Functional Path Training

GAIN 2017 Theme

Each year for have a theme that serves as a focal point for our presentations and discussions for that year. This year our theme is:

Making Connections to Foster Meaningful Change & Innovation

The central focus of GAIN is the network of professionals to be able to connect and share, since this is the tenth meeting of GAIN and we want to emphasize the connections in the network more than ever. There is strength and wisdom in connections and it is through connections that meaningful change can and does occur. If you are interested in meaningful change and learning join us. To apply go: http://www.thegainnetwork.com/ 

Guru or Coach

This is an old post that I think is particularly timely. The bottom line message is to find a mentor not a guru

Guru	Coach
Style	Substance
Information	Knowledge
Secrets	Open
Put Downs	Uplifts
Drink the Kool-Aid	Water
No Questions – All the answers	Guided by questions
Big Claims	Actions Speak
Front Page	Back Page
Follows the $$$$	Principle Driven
Complex	Simple
Exclusive	Inclusive
In the Spotlight	In the background
Conditional	Unconditional

Unforgiving, Relentless and Undefeated

I am not talking about UCONN women’s basketball that just won their hundredth straight game or the New England Patriots. I am talking about two of the greatest athletes ever! Who are they? You do know them because you compete with them all day everyday. One is invisible but beats you every time the other is always underfoot, but because it is so familiar we fail to recognize it. I am talking about gravity and the ground. In sport and life movements they dictate everything we do. At best we can learn to cheat gravity. We learn to manage its effects to jump higher, run faster or throw faster or farther but eventually it wins. It is gravity that tears ACL’s and pulls hamstrings, but as great an athlete as gravity is it needs help. That help comes from the ground. The ground comes in many permutations, grass real and artificial, sand, finely tuned tracks, roads or rough trails but it is always there. Our movement is dependent on the how we negotiate the ground; actually it depends on how well we apply force into the ground to propel us in the intended direction. To get to the essence of training it is essentially to learn how to use and cheat gravity and to apply optimum force to the ground to propel you in the desired direction. It is all very simple in concept but actually quite complicated in application.

Sports Science?

I see more gobbledygook and sciency stuff called “sports science” going on today that ever in my years as athlete and coach. Has anyone taken a step back and honestly assessed where we are going with all this? Everybody and anybody who administers a wellness survey or monitors some physiological function now calls themselves a sports scientist. Over the course of my career I have had the opportunity to work with some the greatest exercise physiologists, biomechanists, sports psychologists and motor learning/skill acquisition experts ever. I have seen how these professionals work as part of a performance team, backstage, not onstage claiming super bowl wins, world cup wins or Olympic goal medals. We were all part of a performance team with a clear goal working in one direction to make the athlete or team better. The great performance teams that I have worked in and seen work are coach driven. This demands that the sport coach be educated to ask the right questions and know how to direct the efforts.

What I see today with the use of this generic term “sports science” being thrown around alarms me. I see so called "sports scientists" directing programs, making crucial decisions on athletes trainability based on algorithm derived numbers telling coaches that athletes can not practice because they are too tired or too sore. Many so-called sports scientists have little or no practical experience outside of academia or some sterile training center environment where they have no real athletes to work so they can sit around theorize all day.

Sports science must be clearly defined, the so-called sports scientist needs to understand that they do not drive the bus. They must be at training sessions and actively involved with the coaches. They need to understand the culture of the sport and get to know the sport they are working with. They must help the coach to use the data they derive (Assuming it is valid data) by giving the data context. Applied sports science can be a valuable resource, lets get back to where it needs to be - a resource that is on tap not on top.

The 4R's

Frank Dick one of my mentors  shared this basic concept to give a context to debrief of training or performance.

Reason

Why are you doing what you are doing?

Reality

What exactly are you doing? Is that reconciled with the reason? 

Reflection

What did you learn from what you did? Be as specific as possible here.

 Response

What are you going to do differently? This should consist of specific actions based on the reflection.

This is a simple process that can be used to make your daily coaching more effective.