The coach said to the team – ‘Now I want you to win. Because it makes me look better.’ A few weeks later, in a different sport but with the same athlete, a coach said to the team – ‘Now if some of you are wondering why you didn’t get any game time, I want […]
Physical preparation in athlete preparation is over-rated. It’s obvious that few share my belief, considering the amount of focus and effort going into physical development globally. I learnt from my professional experience in North America in the late 1980’s and early 1990s that their culture placed a (potentially excessive) premium on physical development. That cultural […]
Little Johnny (or Julia) goes to mid-week training. The coach raises the ‘mistakes that cost them’ the last game. During training, the coach says: ‘Let’s go through the whole training session without dropping the ball. I don’t want to see any dropped ball!’ Little Johnny’s (or Julia’s) sub-conscious mind repeats the key words: ‘….dropped ball.’ […]
If you are a physical preparation coach (strength coach, S&C coach, Personal trainer – call it what you want) who is looking to start, build or advance your career, then you are going to have to make a decision. Do you prioritize creating a perception of your competence; or do you prioritize actual competence? There […]
Irrespective of the motivations that drew you into this industry, there’s a probability that at some point in time you are going to reflect upon the low incomes that constitute most roles in this industry. Put simply this is one of the lower paying ‘professions’. Not totally surprising considering one of the more popular roles […]
On Dec 3 2017 it was 25 years to the day since the first text message (SMS) was successfully sent. [1] [2] The message required a computer. They could be received on a hand set mobile phone, but could not be responded to. Twenty five years ago athletes – pro and amateur – were trained […]
….what has been in print for over 20 years… The sport specific technique session was coming to a close when I heard my fellow coach refer to a prior knee injury in one of the athlete. Let’s call that athlete Billy. Intrigued, at the conclusion of the session I asked the young athlete: IK: What […]
And a wake up call to the parents of all the Alice’s and Allan’s of the world I just met Alice. And as a result of that meeting I felt inspired to immediately write on behalf of the ‘Alice’s’ of the world. Alice will never read this article. Our meeting was brief and coincidental. My […]