Ask me 10 years ago about the key to successful coaching and it was all about individualization. Ask me now, and I think most coaches individualize too much. Maybe I’m just getting set in my ways, but the longer I coach the more I see individualization as simply the icing on the cake. It’s nice to have and can make all the difference, but the true substance is the program underneath it.
Coaching is about meeting the needs of your athletes, and micro adjustments to meet special needs of individual athletes can make all the difference. What is described as the art of coaching is often just how we make decisions to individualize or not individualize a program. On this week’s episode Dan Noble and James Gardiner from GRIT Athletics Toronto explain some of the factors that go into their decision making, along with examples of individualization in practice.
Great coaches have one thing in common that we don’t talk about much: they demonstrate love in their coaching. You hear about passion, you hear about drive, and you hear about communication, but we often avoid talking about love. Dr. Jerry Lynch has spent his career working at the intersection of sports psychology, leadership, and philosophy. This is where you find many of the hidden topics like love that can be the biggest drivers of performance. On this week’s GAINcast Lynch joins us to share some of his reflections on coaching, self-improvement, and Buddha.
We’re trying something new on this week’s podcast. We don’t have a theme or key topic, we just have some friends on to share some ideas and see where the conversation goes. Adam Kuehl, Carrie Lane, and Brek Christensen join us to talk about rethinking peaking, the benefits of hiking for power athletes, the skillset of mid major coaches, and much more.
Sports science has changed a lot in the last few decades. In some regards it has grown, but it has also become watered down in many ways. On this week’s GAINcast David Martin joins us to discuss how teams can perfect the performance equation, get the most out of sports science, and lessons from the NBA, cycling, and even Jane Goodall.
When it is championship time, John Fay (Bishop Hendricken, Warwick, RI) shows up. At both the Rhode Island Indoor and Outdoor Championships this year, Fay came in the underdog and left as the champion. At the NSAF Outdoor Nationals he did it again with a come from behind victory and 8 foot personal best in the final round to secure the win. Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan (Woonsocket, RI) also added more than a dozen feet to his best to place second, with his teammate Logan Coles (Woonsocket, RI) in third.
The site theme in June was Olympic weightlifting. Athletic development coaches often debate the role of Olympic lifting in athletic development. But there is one thing we can probably all agree on: athletes need power and Olympic lifting is one tool coaches can use to develop it. Throughout the month we shared a variety of new articles, videos, and podcasts on Olympic lifting looking at how to teach the lifts, programming, complexes, and alternatives. Our archives have even more in depth content on the topic. Below we have links to all our new and archived content on the topic.
Training is often thought of in terms of exercises. Exercises might be the building blocks of training, but as Vern wrote about today, it isn’t about the exercise. Good programs stand out more from the continuity and progression between each exercises. They look at the synergies created by exercises rather than how an exercise works in isolation.
Many athletes pick up weightlifting as a hobby after retiring from their primary sport. After years of training without proper technique, transitioning to a new sport often requires a step back to relearn technique. That’s exactly what we’ve been struggling with lately. On this week’s episode Wil Fleming joins us to break down our own technique, and shares some ideas on submaximal lifting, variations, complexes, warming up, meet preparation, and much more.
The high school season came to an end in Rhode Island yesterday with the state championship meet. State leader Sophia Gallucci (Coventry, RI) edged out the close win in the girls competition over Serena Lalli (Classical, Providence, RI). Nicolette Ducharme (Cumberland, RI) and Hayley Chartier (Lincoln, RI) had the same mark for third place, but Durcharme took the bronze based on her next best throw. In the boy’s competition John Fay (Bishop Hendricken, Warwick, RI) entered the competition seeded third, but added five feet to his personal best to take the win. Five throwers broke 200 feet in the competition.
