Blog

Getting younger players to contribute through a Mentoring Process

July 30, 2015

Over the course of the last few seasons I have been lucky enough to work with some outstanding hockey players, a large number of whom have been playing for the club for many years. While the club has been very successful over the past 6 or 7 years, in 2013, while we won the Grand Final, we had very few players under the age of 23 making any real impact in the team.

Facebook and Managing the Training of Remote Athletes

July 26, 2015

Back in 2011 when I was completing my Masters in Human Movement (research) at Federation U in Ballarat I was intent on testing the effectiveness of a mobile app and wearable product I had co-developed with Roger Nesbitt and Mike Elmsly of NZ. It was called SPUTNIK. It used available 3 rd party sensors which we integrated into a vest, a mobile app. running on SYMBIAN O/S and a Facebook app. This latter part of the architecture was interesting as it was originally built 3 years before that so in effect our work dates back to 2008; well before the likes of fitbit. The Facebook app provided goal management, graphical analyses and Comment support among users. The system collected, managed and shared HR (heart rate) speed, skin temp. and respiration rate although for the trial I am about to explain we restricted the functional spread to speed and HR measures (max min avg).

HD vs 4K Video – Is it cost effective and worth upgrading now?

July 24, 2015

Since the introduction of High Definition, many years ago now, the quest for capturing film and video in even higher resolution has been picking up pace and we are now at the stage where Ultra HD or ‘4K’ is starting to push itself into the market and increase in popularity and availability. It wasn’t long ago that manufacturers such as Samsung, Panasonic and Sony were introducing 4K Televisions to the world – and at a pretty high cost! The development has been ongoing and thankfully the prices have started to come down with TV sets starting at around £2,000.

Player to Coach: The ups and downs

July 12, 2015

Having been very fortunate to play rugby at a professional level and coach at a youth Level for a number of years I always knew I wanted to step into a senior coaching role. The first stepping stones happened back in 2011 when I rejoined one of my former clubs as a player and Development Officer.

Robustness and Antifragility- A Basic Training Continuum

July 9, 2015

Anti-fragility (AF) is a term heard frequently in training circles at the moment, especially since Nassim Taleb’s book ‘Anti-Fragile’ was released. Some have viewed this essentially as a call to promote ‘chaos’ in your training environment with random programming, varying loads and energy systems utilised all at once with a view to producing adaptable athletes. Although I do not agree with this high risk interpretation of it, believing instead that my athletes’ wellbeing is paramount and injuries in training are unacceptable, I do think the anti-fragility concept has a place in your training continuum.

A day in the life of David Guest (Video)

July 1, 2015

This video is a must watch for anyone interest in the life of a Hockey Performance Analyst. Here. David Guest explains his daily roles and also the different systems that he uses. David is the assistant coach and the hockey performance analyst for Kookaburras (Australian Men's Hockey Team), who have just won the World League semi finals at Antwerp.

Improving Your Performance With Supplements?

June 28, 2015

Supplements can help performance and training gains when used in addition to a healthy diet. The athlete is responsible for any food, drinks or supplements they consume. Programmes such as Informed Sport can help athletes choose supplements which have been batch tested, thus giving greater peace of mind in choosing safe supplements.

Something New

June 25, 2015

It was Tuesday evening and I could feel the nerves kicking in. Any person that I spoke to seemed to have the same response, which was, ‘why are you nervous, this is what you do’. No one seemed to understand that this is not what I do. Since changing career from full time PE teacher, to netball coach, I had worked tirelessly on improving my performance coaching, starting out with a BUCS university side, to now being Head Coach at Swiss U17 level, performance coaching was in my blood. The key words I would use would be drive, determination, perfection, and intensity, this was a whole new ball game.

Coaching Philosophy

June 21, 2015

In the context of sport, Dr. Seuss could hardly be more accurate. In sport it is the coach that steers the direction, sets the pace, and establishes priorities. But what priorities will they be? On the surface, a coaching philosophy seems like a simple task. It is your answer to the question “Why do you coach?” But, as many problems, the more we think about them, the more complicated they seem to get.

How To Approach An Umpire

June 18, 2015

Umpires and coaches (athletes) cannot get along. Working with an umpire implies that the two parties have a common goal. This is not the case. In fact, they have diametrically opposed jobs. An umpire’s job is to keep the playing field level and ensure the best team wins. A coach's job is to help their team win whether they have the best team or not. With these realities it is inevitable that they will not always get along. Both parties should embrace these roles and try to make the best of what can be a difficult situation. The key for coaches is to make sure the lines of communication remain open with the umpire. Anything the coach does to hamper or hinder this relationship will make the game more difficult for everyone involved.

Pre-Season Aims as a Hockey Coach

June 14, 2015

As you come to the closing weeks of this season, take two weeks at the end to do nothing. Then... time to start planning preseason. I’m not going to spend time examining recruiting and retaining players as that is different for each sport, league and club. Instead I want to examine what you do in order to physically and mentally prepare players for the time ahead.

Action Cameras - Video and editing advice

June 11, 2015

Since the rise to prominence of Action Cameras they have allowed us to capture sports in such a unique way and offer many more angles to view just about any activity, from Skiing and Snowboarding to Surfing, Skydiving and so much more. With the market expanding and more Action Cams being released, the prices have dropped considerably over the past few years and more options are available depending on your budget and the type of footage you want to capture.

Deliberate Practice part 3

June 7, 2015

The following blog post is 'Deliberate Practice' part 3, the final part of the series.

Self Control

June 4, 2015

This blog was provided by Ashley Evans and was researched and written by freelance copywriter Camilla Sheppard.

Deliberate Practice part 2

May 31, 2015

How does the Principle of 'Deliberate Practice' apply to the coaching of Rugby Union...? (part 2) Principles of Play: Games Understanding i.e. How you play...?

Catch them being good

May 28, 2015

Coaches have an eye for development, and the best coaches always see their athletes in the best possible light. We recall their best performances or imagine the performance we know they are capable of, and work to help them repeat those performances at the most important times. This is really what coaching is about. However, that virtue can become a vice if we only focus on what they are capable of and forget to encourage what they are already doing right. My coaching tip is to “catch athletes being good” and encourage what they already do correctly.

Deliberate Practice part 1

May 24, 2015

How does the Principle of 'Deliberate Practice' apply to the coaching of Rugby Union? So lets look at a definition of 'Deliberate Practice': “It is activity designed specifically to improve performance, often with a teacher's help; it can be repeated a lot; feedback and results is continuously available; it's highly demanding mentally, whether the activity is purely intellectual or heavily physical; and it isn't much fun.” - Geoff Colvin

Instilling Belief In Your Players

May 21, 2015

This blog post is about creating an environment in which your player's will be able to believe in themselves, in each other and believe in the coach and what you are trying to achieve together. Belief is of vital importance in sport both individual and team sports, but in team sports individual players not only have to believe in their selves as an individual but also believe in every other individual player in the team.

The Boroughmuir Road to Murrayfield

May 15, 2015

The dust has settled but it has been replayed so many times on YouTube, in my head, through conversations with those who were there and those who weren’t. It doesn’t get tired and neither do I, but I do miss it. The players got it right and I was proud of the way they had maintained their standards through, what up until that point had been, a challenging season.

Rugby | Talent and Ability back to the forefront in the 6 Nations | Coach Logic

February 27, 2015

I am off to run the Barcelona Half Marathon on Sunday, can't wait! Well maybe I can a little...never run that far before, should be challenging. I suppose after playing rugby for so long, I need a challenge to keep fit and in the gym now that I am watching from the sidelines.

Love Coaching - "It's not about Netball it's about young people"

February 19, 2015

It’s about each individual young person at the club. Every single one of them has a story, every single one of them has something going on in their life, some good, some not so good, and it’s my job as their netball coach to support them with whatever it is. It’s 5.15pm on a Monday and I’m shovelling beans on toast down my neck after a hectic day at work, trying to think about what to do with the team this week. I can’t find my trainers, yet alone my whistle and I haven’t sorted myself a drink for my own training session afterwards. Plate thrown in the washing up bowl, trainers on and whistle found, time to go! I have been involved in netball coaching since the age of 16 when I was suddenly too old to play for the junior teams at my club, and I wanted to help out. I already had my C award umpiring qualification so there I was, thrown in at the deep end with the under 12 team.

Coaching Styles - Teaching Games for Understanding - Part 1

February 13, 2015

You will no longer hear from your players “when can we play a game?” as they will know that they will be playing games all the time during EVERY teaching/training session. Key questions to ask yourself: What are you preparing your players for? What are you wishing your players to be able to do in the game? What are the demands of the game your players are playing? How much time is the ‘ball’ in play for in the area of play? What ‘Method of Coaching’ best provides the opportunities to all the answers to these previous questions? Why use ‘TGfU’? How BIG is the area of play that your players play in, in a real game?

Why I Love Coaching Softball

February 10, 2015

The question of “Why do I coach”; is both the easiest and the most difficult question I could answer. It is easy because coaching is my favourite activity, and most difficult because how can you possibly explain why you love something that is so central to who you are. I absolutely love coaching and working with athletes is my favourite thing to do. When I was in Teachers College, we were given the task of writing an essay about what made us want to be teachers. For me, it was always a vocation but my favourite Professor told me that to be a successful teacher you need to have 3 loves; 1) Love of your subject area 2) Love of teaching and 3) Love o people. He was right, and the same rules apply to coaching.

Why I Love Coaching Netball

January 28, 2015

I'll be honest, when I've had a really stressful day at work or I'm on a three hour drive up the motorway to get to a training session on time, sometimes... I don't want to. So often though, it's those sessions that surprise me. A couple of examples from this week, of why I love coaching: School coaching session I had young player that has not looked happy or engaged playing, and has really struggled with the basics, (netball isn't what gets her up in the morning), but in the last session coaching ' straight-line ball'.

How Sportswomen Are Represented in the Media

January 22, 2015

There's been a lot of press about page 3 this week and The Sun have started publishing topless images of women again after a short break. Here are two videos to watch that show the different ways the media go about representing women in sport and society in general. We'd love to know your thoughts. Leave a comment below or chat to us on Twitter.