Underdogs come and go, but Gonzaga University’s basketball team keeps coming back. The small school team is the perennial overachiever and strength coach Travis Knight has been there the whole time. He joins this week’s podcast to discuss the unique team culture and process that helps them keep up with their bigger budget competitors, as well as his approach to training agility for one of the most demanding sports out there.
“What allows you to perform at your peak in the season?” mental performance coach Julian Coffman asked a room full of America’s top developmental skiers last summer. “Confidence,” one of the athletes offers. “And where does that confidence come from?” Julian counters. “From trusting in your preparation and in your summer training,” the athlete replies. Read more
We talk all the time about culture, but what exactly is it? Wade Gilbert defines it in his coaching book “Team culture has been defined as a pattern of shared assumptions that guides behavior . . . Culture comprises both the obvious artifacts of the team and the less obvious norms and rituals.” In other words, culture is the way we do things around here. Read more
It’s easy to fall into the trap as a coach of focusing primarily on physiology and biomechanics when carrying out your sessions, as these aspects are often easy to quantify, as well as giving us an illusion of prediction, increasing our confidence in the outcome. But, as is always the case, things are rarely that simple. New research continues to show how athlete choice can help a program’s effectiveness. Read more
Earlier this month I wrote that transfer is not as straightforward as it seems, even with something as simple as linear speed. In response, some coaches, such as rugby coach John Pryor, have rethought their approach to training speed and strength. Pryor is currently the head of strength and conditioning for Fiji in the lead-up to next year’s World Cup. We’ve written several times about his approach to training speed, and he’ll cover the topic again at GAIN 2018 in June, but a few weeks ago I had a chance to talk to him about the process that got him there. Read more
Elite performance involves a complex support network. As an athlete, you often only get to see one side of the equation. This year HMMR Media author and discus thrower Benn Harradine crossed over to see the other side as the new performance director for Sweden’s largest athletic club Hammarby Friidot. On this episode of the podcast he joins us to discuss his lessons learned in the first year on the other side. Read more
The old saying goes that belief in a bad plan will be more effective than doubt in a good plan. The reason this saying lives on is because it is true: buy-in is one of the most critical factors in training. And while coaches often discuss it, rarely do they get down to the gritty details of how to actually establish it. On this week’s episode we look at building buy in and some thoughts spurred by Brett Bartholomew’s new book Conscious Coaching: The Art and Science of Building Buy-In
