Some coaches make training seem complex. Some make it seem oh so simple. And when you play the long game it is. Coach Paddy McGrath has been coaching Rudy Winkler for nearly 15 years. Slow and steady he’s developed into the American record holder and a favorite for the podium at this summer’s World Championships. On this week’s episode he joins us to talk about his approach to training, teaching, and throwing.
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How do you integrate new and beginning athletes into your program? Nick recently presented on this topic at the annual GAIN conference. On this week episode we share some excerpts from his presentation, as well as other highlights from the conference.
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We often talk about developing elite athletes, but the amateur sporting world is even bigger and more demanding in many ways. On this week’s GAINcast coach and physiotherapist Donie Fox joins us to discuss how his team have implemented athletic development structure into their local GAA club. In addition we discuss the differences between building and rebuilding athletes, and how the mental side of physiotherapy is the real difference maker.
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Every month we take a deep dive into the latest research in sports science. Coaches often turn to other fields to learn from and a recent trend is looking at the military. To start off this month’s edition we break down some of the key topics the US military is looking at in terms of enhancing performance. Then we look at athlete leadership, parental priorities for athletes, bias in injury prevention strategies, LTAD, and more. Read more
Let’s look at where we have been over the past seventy years. What has changed? Society has changed immensely; youth sport has become commercialized. There is no longer mandatory physical education in the schools. Then and now child development does not follow a neat linear progression, so-called windows of opportunity for development of various physical is a myth, sport development is all over the place, youth phenoms rarely turn out to be senior champions. Read more
Sometimes we take training young athletes for granted. Give them almost anything and they will see some initial growth, but true long-term development requires a more thoughtful process. This month on HMMR Media we explored training the young athlete. Through 3 new videos, 4 podcasts, and 4 articles from 11 world class coaches we explored examples of training methods, long-term athlete development, key issues facing youth athletics, as well as ideas on how these concepts can be transferred to older athletes as well. Read more
I’ve been thinking a lot about progressions lately. This month’s site theme is the young athlete, and that goes hand in hand with progressions. I’ll also be moderating a panel discussion on the topic at GAIN in two weeks. As a result I’ve got a bunch of random ideas floating around in my head on the topic. The following is not a set of answers on how to progress the athlete, but rather a compilation of things I am thinking about. Read more
We can complain about it as much as we want, but the decline of physical education and the rise of early sports specialization are trends that are here to stay. We might not be able to change the system, but we can still actively work to help athletes at an individual level. Jeremy Frisch has taken that challenge upon himself to reinvent training for the kids he is working with by bringing in varied influences from physical education, speed training, motor learning, strength and conditioning, and more. What is even better is that he is sharing his experiments with the world on social media. He joins this week’s episode to discuss where his approach came from and how it has evolved. Read more
Look at the top athletes in the world and you’ll notice they come from a variety of backgrounds. Tiger Woods began specializing at a young age, while Roger Federer only specialized as he started to achieve success later. Why did Federer benefit from a generalist childhood vs. a specialization one? Author David Epstein has focused on the topic for his upcoming book Range
Recently the Junior World Track & Field Championships were televised. I watched with great interest. It was interesting to see the wider variation in body types than what you see at the senior level. I couldn’t help but think as I was watching how many of these athletes would go on and be a factor at the senior level. By being a factor, I look at it several ways: Read more
