Functional Path Training

Let the “Games” Begin

As the games begin I run the gamut of emotions from the excitement of seeing the best of the best go head to head to deep despair and disappointment. As young coach in 1972 and 76 the Olympics was pure excitement, it was in my mind the pinnacle of athlete excellence. I trained with some Olympians and getting to see them in the big show was special. I got to go to Montreal as a spectator. It was so exciting I was like a kid in a candy store I was oblivious to the politics going on. I was there, I went to the practice track every day from day literally from dawn to dusk until track & field competition began. When the competition began I would watch the warm-ups at the practice track and run to my seat in the stadium for the competition. What an inspirational learning experience. It was heady times for a naïve young coach who thought it was all about technique and training and good coaching. Little did I know what was to come?

Then I got to the higher levels of the sport of track and field. I was now coaching national and international athletes and was serving on various committees of TAC (The precursor to USATF). It was then that the reality of the cheating and corruption hit me. It was not fun to watch. I saw it first hand when the American track and field athletes were offered so-called “educational testing” leading into the 1984 games. In essence they were being educated in how to beat the system. I saw the inner working of what is now USATF, an organization that makes FIFA look like the boy scouts. I know you are thinking that was almost forty years ago, yes and it is the same people and coaches involved today.

That brings us to today with the games set to begin. We have athletes from the US who are considered potential stars of the games who have tested positive more than once. We have the same drug coaches coaching. We are as far from the Olympic spirit as is possible. It is all driven by billions of dollars of sponsorship and television money. All that being said I will still watch selected events and sports there is still something special about this level of competition. I am looking forward to seeing the athletes that I have worked with compete because I know they have not cheated. I wish good luck to the honest and clean athletes and coaches who hopefully will be able to rise above the madness. My dream, a dream I hope to see in my lifetime is truly clean sport where there are lifetime bans and bans for coaches who cheat. I dream about seeing these young 11 & 12-year-old swimmers I am working with now have a chance to compete on a level playing field. Let the games begin and celebrate the true Olympic spirit.

Different Eyes

Everyone has a bias when they look at movement. This was underscored in the past few days when as we did the Physical Competency Assessments in Trinidad. The people that were physical therapists looked at the movement different than the doctors who looked at movement different than the coaches. Each had (have) what I call perspective bias. We all tend to look at movement from a perspective colored by our experience. I was constantly imploring everyone doing the evaluations to look at movement with a “coaching eye”.  By coaching eye I mean taking a more global perspective, focus on the linkages and connections rather that the links and the connectors. Step back, change observation points and perspective. If you zero in on one part you lose perspective, then the output is reductionist and segmented. No part of the body works in isolation in movement, that concept should drive us to look at movement with different eyes. It was revealing on Sunday when we all sat down and analyzed the results. The numbers came to life. Everyone in the room was looking at how the numbers on the various tests connected. A score of 1 on ankle range is poor, but when you look at it in relation to the glute or a hop test it assumed even more significance. Seeing movement with different eyes, to observe quality of connections and flow of movement moved everyone toward evaluating the training and rehab with a different perspective. That translated the testing numbers into action, it put the focus squarely on solutions instead of dysfunction, but to do this effectively you need a well developed “coaching eye”.

American Masters – Merle Haggard

I love this PBS program, but last nights program on Merle Haggard was real special. Certainly brought back memories of my college years in the 60’s at Fresno State. That is where I first heard Haggard and was introduced to the “Bakersfield Sound” and country music in general. More of my education came out of the classroom as I saw racism and real dirt poor poverty for the first time. The things Haggard sang about in his songs. (Seeing a family of twelve in a tar paper shack in 105 degree heat was a wake-up for me - never complained about no air conditioning in the dorms after that.) The great central valley may have been the breadbasket of the world, but in the sixties the sons and daughters of the Okies were being forced to change and it was not always comfortable. Merle Haggard’s music and life is a really metaphor or the turmoil in this most conservative region of the country. He is most definitely the “poet of the common man.”  www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/merle-haggard/watch-the-full-film/1605/

Odds and Ends

If you did not see this Frontline from this Tuesday on PBS, it is worth watching http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/  it is Titled Digital _ Nation  life on the virtual frontier. It answered many questions for me and raised many more. Is all our supposed digital progress a zero sum gain?

Super Hype – More people watched the Champions League final last year than will watch the Stupor Bowl. Real football is much more exciting than our static version.

For every stroke in the Olympic final in rowing Matthew Pinsent trained for 15 hours! The road to a gold medal is paved with sacrifice and sweat.

For those of you who are interested you can follow me on twitter @coachgambetta

Read Linchpin - Seth Godins new book. It is a game changer! Finished it last night going to reread it this weekend. Full of gems.

Some spots left in GAIN Apprentorship - looking for motivated professionals who want to define Athletic Development. Special scholastic price available.

What is the infatuation with the Functional Movement Screen? Multi Tasking = Distraction, confusion and mediocre output. If you think it works look closely at result, it does not. I did not need research to tell me that.

"When you make the complicated simple, you make it better. But when you make the complex simple, you make it wrong." Dave Gray Founder and Chairman of XPLANE, the visual thinking company

That’s Why They Play the Game

I had to chuckle when I looked at the paper this morning and saw that the Orlando magic had defeated the Cleveland Cavilers. One week ago the Cavaliers were crowned as the next NBA champions! What happened? Folks that is why they still play the game. Much to the horror of Nike and the NBA what will happen if the Denver Nuggets and the Orlando Magic end up in the final? That will be a TV ratings disaster! No Lebron James and Kobe Bryant? Somehow I think Nike and Commissioner Stern will figure out a way to get LA in there. Remember this is not about sport, it is entertainment business. Big bucks win out! Sorry for the dripping sarcasm and cynicism, but it is too hard to ignore.