Author: Vernon Gambetta
Relentlessly Pursue Personal & Professional Growth and Learning
Foundational Beliefs #5 Relentlessly Pursue Personal & Professional Growth and Learning In my opinion you must continually work at getting better both personally and professionally. I was taught that you never know enough. Neither of my parents graduated from high school, they instilled in me very early early that learning was the key to success. I am constantly reading books and research articles and dialoging with other professionals. One of the main reasons I started GAIN was to share a vision of what true professional development is all about. I have been fortunate to have great mentors who taught and guided me. In addition I am very fortunate to have a group of colleague whom I call “influencers” that I know I can turn to for advice or to critically assess my work or ideas. One of my mentors Dr. Joe Vigil taught me that in a career you could have one experience many times or have a variety of experiences. I have chosen the later and do not regret it. The former is more comfortable but does not offer the opportunities for growth. It is also important to go outside coaching and sport science for knowledge. Search far and wide to broaden your horizons. Leave no stone unturned, keep searching there has to be better ways.
Embrace and Lead Change
Foundational Beliefs #4 Embrace and Lead Change Nothing is more constant and more uncomfortable that change. I came to the realization many years that if change is constant, then as a coach I should take the initiative and lead change rather than react to it. In so many ways our success as coaches is defined by how well we manage change. Too many coaches let change manage them and end up in a defensive and reactive mode that significantly undermines their effectiveness. My colleague Kelvin Giles calls coaches “change engineers.” I think this is an apt description of what we must do as coaches to be successful. The world of high performance sport today is moving at hyper speed and as coaches we must be highly adaptable and prepared to move with it. It is tough and as I said earlier not always comfortable, but it is necessary. The challenge is to embrace change and still hold to your foundational principles, but strong foundational principles are the beacon that guide you through the rough waters of change.
Focus on the Process – The Pursuit Of Excellence Has It’s Own Rewards
Foundational Beliefs #3 Focus on the Process – The Pursuit Of Excellence Has It’s Own Rewards It is so easy to get caught with results either in training and competition and lose sight of the process. The process is the how, the means of getting to the desired end result. It has been my observation that those coaches who have lasting success are those that focus on the process. They realize that investment in the process is what produces consistent results in the long term. There is a clear distinction on training AS performance or training FOR performance. The later is absorbed in the process and pays the richest dividends. Focus on the process keeps everything in perspective, it not an all or nothing proposition like a win at all costs approach. Process provides constant reinforcement, feedback and rewards along the path to excellence.
It Is Always About The Athlete
Foundational Beliefs #2 – It Is Always About The Athlete It is so easy to get caught up in the intricacies of technique and training and lose focus on the athlete. It is the athlete we are guiding to be better. A wise old American football coach put it quite succinctly – “It is not the X’s and O’s it is the Jimmies and the Joes.” Never lose sight of the human element. We must appreciate that they train two to four hours a day and then have a life for the other twenty to twenty two hours. What they do in those hours in many ways has a more profound effect on their success or failure as an athlete that the hours of training. As coach’s we need to stress the “24 Hour Athlete” concept – the need to be excellent in all aspects of life not just in sport. We are coaches because of and for the athlete.
Coach & Teach The Way You Would Want To Be Coached & Taught
Foundational Beliefs #1- Coach & Teach The Way You Would Want To Be Coached & Taught One of my biggest motivations in coaching is to NOT coach the way I was coached when I played football in college. It was characterized by physical and mental abuse with motivation (If you want to call it that) by manipulation, domination and control. It does not work. I vowed then that I would always try to coach the way I wanted to be coached. Show care and respect for the athlete. Motivate through the intrinsic value of the sport. Remember that you are not coaching a sport; you are coaching people who do the sport. Coach the people part and everything else will fall into place. Coach appropriate to the level where you are coaching, children cannot be coached the same way as seasoned veterans. When I evaluate a coach and their methods I ask myself one simple question – Would I want to be coached by them and would I want them coaching my son and daughter?
Foundational Beliefs – Guiding Lights
The following are some of the basic tenants that I believe in as a coach. These are foundational beliefs that make up the pillars of my coaching philosophy. I was taught from day one as a coach that the philosophy is the guiding light, the beacon that guides you through the good times and the bad. They may be of assistance to you in defining how and what you do as a coach. In future blogs I will elaborate on each of them and share why they are important to me: Coach & Teach The Way You Would Want To Be Coached & Taught It Is Always About The Athlete Focus on the Process – The Pursuit Of Excellence Has It’s Own Rewards Embrace and Lead Change Relentlessly Pursue Personal & Professional Growth and Learning Use All Dimensions Of Communication Embrace The Difference – Nobody Is The Same Always Ask Why? Never Take No For Answer Less Is More – Simplicity Yields Complexity Be Passionate and Enthusiastic Be Humble
The Posterior Chain – Why?
Ten years ago I never heard the term “posterior chain” now I see it everywhere in both training and rehab literature. What is the posterior chain? Why did it appear out of nowhere? Is it a meaningful term or a term of convenience without real meaning? In a training manual that I just received produced by a national federation (In a sport plagued by hamstring pulls) there were twelve exercises listed under posterior chain exercises. Last year on a visit to observe a DI football team the strength coach proudly told me how they do six posterior chain exercises as part of each lower extremity training session. Guess what, this year they had had more hamstring pulls and other lower extremity catastrophic injuries than any team in their conference. Is there something wrong with this picture? Sure, you bet there is. The prevention has become the cause. Frankly I just do not understand why we keep fooling ourselves, all you have to do is understand function. Rather than focus on the areas of the body (Hamstrings) that are at risk of injury, look how that segment fits into the whole kinetic chain. But it is not usually the hamstrings fault, it is a lack of coordination; other muscles did not do their job. The term posterior chain has created another problem rather solving a problem. It also has created confusion where and when we need clarity. Let’s get back to a focus on the kinetic chain and the interaction and coordination of the links in the change that result in efficient movement that is essentially a chain reaction. It does not require any fancy machines, no new terminology, just a repetition of basic movements in multiple planes, encompassing multiple joints that emphasize coordination of force production, force reduction and proprioception.
The Science of Running by Steve Magness
If you coach any type of endurance athlete get this book. Even though it is about running it applies directly to swimming, biking, cross country skiing and triathlon. Read it, re-read it and apply the lessons and you will be a better coach and most importantly your athletes will be better for it. Even though it is titled “Science of Running” I think it is the art, the application of the science in very practical easy to understand and apply concepts in a language any coach can use that make this book stand out. Steve presents a comprehensive systematic approach to training the middle distance and distance athlete carefully blinding the art and science. He is very straightforward in presenting his ideas but at no time is he overbearing. His writing is very conversational and “user friendly.” Even though Steve is young in age and coaching years he has acquired wisdom beyond his years. You can tell he has lived much of what he writes about. It is so refreshing to see Max VO2 put in its place and the same with energy system training. I really like how Steve makes continual reference to the difference in training emphasis for the Fast Twitch – Speed type of runner to the Slow Twitch Endurance type, a clear and important distinction too often ignored. It also comes through loud and clear that mileage is not the answer, it is the blend of all types of work that make the most effective injury free runner. This is a training book that will be a constant reference for me even though I am no longer coaching endurance athlete’s day to day, it will be there because the ideas on training are so sensible and applicable across all the whole spectrum of physical performance. This is the best book on coaching running I have seen in quite sometime. Well-done Steve! Can’t wait to have you present again at GAIN this year.