Reponse to the NCB Nightly News

I just received an email from a high school coach who posed some great questions that I think should be posted here:

• What is all of the training and work really for?


• Is it winning alone? Then have I wasted all of my time if we don't win a championship.


• What is it that we accomplish on a grander scale when we do that extra rep, run that extra sprint.


• If we develop the habit of sound work ethic, is that all over when the season ends?


• What do they carry with them into their future.


• What am I doing to train them for future success?

Coach Statom raises some important questions here that are great for every coach, including myself, to ask on a regular basis.

In fact, if any of you would be willing to answer these and email them to me I would love to share them here for other coaches, trainers, and therapists to learn from !

NBC Nightly News- Kids Now

Tonight on NBC Nightly News was a segment entitled 'Kids Now'. The story was about sports performance centers and training young athletes.

Specifically, how trainers are now being put in charge of a future college scholarship for athletes as early as age nine.

According to the staff at CATZ, the featured performance center, training these youth will give them an extra edge. It will give them the tools so that they can be successful and get into the school of their choice. (By the way, I am not sure this is good marketing as every athlete will not experience this.)

On a different note, a child psychologist was interviewed and his viewpoint is that we have created an environment that is all win or lose. He asks, at what price is winning everything or better yet for developing character? (I am finishing up an article on this and will post it here this week)

Here are my personal thoughts on the story:

• Our country is definitely all about winning. So much so that traveling youth competitive teams are as early as age 8! If we continue down this path we will ruin these young athlete's lives both on and off of the field. (more on this soon)
• The athletes shown were in definite need of fundamental movement skill training. But hey just about every kid in this country looks like that as well.
• One clip is shown of a high school male athlete attempting a lateral jump over a four foot high cushioned wall. He got over it but wow was it ugly. Not really sure how doing that will help him perform better.
• It's encouraging to hear a few personal stories of athletes being committed enough to train more than once per week. It is this kind of persistance that will give them the best CHANCE to get to the top

I am not very familiar with the CATZ center except for what I saw on tv tonight. But that is not the point of this post.

However, I am very familiar with other facilities and national training companies. There are many out there which are excellent and are truly impacting these young athlete's lives including Jason Beauparlant's facility in Mass., John Beyle's company in North Carolina, and Roger White's new facility in Detroit. (probably because each of these guys has a physical education background at two of them are PE teachers)

One particular facility that I know for sure 'gets it' is the Center for Athletic Performance founded by my good friend Scott Moody.

Yes it is about improving performance for young athletes, but he is taking it to a whole new level and making it more about developing the athlete as a whole person as well. In addition, he has formed a group that is creating an age based curriculum grounded in practical experience and research at his facility.

How is his facility doing this? The best advice I can give you is to checkout his website at http://www.capprogram.com/.

Oh ya by the way, if you did not see the program, here is the link:

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=25e58331-2fb5-4a97-95f5-1027799f8da0

Commitment

In 2002 I had an opportunity to first work with the Davidson College Men's Basketball program under coach Bob McKillop. It was during one of our initial conversations that he said he only wanted someone to work with his guys who was commited to a relationship. It was at that moment that I realized his coaching wisdom.

That year the team went on to win their conference and made it to the Big Dance. Since then, then have been the cinderalla team going in to the Big Dance and this upcoming season will have over half of their games televised. Not bad for a small college in Davidson, NC.

Why am I mentioning this story? I think it lends to a very important question for those who work with athletes.

Are your athlete's committed in their head or their heart?

It is when you can transform commitment from their head to their heart that true success and significance will start to appear.

How Are You Creating Connection? Part 2

Okay, when I got over 60 emails asking me to send them the outline of the talk that I mentioned in my earlier post, I figured I might as well post it here.

As I said earlier, connection is all about relationships, and there is no greater opportunity for connection than between an athlete and coach. Here's a really simple life principle:

"The greatest experiences in life involve other people."

There are three key points to be aware of when it comes to coaching and creating connection. Specifically relationships are:

1. Guided by trust- Does the athlete trust that you will help them achieve their goals and vision? Can they trust you with personal information that they might not even want mom or dad to know about?
2. Grounded in intimacy (In-To-Me-See)- Does the athlete feel like you are being present with them? Do they feel like you have an interest in them beyond there athletic ability? Or are you on your cell phone while they are training? There is a great quote that comes to mind that says: "You can't make the other fellow feel important in your presence if you secretly feel that he is a nobody."- Les Giblin
3. Grown in accountability- Do you have any accountability measures built in to your program? Are these solely performance based or do they challenge the athlete on a personal level as well.

How are you creating more instrinsic value for your athletes?

Are you getting enough of this?

It's argueably the most important performance principle but yet is the most ignored at the same time. In fact, most everything we do is designed to do the opposite! What am I talking about?

You are only as good as your body and mind's ability to recover

Last night I was in my bed at 8:15pm. Something I have not done in well over fifteen years!!! Although I did not go to sleep until a little before 9pm, I did not have the tv on nor did I read a book (too much stimulation for the brain).

Waking up at 5:45am this morning was great and wow did I feel rested and mentally ready to go! Here are a few links about the importance of sleep for athletes:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3076707/

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/sleep-like-an-olympian

If you think about it, designing a training program is all about proper application of stress. It's too easy to get caught up in the design of the program itself. If we are not careful, we may be doing more harm than good. Below are a few questions to think about when designing a training program for your athletes:

• How much sleep does your athlete get each night?
  
• What about the other events, demands, stresses, etc. that the athlete has throughout their day?
  
• Are there any upcoming major stressors such as tests, semester exams, etc.?


• What is your athlete's daily rhythm? When do they feel most energetic?
  

How are You creating 'connection'?

Coaches and therapists play one of the largest roles in athletic youth and even at times more important than mom or dad. All too often it is easy to focus on training the athlete and making sure that they get in a good workout. However, maybe they don't need that particular workout for that day. Maybe... they just need someone that they can trust and can connect with to listen.

This past weekend I got to give a talk about relationships and it was during my process of preparation that I immediately realized sports is a great analogy! Below was the take home point I made to the group. If you are interested in the outline just shoot me an email.

3 Defining Truths of Connection
"Americans are among the lonliest people in the world." George Gallup

1. People crave relationships


2. Sports creates relationships


3. Coaching is a relationship

Drop-Stop- & Go

I recently just read an article about the ability to change direction. While the author stated many of the traditional things to be aware of such as strength, rate of force development, proper force application of the leg, and upper body sway. HOWEVER... possibly the most important component was not even mentioned!
Force production is definitely important but for field and court athletes the ability to absorb force is just as crucial if not even more important!


As to the authors example of upper body sway and a rise and fall of the hips producing unwanted vertical movement during change of direction, just focusing on those specific body parts for strength and stability is like putting a bandaid on the problem!

The following are a few concepts that I use with athletes when developing their ability to change direction:

• Stopping is bending- particularly I use the phrase 'Drop-Stop- & Go'

• Use the inside leg to help decelerate the body- proper mechanics of deceleration will help setup the body to efficiently change direction and therefore possibly even eliminate upper body sway and unwanted vertical motion of the hips. Why?
  
  By using the inside leg you are now placing up to 50% less stress on the outside leg and the body does not have to compensate for such high loads and g-forces on only one leg
• Force Aborption based Plyos- one of the first stages when implementing a plyometric program is to focus on an athlete's ability to land properly and then land efficiently. The next step is to be able to come to a complete stop in under one second. Why?
  
  Research shows that the average ground contact time for field sports is between .85- 2.0 seconds. Just by adding this parameter alone in an athlete's program you may begin to see improvement on the field

These are only three of the top five coaching points used with athletes. I will post the other two soon.

If you train Professional Athletes here is some good advice

In yesterday's newspaper there was an article about Antoine Walker and his training habits. In fact, head coach Pat Riley has even publicly called him out due to his dissapointment in Walker's conditioning.

Anyway, if you are a coach who presently works with professional athletes take to heart the following advice that Coach Riley gives at the end of the editorial:

"Antoine plays hoops and has a trainer. The trainer should call me on the phone and say , 'What are your expectations? What are your expectations of a guy that is paying me, training him to get me ready for training camp?' And he never did."

Coaching is all about relationships, clarity, and communication. Being proactive in all three areas will only help you to prepare your athlete(s) to perform their best when their time comes.


Now I know that I biased this towards pro athletes but the same goes for working with young athletes as well. There is most likely no one who knows that young athlete better than you. Therefore, getting in touch with his or her sports coach will only help to give your athlete their best chance of success!

Latest Hop & Stop Test Results- Div. I Men's College Basketball

I recently tested a Division I Men's College Basketball team using the Hop & Stop test. I will be retesting them again here in ten days as well. My test notes are below:

Team Results

Team Hop Avg is 100%

• Force production test
  
• Goal should be for every player to score at least this number
  

Team Leap Avg is 102%

• Force absorption test
  
• This is an under performing score as the goal should be a minimum of 105% and ideally 107%

Symmetry scores for both tests should be as follows:

• 0-5 Green Zone (acceptable)
  
• 6-10 Yellow Zone (acceptable but needs attention)
  
• 11+ Red Zone (evaluate and address specific issues; at high risk of non-contact injuries)

Individual Notes

• 3 players scored above 10 in Hop Symmetry
• 3 players scored well below team avg. in Hop Test
• 4 players scored above 10 in Leap Symmetry
• 5 players scored poorly on at least one leg for Leap Test

I made a previous post for results with a Women's Div. III college soccer team which you can view here

The Danger of Variety

It seems that more and more coaches, trainers, and therapists are looking for the feel of 'NEW' and 'VARIETY' in their exercises.

While variety is important to keep the athlete/client interested and preventing the body from becoming adapted, we must make sure that the basic skills are mastered first.

Below is a great phrase that I recently heard from a quantum physics discussion that applies so true to training:

"Muscles/nerves that fire together wire together."

Summary

• Implement exercises in your program (warm-up on the field or court, in the weight room, etc) that 'Turn On' the right muscles for that movement. The most common example is getting the glutes to fire in quad dominant athletes.


• Repetions can be a good thing and are encouraged until the athlete can show mastery of a particular skill.


• I usually build our movement program around 6-8 exercises and add variety with caution, especially when working with young athletes.

Battle for the Ball Strength Program

Here is a short video showing a few basic exercises that young athletes can perform during their inseason.

The video is actually taken from an article titled 'How to Battle for the Ball' at http://www.fitnessforsoccer.com/. I will post the article here in the next few days.

What effect are you producing for your athletes?

Coaches are all too often judged solely by the results they do or do not produce. While at the pro and college level jobs are based on this same dynamic, there is another criteria that is just as important when it comes to preparing athletes to perform their best.

Coaching Efficacy
Efficacy is the ability to produce a desired effect. And for coaches this is critical as it is our job to create/build/design/support what matters most to or for the athlete, even if he or she disagrees with you.

A few reflective questions that I ask myself going into the start of the week include:

• Is the athlete following the best path right now in order to get the best result?
• If not why?
• What is not working or missing right now in their program that is slowing down their momentum towards personal success?
• Which area(s) need my immediate attention today/this week? (i.e. physical issues, environmental issues, inner game issues, etc.)

Asking yourself these questions will help you to get the best out of your athlete and yourself!

NFL Football Ref

Last week, Jon Reep was announced the winner of the tv show 'Last Comic Standing'. While I did not watch the season series, I did watch the final two episodes. Mainly because Jon is from the same town where my parent's use to live in Hickory, North Carolina, and his final act involved him discussing the NFL Carolina Panthers.

So just in case you missed it and are looking for a good laugh here it is below:

Communicating with your Athletes

Here's a great question to ask yourself...

Are your words counted or are they weighed by your athtetes?

Is your speed training biased?

Are you creating 'Mindful' training sessions?

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Ron Quinn, an associate professor at Xavier and also well known soccer coach.

During our discussion of young athletes we went down the path of being mindful versus being mindless. Below are four suggestions to help keep your athletes 'Mindful' and challenge their 'Inner Game':

• ask your athletes to tell you what are the similar skills involved in an old drill and a new one you are introducing
• ask your athletes what are the applicable principles of movement mechanics during a known drill
• ask your athletes to relate principles to the objective of an unknown or new skill/drill
• ask your players to relate the skill to a game specific situation

Single Leg Squats and 'Knee Dominant' Exercises

Yesterday I saw a video on what was classified as 'Knee Dominant' exercises. Of the four or five that were presented, two of them were not actually knee dominant at all!

What was even more amazing was that the athlete in the video was loaded with a substantial amount of weight while performing a single leg squat. However, the fact that the athlete could actually perform the rep was not the amazing part. Yes it displays a great amount of strength, but performance based strength is not about the amount of load. It is about generating TORQUE! (more on this topic in a future post)

This is why it is so important for coaches, trainers, and therapists to understand basic concepts of biomechanics. For example, performing a single leg squat off of a box while driving both arms in front of the body as well as the non-loaded leg is not a knee dominant exercise after all. In fact, it is a hip dominant exercise due to position of the center of mass.

Classification of exercises is critical as they have a huge impact on program design!

How to choose the right coach- Part 2

One of the best things to do when looking for a coach to work with you is to setup a block of time where you can go and watch him/her work with another athlete.

Get to the session early, preferably before the scheduled athlete arrives and be on the lookout for the following:

1. Relationship- How does the coach interact with the athlete? Is it more like blind obedience or a partnership?
   
2. Communication- How does the coach speak to the athlete? Is it a do what I say approach? Or are there open questions and vivid examples used during explanations?


3. Clarity- Is the coach speaking in such a way that the athlete clearly understands what is being expected of him or her?


4. Connection- Is there a visible bond between the coach and the athlete? How does the coach motiviate, encourage, and inspire the athlete? Especially during times of frustation?

These are just a few of the key areas to observe when looking for the right coach for you.

With a 27% Chance of making this team would you still tryout?

What I heard today is absolutely crazy! I called one of the young athletes that I work with to find out how he felt he did at his football tryouts today. This young man is thirteen years old and in the eight grade.

This is the first year the school will have a full team comprised of both seventh and eight graders as the school is now only going into it's second year.

One hundred and forty five young men came out for the three day tryout! Holy cow! And of that total, the coach will only keep forty players on the team. That works out to about a 27% chance that each player has of making the team.

Now I can take a number of view points from this point on in this post including:

1. What does a young player have to do in order to get an edge going into the tryouts?


2. How does a middle school coach rule out that many players trying out for the team?


3. What happens to all of those who do not make the team? Are there other sports for them to participate and stay active in for the fall? Probably not.


4. Even for those players that do make the team, there will be at least a handful who will most likely never even see the field.

As I don't want to write a book here, below are a few brief thoughts on each:

1. FOCUS on becoming a good athlete. In other words, in the few weeks leading up to tryouts that we had together, the goal was to not try and make him the strongest or the fastest player on the field. Why?
   
   At this point in his development there is no way for that to happen anyway. Therefore, our goals were to establish a foundational base of bodyweight strength combined with building habits that promote fundamental movement skills. What is the result?
   
   Well now a player who is a bit faster but definitely stronger, more stable, more flexible, and can play low without compromising optimal body position in order to produce power! Most of all, taking this approach has helped to instill some self-confidence which at this level can be the deciding factor often times of personal success.
   


2. Not sure I have an answer here. Over the first two days the tryouts consisted of running long distance, performing a few sets of pushups, suicide sprints, and completing an agility drill for time. Maybe not the best format but it is solid and can serve more to disqualify players than the other way around. ( can be a good thing!)
   


3. Again not sure here either. Yes many of these kids could play multiple sports. However, for those that do not make the team they will most likely not have the sport specific skills in other sports during the same season. (Don't confuse this with playing football, basketball, and then track. These are all different seasons of play).
   


4. Yes it will hopefully be a positive experience for those players who make the team but never see the field. Although I would doubt it as the fun part is all about playing the game!

The main take home point here is yet again the concern for youth sports here in the United States. We definitely have the worlds largest potential talent pool but we have no system in place to help develop these kids! What's worse, our present system dictates for us coaches that we turn away late blooming talent that could one day turn out to be our countries best.

Good luck to all of those players trying out this week. Just making the team means that you beat some incredible odds! Especially in situations like the one I mentioned here.

Choosing the right coach

Now that fall is here and most field sports are well under way, I have begun to receive emails from parents around the country about how to pick the right training company/coach.

Here is my two cents worth:

• For the most part performance and the training process have now become almost a commodity; meaning there are more similarities than differences in the customer's eyes.
• Unfortunately the truly unique coaches and fitness professionals do a poor job of communicating what actually makes them unique and therefore get automatically labeled as a 'trainer'.
• What separates the best is 'how' these coaches/services deliver what they do.

Ask yourself- Does the coach/trainer you work with outbehave the competition?

More on this tomorrow!