Functional Path Training

The Journey – Reflections & Recollections

This fifty plus year journey of coaching that I am on has been rewarding in so many ways. Most of the rewards are intangible, relationships, lessons learned. Trophies and medals get lost or break but memories last. The memories remind me how fortunate I have been to be able to do what I have done. I am a first generation American; my parents had no education but taught my brother and I the value of hard work and the necessity of education. When I was a teenager I am not sure I understood where they were coming from, but once I graduated college and began coaching and teaching their lessons drove me and continue to drive me today.

So much in life both the professional and personal realms is being prepared. Being in the right place at the right time and ready to seize the moment.

Always learning, always finding ways to get better. It is finding people and situations to challenge you. Never being complacent. Being in the moment, learning from the past, taking the actions necessary to thrive in the future. It all starts with the here and now.

Always look for people to challenge you to be better. The best source for growth and personal development are the athletes you are coaching. Listen to what they say, watch what they do. Learn them as people and you will be a better coach and teacher.

Recognize that mistakes and failures are all part of the growth process. They are only mistakes and failures if we don’t learn from them. Some of my biggest failures have turned into my greatest successes. To be the best you risk, you must be on the edge and sometimes you fall off, but you can never grow if you don’t test the limits.

Good things are worth waiting for, but you must not be caught passively waiting. Keep the end vision in sight and make steps in the direction of the goal each day.

Never underestimate the influence you have as a teacher or a coach. In the last few years reconnecting with former athletes from 40 and 50 years ago has underscored that for me. It also interesting to hear what they remember, it is not meets or big wins, it is the everyday practices, the interactions with teammates and the trips in the van.

Progress occurs step by step; you can’t hurry it. If you lay the groundwork and stay with fundamentals, then incremental progress will occur and there will be occasional big breakthroughs.

All the Answers

I remember forty years ago when I had all the answers. Then I found out that I had the answers to the wrong questions. Since then, I have learned to follow the wise words of Ken Kesey. "The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer -- they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer." In my old age I am embracing the mystery. There is so much joy in learning new things and exploring the mysteries.

Shapes

The essence of efficient movement in everyday life and sport is the ability to make effective and appropriate shapes for the activity. From a sport performance perspective making shapes and changing shapes is a central objective in training. It is a perspective to view movement with new eyes. In training shapes, I have borrowed liberally from gymnastics, dance, and elementary physical education – these are the foundations on which to build shapes demanded by the sport. The actual physical preparation for making better shapes and changing shapes demands a combination of strengthening, lengthening and body awareness work that helps the athletes eliminate any weak links limiting the ability to make the desired shapes. Shape work can be done away from the pool, track, field or court to help prepare the body to make the necessary shapes and get into shapes beyond the normal. Training shapes is another step toward building more robust athletes. I now try to schedule some shape work every training session and I am continually pointing out to the athlete how an exercise we are doing will help make them better at the required shapes in their sport. Learning to speak the language of shapes and shape shifting will make you a more effective coach and develop better athletes.

Some Friday Thoughts

Never ever forget that training accumulates day to day, week to week, month to month and year to year. Therefore, you do not need to start over at zero each year. Build upon what you have done in a logical progression.

Sometimes what we do not do in training is as important as what we actually do.

Sometimes imitation can spur innovation.

To prevent shoulder injuries, hamstring pulls, and groin pulls stop the focus on the shoulder, hamstring and groin and look at their role of the in the kinetic chain. Think coordination & muscle synergies to achieve technical mastery which will go a long way to preventing injuries.

It would be great to see youth sport come back under the umbrella of education as part of the schools offering. Instead, it has been farmed and it has spawned a multimillion-dollar industry that is not good to the kids. Kids are being used!

"Do not place hope in finding a secret technique," said Kyuzo Mifune. "Polish the mind through ceaseless training; that is the key to effective techniques."

Challenge – What are you doing NOW to get better at what you do?