Functional Path Training

Learning the Craft – The La Cumbre Years 1969 to 1973

My first four years coaching were at La Cumbre Junior High School in Santa Barbara California, in the neighborhood where I grew up. I taught Physical Education and over the four years there I coached track and cross country each year as one season each of football and basketball. The photo is collage that a friend one of mine put together the year I was coaching football. Yes, we did wear ties when we coached back then – influence of my mentor. It was a real learning experience, learning the craft of coaching with boys aged 12 to 15 in seventh, eighth and ninth grade. I taught four or five periods of PE and then coached after school at the same time I was training for the Decathlon. Time management and attention management were crucial. Looking back on the experience fifty years later I would not trade the experience for anything. I am still in contact with many of the “kids”. Even though they are all grown up now in their sixties I still call them kids. Been great to see their life journeys and how what we did in sport influenced them and reflect on how much they taught me about life and coaching. It was a great foundation the next fifty years and continues to be today.

Common Training Mistakes Relating to Poor Planning

It does not have to be hard to be good - Each workout is part of a larger picture. If you put their backs to the wall in each training session you will quickly lose sight of the big picture. Everything must be in context. Remember that different physical qualities adapt at different rates, so they need to be stressed differently. One workout cannot make an athlete but can break an athlete.

Too much, too soon - You can’t hurry the adaptive process. The younger athlete can handle a lot both in terms of volume and intensity, but if you lose sight of the big picture, it is important to remember that by not following proper progression and individualizing can stifle long-term development.

Overloading the spine, too often and too young - Even with the mature athlete the spine just cannot take the heavy repetitive loading that is imposed on it by too much heavy back squatting and dead lifting. That does not mean you don’t use those exercises, just use them wisely.

Too many exercises or drills in a training session - This just leads to confusion from an administrative perspective and poor adaptive response on the part of the athlete. This results in a loss of focus. They get tired but they do not get better.

Repetitious Exercises - This usually overloads one area or one component; the result is a poor training response. I always say hunt with a rifle, not a shotgun.

Training to failure - This leads to failure. Each workout becomes an end unto itself, and the athlete starts holding back anticipating the failure thus dulling the ultimate adaptive response.

Over reliance on one exercise or training method - This creates a one trick pony. Highly adapted instead of fully adaptable. You are what you train to be.

Reliance on a machine in training or a modality in rehab - You adapt to that environment; it is an artificial “safe” environment but not the environment you need to perform in. Sport performance occurs in an information rich dynamic environment.

Quick fixes - There are none! I have learned that a quick fix is an easy come, easy go proposition.

Crash programs - Crash programs eventually crash, probably sooner rather than later you can’t hurry the process. Adaptation takes time and the time frames for the various components are quite predictable.

GAIN 2022 - Join US

Join us at GAIN 2022. GAIN is the global leader in coaching and athlete development. https://thegainnetwork.com/  If you want the most impactful professional development experience that will challenge your thinking and improve your practice join the GAIN community of professionals. The emphasis at GAIN is on sharing ideas and challenging each other to grow. No dogma here, jut learning how to ask better questions. We learn from the faculty and from each other. The participants are diverse, across sports and disciples. The characteristic is the willingness to share and challenge each other to be better.

GAIN is a special experience. It is career changing, it has been for me as the founder and those who have attended. This is not your typical clinic – it is plain and simple an experience in total immersion in learning. There is a blend of active learning opportunities, formal presentations, group discussion and informal discussion over meals and in the evening.

Johnny Parkes of IMG shares his thoughts on GAIN: "GAIN has literally been a life changer for me. GAIN is way more than just an educational platform, it is a connection to world class knowledge and practioners. There is obviously value in any presentations you watch, however the power of GAIN is in the networking both at the event and way beyond. It has become my source of learning in connecting with experts in all realms of sports performance . . . GAIN is certainly no echo chamber, where cognitive diversity is welcomed with open arms. Challenging convention respectfully, while being open-minded provide an incredible nucleus for accelerated learning and development

GAIN has helped me navigate the evolution of my coaching. I have been both a sport and athletic development coach, but more heavily on the sport coaching side. This platform helped me navigate a niche for myself in the tennis world by going all in on athletic development leadership, teaching and coaching for the sport I am most passionate about. I have learned how to apply my knowledge more skillfully for what matters in the transfer to successful outcomes for the athletes and populations I am serving."

GAIN is about challenge. It’s fun to be surrounded by people that agree with you, but you need to find people that challenge you to truly improve. That’s why Greg Gatz (Director of Olympic Sports S&C @ UNC) keeps coming back and hopes you will too: “GAIN has always set itself apart from any other conference I’ve attended. Vern, along with the GAIN faculty and members, foster the ability to step back from the status quo and challenge the traditional thought process of training and coaching. It is an invaluable resource that is surrounded by career-long professional relationships.”

See the schedule for the structure of the conference.

To apply go to https://thegainnetwork.com/events/gain2022/#registration

Don’t wait, apply now as enrollment is limited. Looking forward to seeing you at GAIN

Making Shapes

Looking at shapes will give you a different perspective on viewing, analyzing, and effecting change in movement. Look closely at the shapes your athlete must make while performing in their sport. Then look at the shapes they can make. Then look at what they must do to reconcile the shapes they have to make with the shapes they can make. How quickly and efficiently can they change shapes? What is limiting their ability to make the required shapes – it is strength, flexibility, lack of body awareness or something else? With the young developing athletes making shapes is an emphasis. I make it playful and set up tasks that require them to make as many shapes as possible and the challenge each other to change shapes almost like a big improvisational dance. It is very FUNdamental. For the mature senior athletes, I now structure a three to five-minute session of “shapes’ where they have to challenge themselves much like the junior athletes. I find myself increasingly speaking the language of shapes – big, tall, small, round, wide – It has given me a better perspective on reconciling coordination with sport skill. No more robots, just a dance of connected shapes!

Looking Back to help you to Move Ahead

Looking back to gain perspective may at first seem counterintuitive but stay with me on this. Think of the rower in a single scull, their back is to the finish line, they are looking back from where they came from on the previous strokes to stay aligned and moving in the direction of the finish line. We can also gain perspective by looking back on where we have been – that perspective comes from experiences good, bad, and indifferent. Perhaps it is a function of my advancing age, but I find myself looking back on past experiences more often these days, not to be nostalgic but to gain a clearer perspective on what I am doing now. I do not think it is coincidence that I keep discovering people, events, ideas, and concepts that have shaped what I am and what I do. Some of these ideas and people I have let fall to wayside, but reflecting has enabled me to revisit ideas, dust them off and use them today because they are just as relevant and, in some cases, more so.

Game Speed Versus Testing Speed

Testing speed is the time in a 10, 20, 30, or 40 meter or yard sprint. Game speed is a cousin of testing speed. Game speed is the speed you can transfer from testing into the actual game or match. I have been fascinated reading the comments on Super Bowl MVP, Cooper Kupp. The pundits are marveling at what he can do, and yet he can only run 4.63 for forty yards. To me it is not mysterious, he has game speed, he can adapt his speed to the game. He can, decelerate, stop if necessary, and reaccelerate more efficiently. I read a comment from him that said that is what he works on each offseason. Powerful message here – you can chase testing speed times and not be a better player unless you can transfer that speed to the game. Work on planting and cutting, decelerating, and reaccelerating.

Routine – The Cornerstone

The cornerstone of effective practice is routine. A set routine is the basis for consistent practice. Great athletes and great teams have set routines for training that do not vary. In fact, with individual athletes training routines sometimes border on ritual. Routine allows the athlete to focus on the task at hand. There is security in having a routine. It gives an anchor point to build the training session upon. Start on time, have specific objectives, and stay on task, then practice will be meaningful. As coaches we need to set routines for our athletes, we need to teach young developing athletes the necessity of routine as part of their daily preparation. When I change training cycles my first objective is always routine.

Some Thinking about Thinking

I have been thinking about thinking lately. There is a time to think and time to do. I learned this lesson from my high School basketball coach almost 60 years ago. I wanted to be good, so I internalized every bit of instruction and would process and analyze it to the point where sometimes I was so into my head that I was not executing. One day is practice stopped me and emphatically implored me to STOP thinking. He stood me outside the baseline and said you can think here. Then he had me step onto the court and said this is where you do – no thinking just execute! Nothing more needed to be said.

Step by Step

Adaptation to various training stimuli take time. You can’t force adaptation to happen faster than the athlete’s current level of trainability and physical capacity. You must be willing to go step by step Sometimes it is small baby steps forward, sometimes there are steps back and sometimes there are giant leaps forward. Have a system that defines the process, then trust the process and take it step by step.

GAIN 2022

GAIN is back in person in 2022! Applications open today for GAIN 2022, taking place from June 14 to June 18 at Rice University in Houston Texas. Space is limited, so apply soon to secure your space. Some key details are below and you can learn more and register at: https://thegainnetwork.com/events/gain2022/

When is GAIN? June 14 to June 18, 2022

Where is GAIN? Rice University in Houston Texas.

How do I apply? Submit your application at: https://thegainnetwork.com/events/gain2022/ Please be aware enrollment is limited. We will let you know within ten days if you are accepted.

What is GAIN? GAIN is a community of professional’s eager to learn and willing to share ideas and information. GAIN is not about more exercises, sets, reps and training methods it is about passionate people who pursue excellence with honesty, integrity and respect to make a difference in the lives of the people we coach and teach. It is open to Strength & Conditioning/Athletic Development coaches, Sport Coaches, Physical Therapists, ATC’s, Chiropractors, Doctors and Physical Education teachers. You can learn more about GAIN our this week’s GAINcast (https://www.hmmrmedia.com/2022/01/gaincast-episode-235-its-gain-time/) as well as the 2019 State of GAIN presentation (https://thegainnetwork.com/video/state-of-gain-2019-gambetta/).

GAIN Mission - To focus on the possibilities for enhancing human movement with no limits or limitations and emphasize connections and links between all disciplines in the same manner we emphasize connections and linkages in the body.

How much does GAIN cost? Tuition is $2299 for new attendees and $1299 for returning attendees. This includes breakfast, lunch and dinner each day, and lodging at Rice University, as well as access to the GAIN Library, GAIN Master Class Series archives, and HMMR Plus membership.

Why do I have to apply? Can’t I just sign up? Having people apply is part of what makes GAIN special. It would be easier to make it open for anyone to enroll, but that is not what GAIN is about. We are looking for people willing to share and challenge themselves and others to grow professionally. The people in the network with you are as important (maybe even more important) than the faculty experts. The connections and inspiration you get from those around you have a significant impact on the experience.

Who are the faculty? Our full faculty is listed on the GAIN website. We’ve chosen a faculty that has a tremendous breadth of experiences and a record of excellence in across all fields of sports performance from skills coaching to athletic development, to sports medicine and physical education.

Where can I learn more about GAIN? Visit our website (https://thegainnetwork.com/events/gain2022/). You can also call us at 941-378-1778 or email Vern Gambetta at [email protected]