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Performance Science
The Player Potential Profile – an integrated, practical approach to Talent Identification and Recruitment in High Performance Sport – Part One
Every now and again, a client will ask me to come up with a new way of doing something to help them achieve their performance goals.
In recent years, a real focus for me has been developing innovative talent identification, recruitment and retention strategies for professional sporting teams.
These next three posts will outline a concept called the Player Potential Profile – an integrated, practical approach to Talent Identification and Recruitment in High Performance Sport. Read more
April 15, 2010 | 2 Comments
Tags: AFL, American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Coaching, Cricket, Football, High Performance, Hockey, Netball, Performance Science, Rugby, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, Sport and Parenting, sporting parents, Sports Management, Swimming, Tennis
Training Based Research Studies: the Biggest Con in sport since the Muffin.
Remember how when we were kids everyone liked to eat cupcakes.
Then when we got older and a bit more health conscious we were told to give them up because of the sugar and flour and other stuff in them.
Then along comes a sports nutritionist who said “Muffins are a great food for athletes – nutritious, high carbohydrate energy foods”. So we all started eating them again even though they are basically still just big cupcakes.
What a big con.
Almost as big a con as Training Studies in Sports Science Research. Read more
February 8, 2010 | 4 Comments
Tags: Coach education, Coaching, exercise, High Performance, Performance Science, research, sport, sports science, Training, UCNISS
The Fourth Element – Athlete Engagement!
Training Load Lecture Number 1 of every coaching course in the world starts with the 3 standard variables in load management and exercise physiology:
- Volume – How much to do
- Intensity – How hard to do it
- Frequency – How often to do it.
But, once you have coached for a few years and actually worked with athletes, the fourth and perhaps the most important variable of all becomes apparent as the critical determinant of exercise and training:
4. Athlete engagement – How completely the athlete is engaged in doing the activity.
August 14, 2009 | 9 Comments
Tags: AFL, American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Basketball, Coach education, Coaching, Cricket, Cycling, Diving, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Netball, Rugby, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field, Training, Triathlon
Multi-Disciplinary (Performance) Sports Science: The Future of High Performance Sport.
There is no doubt that successful sports performance is multi-disciplinary in nature. Athletes and coaches need to be aware of the physiological, biomechanical, psychological, nutritional, medical and immunological and other issues that can impact on their competition performances.
It - performance – is rarely – if ever -about one thing in isolation! Read more
June 6, 2009 | 4 Comments
Tags: AFL, American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Basketball, Coach education, Coaching, Cricket, Cycling, Diving, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Netball, Performance Science, Rugby, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field, Training, Triathlon
Sport Analysis and the Era of Negativity
Seems like every coach has a video, a camera, a DVD player and some analysis software these days.
Coaches spend more time behind a desk, staring at replays and performance analysis data than they do actually working and communicating with athletes and staff!
Modern analysis techniques and equipment have given us the luxury of detail- the ability to evaluate, measure and analyse performance in far greater depth than ever before.
Most analysis techniques used in elite sport evolved from research methods used in the academic world, where a wide range of analysis tools are used to systematically investigate technique, movement, skills, decision making etc as part of a the study behind a journal article, research project or thesis.
The problem with all this analysis is that analysis, by its nature is destructive. Analysis breaks down performances, techniques, skills etc into component parts or measurable events. It looks to identify what went wrong with an athlete or team and what problems, faults and mistakes led to a poor performance. Read more
April 21, 2009 | 2 Comments
Tags: AFL, American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Basketball, Coaching, Cricket, Diving, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Netball, Performance Science, Rugby, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field, Training, Triathlon
Making Sense of Testing Athletes
A renowned swimming coach was walking up and down the side of the pool working with a world record holder. A younger, relatively inexperienced coach who was eager to learn, asked, “How do you know how your swimmer is going?” “How do you know when she is ready to do her best?”
The senior coach replied, “I just know“.
Testing does not replace the skilled eye or instinctual feel of an experienced and talented coach. It aims to provide measurement and objectivity to some of the elements of performance that coaches “see” and “feel” and “know”.
This article discusses some of the current issues in the testing of high performance athletes and looks at the crucial aspects of the measurement and evaluation of elite sports performance.
The testing process: Not a one off event! Read more
April 21, 2009 | Comments Off
Tags: AFL, American Football, Athletics, Basketball, Coaching, Cricket, Cycling, Diving, Gymnastics, Hockey, Netball, Performance Science, Rugby, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field, Training, Triathlon
