Beyond The Sporting Arena (Coaching the Complete Young Athlete)

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Introduction

I’ve read many wonderful articles, books by some of the World’s top coaches.  Between them, they cover the coaching all of the physical attributes needed by athletes in any sport. One area of coaching that I less-often come across, however, is that of the relationship between coach and young athlete and how it can relate to turning a young athlete into a well-rounded person. And that is the key word – “person”. It’s so vital for us, coaches, to remember that when all is said and done, sport is only a single portion of one’s life. It may provide a passionate hobby, or, even a career, but it is still only a portion. What shapes the person’s life is; personal attitudes, belief-systems, ability to take responsibility, personality, and more. The coach can play a huge part in contributing to so much more of an athletes’ life than merely his/her sporting performance. So, here is my philosophy.

First, just a little background on my coaching practice – I have worked with teams, small groups, and individuals, as well as adult general population, and young athletes. The Sports vary – Soccer, Gaelic Football, Hurling, Rugby, Irish Dancing, etc… Currently I am focusing largely on small groups, and one-to-one sessions with young athletes. All of these are at amateur level, and have many ambitions to become elite performers in the future. It is my job to help them, as best, I can, reach their various short and long-term goals. However, no matter their sporting achievements in the future, if I haven’t helped that athlete learn to contribute to society in a much wider scope than playing sports, I consider myself a failure as a coach.

Now, you may be thinking, “that’s what parents are for”. True. But how many of us, as teenagers, or younger, actually listened to our parents? Or took in the lessons about accepting responsibility? Very few. But the power of the “third party” influence is considerable. My athletes take on board lessons from me, which they may not take from their parents. Just like I took them from other adults, when I was their age. I’ve also been a Martial Arts (Taekwon-Do) instructor for 24 years. Because Taekwon-Do training is as much mental, as it is physical, no doubt the ethos I promote, in that, filters in to my S&C coaching also.

1

Begin at the beginning

As coaches we all typically start with the assessment of the athlete – posture, gait, etc… as soon as they walk in the door. But there’s more, so much more, right there. What’s the eye contact like? Posture is more than just “posture” – what about “walking tall with confidence?” How do they interact with their parent, with me? Do they speak clearly, or mumble? All of this speaks volumes about their “spirit.” Throughout the assessment I interact with my new young client as much as possible carefully observing how they interact with me. This serves as a good indicator for social skills I will integrate into the coaching sessions.

I also carefully watch any interaction with the parent before, during and after the session to see how respectfully they treat their parent. This is something that may need to be addressed, if necessary, and at the appropriate time.

2

Responsibility

Parents are typically chuffed, if a little surprised, when I ask what their young teenager does at home to help out. Things I am looking for are: making their own bed, putting clothes away, keeping their own space tidy – stuff like that. If the parents are surprised, you should see the look on the kids’ faces. But to me it’s fairly simple – team sports require leaders, especially in important, game-changing moments. Coaches need to try to develop leaders. How can a person expect to take responsibility for a team’s performance, if they can’t take responsibility for looking after their own stuff? Additionally, I remind the young athlete that their parent is paying a lot of money for the privilege of coming to me for coaching. The least they can do is pull their weight at home, and do their best at school.

Sometimes during a Taekwon-Do class, I will do a quick check on presentation by my young students. This includes checking for clean and ironed uniforms. Now, can we expect a ten-year-old child to wash and iron his uniform? Of course not. But we can certainly expect them to put the uniform in the laundry after class, to make sure it is washed. And it is not a big deal to check with a parent if it was ironed, a couple of days before the next class, instead of 5 minutes before they are due to leave. All it requires is taking some responsibility. These are things us coaches can pass along. I learnt how to sew a patch on my uniform, when I was a teenager, from my own instructor, at the time, Master Don Dalton. It was a bloodbath, but I got better with a needle and thread.

4

Talent or Presentation?

A current mentor of mine Master Mark Hutton, from Glasgow constantly reminds people that it is often not the most talented people who get the best jobs and opportunities in life, but usually those with the best communication skills. Talented people who cannot step outside of their comfort zone, and stake claim to opportunities when they arise do, indeed, often miss out. Helping our athletes with eye contact, speaking clearly, etc.… can transform their lives inside and outside of Sport.

Self-belief

Only a percentage of the athletes we coach will ever make it really big in sports. That is just a fact of life. But that doesn’t mean they cannot be winners in life, and reach their full potential at whatever level they play at. As well as coaching all the physical attributes they need to reach that potential, we have a responsibility, in my opinion, to instil attributes, such as self-belief and self-esteem as well. Missing team selections, match losses, these are all opportunities to learn and grow. The coach that will be remembered, for all that person’s life, is one that can put these disappointments and challenges in perspective, and show that self-image is more than what you achieve.

5

Relationship

So how can a coach manage all this? Well, it really boils down to the type of relationship that you develop with your athlete. What is a coach? A friend? A mentor? Maybe a combination of both? This is an important factor because they are not the same. After all, a friend tells you what you WANT to hear, whereas a mentor tells you what you NEED to hear. In my opinion, there’s a place for both, in the right circumstances. Experience and judgement will tell you what those circumstances are.

3

Basically, you have to give a damn about your athletes beyond how they perform, especially when it’s young athletes you coach. That means getting to know them – age, school year, pets, other interests, so you can connect and use analogies that they can relate to.

I am now teaching the child of one of my former students. I can think of no greater honour than making an impression on your athlete so great that they return years later wanting their own child to learn from you.

Strength Training for Women

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strength-training-for-women

Irish boxer, Katie Taylor, has just launched her professional boxing career with a win. She trains as any athlete should – for strength, power, conditioning, etc… In my opinion, she epitomises what all sports should be about – and particularly, athleticism.

It seems to me that the biggest challenge with regard to women doing strength training is that there are too few doing it! There are many reasons for this. A US study1 illustrated a few reasons why women shy away from strength training:

  • Both the female athletes and the coaches saw strength training as less vital for the female athletes than the male athletes.
  • The females were not as confident with regard to weight training as the men.
  • The females saw weight training as a masculine activity.

Other reasons may be:

  • Women are self-conscious about entering the weight section of a gym.
  • They associate weight training with becoming larger and heavier.
  • They believe females should not lift heavy weights.

I will attempt to dispel these notions, and also address certain female-only factors in fitness such as menstruation, use of oral contraceptive pill (OCP), etc…

Few have done more to illustrate the benefits of strength and power training in women’s sport than the Williams sisters in Tennis. The sheer athleticism and power they display when playing is testimony to their scientific and balanced training regime. Some major benefits of strength training for women are:

  • Increase bone mineral density (BMD): Women are prone to this disease as they age. In fact, research2 has shown that women are seven times more likely to suffer from low BMD if they haven’t partaken in sporting activities when younger.
  • Reduced risk of injury: By doing rational strength training, females can strengthen connective tissue such as ligaments and tendons, thereby improving joint stability.
  • Improved performance in sport: Once the key areas such as maximum strength and power are attended to, there is tremendous potential for increased physicality and performance in sport.
  • Improved body composition: Body fat decreases as a result of increased muscle tissue development. Because muscle tissue is more compact, but also heavier than fat, it would not be unusual for a lady to fit better in her clothes yet her weight stay the same or even slightly increase, due to strength training.

Key Factors

PEAI conference 2015 1

  • Women can match men proportionately in terms of lower body strength. However, there is a disparity between male and female upper body strength. This also means that women have the greater potential for improvement and can demonstrate this if they lift enough weight, the right way.
  • Women have a smaller cross-section of muscle fibres resulting in less demonstrable strength. Because so many sports require powerful movements, females participating in these need to work extra hard at developing power in the weights room by stimulating the development of as many fast twitch, type II fibres as possible.
  • Women need to abandon their fear of looking like men as a result of doing strength training; otherwise, the quality of their strength training may suffer. The major factor resulting in hypertrophy in men is the high levels of testosterone they produce since puberty. These levels may be as high as ten or twenty times women’s levels3. Therefore, women need not fear building huge muscles unless they are ingesting testosterone or anabolic steroids. It seems women have higher resting levels of Growth Hormone (GH), on average, than men which may compensate for the low levels of testosterone and allow women to undergo strength training adaptations.
  • The use of OCP by women can provide certain advantages for female athletes. While there may be a small increased risk of breast cancer (if using OCP for 10+ years without having children) and reduced aerobic capacity, some training benefits of using OCP are4:
  1. Can reduce the natural fluctuations in strength throughout the menstrual cycle
  2. Seems to reduce carbohydrate usage in prolonged training
  3. Reduced menstrual blood loss
  4. May reduce premenstrual symptoms, so will have less effect on training and competitions

All women taking OCP should educate themselves fully on the pros and cons of usage.

  • Observations indicate that the menstrual cycle need not have any major bearing on performance. It is not unusual for highly trained females to experience secondary amenorrhea (cessation of periods). Careful attention to nutrition and healthy lifestyle are all key factors in minimising menstrual disruption. In any case, menstrual symptoms can be highly individual to the particular athlete. (Zatisiorsky and W. Kraemer, 2006)
  • Women need not stop strength training when they become pregnant, but adjustments in the program may need to be made, specifically:
  1. Avoid introducing any new exercises to a programme.
  2. Eliminate sit-ups from the program.
  3. Due to hormonal changes which soften connective tissue and increase risk of injury, pregnant women should reduce intensity of strength exercises.

It is strongly advisable for a female athlete to communicate with her doctor regarding her training programme.

Training Tips for Female Athletes

  • Learn the correct technique of the strength exercises before loading up.
  • Women undergo the same type of adaptations as men, so should use similar programmes, exercises and relative resistance as men.
  • To increase bone mineral density, and reduce risk of osteoporosis, use multi-joint exercises that stress the skeleton, e.g squats, deadlifts, standing barbell press, etc…
  • To compensate for less relative upper body strength, women need to do extra work for development of these muscles.

References

  1. Peak Performance Resistance Special report, Chapter “Women and Young Athletes,”, by Paul Gamble, page 58
  2. Peak Performance Resistance Special report, Chapter “Women and Young Athletes,”, by Paul Gamble, page 61
  3. Science and Practice of Strength Training. 2nd Edition, (Human Kinetics 2006), by V. Zatisiorsky and W. Kraemer, page 183
  4. Peak Performance, Female Athletes (Training for Success), Chapter – Performance and the Pill, pages 26-27, by Andrew Harrison.