Starting From The Ground Up
‘Starting from the ground up’ is the best way to develop an effective coaching/training program, whether it is in the weight room, on the court, ice or diamond.
First; consider, contemplate and create the purpose, values, and goals of the organization or team. It cannot be overstated that an organization (program) that does not have a clearly defined “guide-book” is subject to failure.
Here are a few things to consider when looking at writing this down.
#1 - Make sure you actually write it down!! If you do not commit it to paper, it is not real. Take as long as you need but make sure you get it out of your head and into the world.
#2 - This is a great individual and team-building activity. Having others collaborate on the creation of a unified team goal will strengthen the culture of the team. Much as in the classroom, when teachers allow their students to determine the “next-step” to their learning process, they become invested in the process and see it as a part of them, and they see themselves as a part of something bigger than themself.
#3 It is not the role of the coach to accept their first draft but to challenge it. Don’t let their vision be confined to their surroundings.
Here is a helpful handout to print and share with your team members. It is not the only one, but one that has worked in the past!
Second; develop strategies to achieve your goals. In the weight room, it is essential that we look at the athletes’ physical abilities (ie. testing) to determine the starting point and long-term development pathway of the athletes. Coaches, similarly, must evaluate the players’ abilities, then prepare a plan for the season. It is unproductive to develop a plan without understanding the skills and athletes to execute the desired plan. Instead, build a plan around the strengths of the athletes, and develop other skills to compliment.
If you are working with youth sports, first, take a look at what the National sport organizations have produced in the respective LTAD document.
In terms of the quality of movement for your youth athletes there are 2 approaches that can be used to properly assess movement skills. 1. Look at the PLAY tools resources,or 2. Hire a qualified strength coach that can help to monitor your athletes progress.
Third; when designing a program (sport or training), the ‘ground-up’ approach looks at fundamental movement competency first, before attempting to develop sport-specific abilities. Far too often, ‘trainers’ and parents push athletes to adopt an adult style training program before measuring or assessing their capacity to perform basic non-structured movements, or fundamental movement/motor skills patterns like running, skipping, throwing, etc.
The PLAY tools are again going to be a helpful resource.
If you are looking for some fun drills and strategies to work on with your youth sport team, take a look at Achieve Performance for some examples of fundamental movement skills in action.
Again, structuring in strength training at an early age is safe and effective when working with a quality coach, whose job is first and foremost to “do no harm”.
Fourth; after assessing your athletes, and discovering their strength and limiting factors, the plan should be to build an environment that challenges the athletes to learn, adapt and grow with a movement focused training program that addresses ankle, hip, torso and shoulder mobility, and stability.
The image depicts the “Joint-by-Joint” approach to biomechanical movement, popularized by Mike Boyle and Grey Cook.
Here is the underlying concept of the Joint-by-Joint approach: for every Stable joint in the body, there is a Mobile joint in proximity. Both stable and mobile joints act upon each other. A good way to remember this is to sing a little jingle that everyone likely knows. “your toes is connected to your an-kle, your ankle is connected to your knee-ee, your knee is connected to your hi-ip….” you get the idea.
Stable joints like the knees, elbows, shoulder blades, lumbar spine, etc provide a structure through which force and energy are applied.
Mobile joints like the ankles, hips, t-spine, shoulders, etc, allow the body to move into advantageous positions to generate stress and pull on the muscles, thus producing stretch and force potential.
Let me take you though a conversation you might have with a strength coach about this:
Q: So why would I (a sports coach) want to know about the joint-by-joint approach?
A: Because for every rep the athlete takes, they are grooving patterns that make them more and more competent at performing a single skill (or set of skills) that are desirable to achieve success (ie. goals, points, etc) in the respective sport.
Q: “Ok, I get that, that is what I want. But that still doesn’t explain why I (coach) need to know about this”
A: Doesn’t it? Your role as a coach is to foster a passion for sport, provide a safe and engaging environment and develop mechanical and social stress that provide an opportunity for adaptation. So if you are simply looking at your athletes and want to provide the most advantageous environment for them to perform a skill, wouldn’t it help to know how the body produces, transfers and applies force to an object or skill? Won’t that help them see success and enjoy the process?
Q: “I guess so.”
A: And if you are able to create a skill-based or technical based practice that requires the athletes to be able to move and learn (kinaesthetically - physically) then having some knowledge of how to best stress those stable and mobile joints for optimal movement would actually enhance their overall skills and abilities. Would you agree?
Q: “I guess so. But I don’t want to spend my whole practice ‘training’”
A: Nor do you have to. It can be as simple as adding a few ‘none-sport’ specific drills to their pre-practice routine that will challenge their bodies. This “warm-up” shouldn’t be running around the field and getting into footwork drills (please insert your sports standard ‘warm-up’ routine), rather a full body preparation that addresses 3 things:
Circulation and muscle tissue length
SMR techniques
Stretching
Mobile joints
restore the joint to the optimal range
support the structures
Stable joints
restore the joint to the optimal position
stress them to adapt to greater stability demands
To recap; after you have addressed your planning, goals, strategies and physical preparation, it will be essential that coaches take this next part to heart.
You are always growing, learning and evolving as a coach.
What you do this week, month and year is going to become the foundation from which you build a career in coaching (professional or not).
But, it is not going to be your best work! Your best work will always be what you do today, in this moment, as long as you adopt a “always be growing and learning” mentality.
Each year, I work tirelessly to learn and grow with every article, video, workout that I engage with/in. I am humbled every day to how much I don’t know. But, like you, it is not my job to have all of the answers. It is my job to provide the best information and services that are available to me at that time and place. I am reminded each day, that tomorrow will bring a new challenge, a new opportunity, a new injury to fix, a new athlete to coach, and a new club to support.
Total you are the best you can be at whatever you do. Go out and chase your goals and dreams with passion and enthusiasm.
If you are not sure how to implement the strategies mentioned, contact us today to get started with our coaches.
All the best,
Coach Rory
Source: https://londonsportsxpress.ca/starting-from-the-ground-up/