are children and need to be treated as such. We need to get away from the emphasis on where they will be, their future potential, there is time for that later, put focus on where they are now and build upon that. Develop them so they have mastery of fundamental movements and fundamental sport skills acquired through play. Deemphasize the competition every weekend that starts an early trend toward peaking for Saturday, which then becomes a habit at latter stages of development that results in stifling long-term development and injuries. We must allow for play that is free and unsupervised by adults. Play that allows the kids to be kids where they learn to explore the all dimensions of movement. The benefits are many and proven over time but simply do not fit into the contemporary models that seek to identify the athlete young and get them to specialize as early as possible to accumulate the necessary ten thousand hours to be a superstar. Combine that with the youth sport “Industry” and we have a huge problem in developing athletes. The athlete becomes a client in a business model not a child to be nurtured and encouraged. This has happened because we have deviated form a strong philosophical foundation of athlete development based on physical education, free play and principles of growth and development as well as emotional maturation. The time for change is now before we lose a another generation!
GAIN VIII June 17 to 21, 2015
GAIN 2015 will take place June 17 to 21 at Rice University in Houston, Texas. The program is open to sport coaches, conditioning coaches, physical education teachers, athletic trainers, physical therapists, chiropractors and doctors. Apply now and join a select group of professionals at GAIN. Go to www.thegainnetwork.com/joingain.html to download the application form, submit your application now, enrollment is limited. Tuition is $1,875 it includes breakfast, lunch and dinner each day, room and a pair of ASICS shoes. Please call me at 941-378-1778 or email mail me at gstscoach@gmail.com if you have any questions. Our goal is to define the field of Athletic Development by educating professionals in foundational principles and methodology as applied to coaching, physical education and rehabilitation. This program is intense, intellectually challenging and demanding. We combine theory and practice in a residential coaching school format. This is an opportunity to observe, participate, question, and explore the application of the Gambetta Method – Systematic Sport Development Model of training, teaching and injury rehabilitation. The coaching school represents just a beginning of an incredible professional development opportunity. Attendees can continue to participate via the secure web site, and continue to attend the GAIN coaching school for the duration of their careers if they so choose. For those who have attended it has been a career changing experience. The GAIN Faculty We are very fortunate to have a faculty with a tremendous breath of experiences. These are professionals who have a track record of excellence in their chosen fields. They know how a performance team works, how all aspects of athletic development complement each other and most importantly they understand the process of developing athletes because they are working in the trenches everyday. At GAIN we have three main areas of focus 1) Coaching & Athletic Development 2) Sports Medicine/Rehab 3) Physical Education. Our faculty is experts in each of these respective focus areas. The goal is foster connections and communication between all these areas to develop the best athlete possible. Sport Science David Epstein, Investigative reporter at ProPublica and author of NY Times best seller, The Sport Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance. Coaching Vern Gambetta, Founder of GAIN Network, Currently Director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems Athletic Development Jim Radcliffe, Head S&C Coach University of Oregon Gary Winckler, Hall of Fame Track & Field Coach, Former assistant Canadian Olympic Track & Field Coach in 2012 and Head Women’s Track Coach at University of Illinois Nick Garcia, Athletic Development Coach & Assistant Track Coach, Notre Dame High School, Sherman Oaks, California Tracy Fober, Physical Therapist, Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach, US Ski & Snowboard Association. Steve Magness, Head Cross Country and Assistant Track Coach University of Houston Sports Medicine/Rehab Ed Ryan, ATC Head Trainer US Women’s Olympic Basketball Team, Formerly Head of Sports Medicine at USOC Randy Ballard, ATC Assistant Trainer, University of Illinois Working With Track & Field and Volleyball Joe Przytula, ATC is the current Supervisor of Physical Education and Health, and athletic trainer with Elizabeth Public Schools, Elizabeth New Jersey USA. Physical Education Greg Thompson, Elementary Physical Education Teacher Farmington Michigan, Currently Athletic Development and Age Group Head Coach, Livonia City Soccer Club Steve Myrland, District Performance Coach for Athletics, District Wellness Director Middleton Wisconsin School District For more information and to apply for GAIN 2015 go to www.thegainnetwork.com don’t miss this opportunity for professional advancement.
Some Random Thoughts
I write down random thoughts that are stimulated by what I am reading or I see in my coaching. Here are few that might get you thinking: Combine instinct with intellect Don’t let urgent overtake important Rather than reorganize reprioritize The difficulty is not in finding the right answers but in asking the right questions Forget statistical significance or P scores it is coaching significance that matters Forget meeting expectations, work to exceed expectations Accrue micro gains everyday and everywhere you can. Little bits make a difference. Beware of algorithms for human movement – The body is too smart and movement too complex to fit an algorithm
The Journey Continues
I started the day today the first day of my 45th year of coaching with a dryland session with the Sarasota Sharks at 4:55 AM. I began coaching in January 1969 (An El Niño year of near record rainfall – 40 plus inches, fortunately we had just gotten a new asphalt track so we never missed a workout. Amazing what 440 yards of bad road can enable you to do when you don’t know any better) at Santa Barbara high school in Santa Barbara California my hometown. It has been a long and rewarding journey, as in any journey there have been detours, ups and downs and bumps in the road along the way but for better or for worse I have done it my way on my own terms. The biggest satisfaction has come not from the championships and records but from the people, the incredible coaches and athletes I have been so fortunate to work with and learn so much from. I am so blessed to have a wife who has supported me all these years and my children who often had to share dad with a whole bunch of other kids. Over the past several years my coaching role has evolved to an emphasis on mentoring through my GAIN professional development network although I still continue do hands on coaching. I think it is very important to keep “skin in the game” as they say, if you don’t actively coach you can quickly lose touch with waht coaching is about. I am looking forward to continuing the journey, to continue to teach and learn and help young athletes reach their potential. Here are the biggest differences I see from 1969: In 1969 there was mandatory daily physical education from kindergarten through twelfth grade. This insured that the athletes had a foundation of basic physical literacy. Off-season football training was competing in track or playing baseball, more athletes did multiple sports. Parents were interested and supportive not involved and over invested. There were no recruiting services or showcases tournaments. Kids PLAYED sport for the intrinsic value not to get scholarships or pro contracts. Sport was centered in the schools and the coaches were teachers I am often asked if kids have changed? I am not sure that the kids have changed as much as our expectations of them has changed. I know I have the same expectations of the athletes that work today that I did forty-five years ago I just have to do it differently. I have adjusted without lowering my expectations. There are things that I thought mattered in 1969 like dress codes and hair length that I now know don’t matter, they are superficial, what matters is the person and how I can motivate them to want to achieve their potential. The journey continues…
Make Practice Count!
Anyone can work and go through the motions of training. That will even get you a little better for a short time (Longer if you are gifted with exceptional talent) but eventually you will have to pay the piper. Make practice count, come to practice fully engaged in mind and body. Train with purpose and direction. Have a plan for each session, work the plan and immediately post practice evaluate the plan and get ready for the next practice. Win the workout – you have to win workouts before you can ever think about winning a competition. But before you can win a workout you must win the day. Winning the day demands excellence in areas of life. You can’t be a chump outside of training and a champ in training; it does not work that way. Making practice count is part of a total lifestyle commitment. Each athlete has the choice and many are called but few choose. The path to excellence is not direct nor is it easy, but making each practice count will give you a chance.