Muhammad Ali - Performance & Preparation meets

Where does it all start. Where does it come from, what we see on the pitches, in the pool or in the boxing ring.

Muhammad Ali, Heavyweight Champion of the boxing world summed it up as follows:

"Before I get in the ring, I have already won or lost. The real part is won or lost somewhere far away from witnesses, behind the line, in the gym, out there on the road, long before I dance under those light."

How many coaches (and here I include myself) teach their athletes this concept or how many rather leave it to how they perform on the day and then criticise the athlete for poor performance? Are we preparing our athletes completly prior to the competition and acknowledge the fact that what we see in the game is a reflection of the training.

This I see time and time again with the athletes I have dealt with. Those that prepare well and prepare completely preform successfully. Those who don't fail. However if we are talking about proper preparation we need to make sure we are cover all the bases. This must include all components that make a sucessful athlete. This should include the physical, psychological / emotional & spiritual preparation. Neglecting one component leads to the potential for poor performance & then we should not be upset.

So remembering that 'I have won or lost' before I have even enter the ring or pool, places a totally different dynamic & perspective on my preparation and how performance meets up with preparation.

SB

Need for speed

So was listening the other day to a NSCA podcast on speed development for young athletes. Was a good listen, with a few key principles standing out for me.

At the moment my swimmers that i coach is coming off 2 competitions that were important for them, but within the next 2 weeks a few of them will be competing in the SA Youth & senior nationals competition, where the need for speed is paramount.

Speed is somethung I realise cannot only be developed in just the last phase of preparation for the major competition, but rather something that needs to be constantly developed over the entire season & athletic career. It is something my swimmers doing weekly, otherwise they will never know what it feels like when they expected to do it.

So here are the principles they highlighted:
¤ Use logical progressions. Progressive overload is key
¤ Don't turn your back on a young athlete. That is when bad habits are learnt
¤ Slow to fast. Learn the techniques slowly then speed them up
¤ FUN is critical. Young athletes need to have when training especially whilst learning about speed development.
¤ Simple to difficult. Don't start complex, start singular & progress to more difficult components.
¤ Back to basics. We often forget what the basics are by trying to complicate things.

So hopefully this will challenge your thoughts and processes on speed development especially when dealing with younger developmental athletes. This principles can also be applied to older more advance athletes.

SB

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So why have I been so quiet?

Well, as you will be well aware, the last time I have posted anything on this blog was on New Years day this year. Well for various reasons, however their are two main reasons. One, I have just plain and simply been slack at continuing with what I had started. The other reaason, however, has a little more substance. At the end of last year there occured some changes within my work environment with my changes jobs and job profiles.

As from 1st of January 2009 I officially started in a new position, working full time within the swimming program at a leading Unversity, a leading club in South Africa and in Africa. During the last few months my time has been spent on re-directing, streamlining (no pun intended), and coaching within the program. Days have been long and we are slowly starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel - hopefully it is not another on-coming train :-).

So over the next period of time, I will try and attempt to put more posts on the blog. Feel free to comment on posts, thoughts etc and hopefully the information I place will stimulate all our thought process and in turn contribute to meaningful thought and discussions on various topics. This blog will give you - hopefully - a snapshot into how my mind works.

God Bless

Happy New Year

So 2009 is but 1hour old here in the southern tip of africa. Here's wishing you and your loved ones a blessed 2009. May God's grace be upon you and your family. May you grow from strength to strength through His guidance and love and may all your dreams become reality according to His ultimate plan for you.

 

Looking forward to an awesome 2009 and many interesting and entertaining posts.

Keep well

2009 Topics

2009 is upon us and 2008 is drawing to a very quick end. What a year it has been within the world of sport and I am sure 2009 is going to provide much excitement to all of us sports lovers. I am looking forward to 2009 and I hope that this blog will grow from strength to strength, reach more people, stimulate out-of-the-box thinking, encourage new ideas and ways of doing things and ultimately contribute to the world of sport participation.

 

2009 I plan on throwing out new ideas, challenging our present way of thinking and implementing ideas and hopefully through the posts and the comments placed we will be able to achieve this. Here is a list of some expected themes, topics and discussion points in the upcoming year.

 

• The Suite vs The Man - what role is the external contributors making to athletic success
• The athletic individual as a machine
• Recovery methods revised
• New trends in S&C
• The hype around the swim suites & the contribution to over 100 World Records in 2008
• Interviews with individual athletes on all levels
• The roles of the athlete, coach, parent & administrator
• Strength gains in the gym - does it really help the athlete
• Various programs uncovered
• Reflections of coaching athletes.

 

Hoepfully these already stimulate thought and I look forward tol interacting with you over 2009, on these and many more topics. Please feel free to comment and I look forward to it so that we can build interaction between Strength & Conditioning professionals and coaches.

 

Keep well & watch this space

Steven

Merry Christmas

May this Christmas be a special time for u & your loved ones, a time of reflection on what this special day symbolises(that Jesus was born to fulfill his destiny & save our lives), and a day filled with love, happiness & abundant blessings.

 

Psalm139 The Lord has a plan 4 each of us, the same He had a plan 4 his son Jesus. Celebrate the start of his destiny.

 

To all our family, friends, colleagues, clients, faithful blog readers and all who stumble across our blogs, we wish you all much love, and thank you for being part of our lives.

God Bless, Love Steven & Robyn - 'The Balls' (Keep Bouncing!)

Attributes of a Great Coach

So this morning I received this from a friend and colleague. It is what Bill Sweetenham believes to be the 7 attributes of a Great coach. Bill is a legend in the field of swimming coaching, development of young athletes and performance. He is a dynamic individual, straight to the point, sticks to his beliefs and is out-of-the box when it comes to thinking. So enjoy the read.

 

 

Bill Sweetenham's 7 attributes of a Great coach  (legendary Aussie/Brit swim coach)

 Coaching is convincing the willing and unwilling to give totally, and to be
enthusiastic about doing what they might like or dislike at any given point
 in time in any given conditions, to achieve what they previously considered
desirable but impossible.

1. An unconditional passion for the sport
2. An unchallenged love of working with others where anything and everything
is possible
3. A desperate obsession for success
4. An open mind
5. A quest for knowledge and personal development
6. The ability to get the job done no matter the obstacles
7. The ability to sell ice to Eskimos and motivate dogs not to eat bones.