Functional Path Training

Some Thoughts, Reflections & Advice on Coaching

Keep Learning

There is no one way or an answer

Be Humble

Know what you know and learn what you don’t know

Don’t reinvent the wheel

Know History

Stay curious & keep asking questions

Coaching is a craft, be a skilled craftsperson

Make mistakes and learn from them

It’s not about you; it is all about the athletes you work with

Lead from the front – preferably by example

Take time to enjoy the ride – smell the roses

Looking at the Landscape

In athletic development certainly we are not going where no one else has gone before, we are not sailing uncharted waters, the path is clear, and the destination is obvious. That begs the question then, why with all we know and the supposed progress we have made are results so inconsistent. Why are preventable injuries at levels never seen before in sport? Do we need to take a different approach? To answer these questions we must take a long look at what got us to this point. Look back at what worked in the past. Look at those people who are producing consistent reproducible results. We need direction, definition and leadership, not more marketing and hype. We need to recognize and acknowledge the problems and address them with concrete solutions. To achieve this we need to shift the focus back on people, not facilities, equipment training methods and gathering data. Coaching is a people profession, not algorithms and numbers it is people working with people to raise performance levels. We must do everything possible to raise the standard of coaching. I hope this stimulates you to get on board and help me to define the field of athletic development. We can change and we must change or we will go the way of the dinosaur. I implore you to get out of the weight room or the lab and go out and work to build highly adaptable athletes that can thrive in the competitive arena. I have said it before and will say it again great coaching is not high tech it is high touch.

Biased Training

I am alarmed with the biased one-sided training regimens that I see imposed on athletes. If you are doing a lot of something then you are probably not doing much of something else, a zero sum relationship. The result is a highly adapted athlete, the athlete adapts to that one component being trained. To thrive in the performance arena demands a highly adaptable athlete whose training is multidimensional that reflects the demands of the sport and the needs of the individual athlete.

Sport Science in Perspective

Most scientific studies are isolated studies out of context of the spectrum of human movement demands. Science needs to measure an isolated component in order to conduct “valid” scientific experiments. I understand that those are the rules of the game for the scientist, but outside the lab in the real world of performance the rules are different. On the field or in the pool we cannot isolate variables. Does that mean we should reject science and rely solely on practice and experience, absolutely not. As coaches we need to travel in both worlds. As a coach, statistical significance does not mean anything to me, I am interested in coaching significance and how it applies to making a particular exercise or training method more effective. The great coaches I have known are both artists and scientists. They know what canvas to paint on, what brushes to select, the brush strokes to use and how to blend the colors to achieve the result they desire. We must get all the pieces working in harmony. In performance the essence is linkage and connections, not isolation. Therefore the training should reflect this and focus on muscle synergies and connections.