2010 Coaches College - a meeting of the nations

We typically have an international flavor at our yearly coaches college. Clive Brewer and Ian Jeffreys are regular presenters from the UK, a number of attendees each year do not call the US home, and the staff and students here from the Center of Excellence are hardly homogeneous. This year in particular has a large international contingent, with Asia very well represented:

Mark Chiang (Taiwan) with Center of 

Excellence Director Meg Stone (Scotland)

Me (England) with Dr. Wu Hao (Chinese Rowing), 

& Dr. Shan Li (visiting professor from China)

Research Methods in Applied Settings (book review)

Research Methods in Applied Settings: An Integrated Approach to Design and Analysis, Second Edition
Jeffrey A. Gilner, George A. Morgan, & Nancy L. Leech

This was the required text for my recent research design and statistics class as part of my PhD coursework. As a novice in the research "game", this book certainly helped me at least become competent in basic research practices.

Of particular use to me were the various charts to help you make decisions on research design and statistical selection. These charts were linked well to following chapters to provide further depth of information on the relevant topics and were a go-to resource for assignments and my research proposal.

My studies are in the area of sport science, and one could argue that some of the text does not relate well to this field. I would agree with this statement, but would point out that other texts also have this problem.

I am not experienced enough in research to fully recommend this text, nor can I make direct comparisons to other texts, but it certainly is a resource you should consider if you are teaching a research design class and/or feel you need a reference on your bookshelf in this area.

Scientific Poster: Pilot Study - Tracking Session RPE TRIMP During an NCAA D1 Men's Soccer Season with Special Emphasis on Practical Application

At the 2010 Coaches College, I presented a poster on the session RPE TRIMP method. Although details are scarce, and you may have read about this monitoring system elsewhere on my blog, I thought it may be useful here. At the very least, it will give you some normative data from the athletes and training - we need to make this kind of information more accessible to help all of our efforts.

As always, I have a disclaimer - this is only the first step in a monitoring program - my future applied work, research, and writings will address steps two and three in the process. Please check out the image at the very bottom of the post - this is the whole poster - I was quite happy with how it turned out aesthetically.

Pilot Study - Tracking Session RPE TRIMP During an NCAA D1 Men’s Soccer Season with Special Emphasis on Practical Application

Howard S. Gray, Satoshi Mizuguchi, Henry B. Nowell, Dr. Michael W. Ramsey, Dr. Jason B. Winchester, & Dr. Michael H. Stone

KLSS / Center of Excellence for Sport Science and Coach Education

Sport Performance Enhancement Consortium

East Tennessee State University

Johnson City, TN, USA 37614

Introduction:

Training in team sports has often been applied haphazardly, with random increases in intensity, volume, and frequency of training (2). As well as sub-optimal performance, this approach may also result in overtraining and injury (7).

In order to improve training practice, the first step that the sport scientist or coach must perform is to investigate what the athletes are currently doing. Second, an examination into whether the athletes are responding positively to the current levels of training needs to be carried out, before finally modifying training and creating plans based on the findings (2).

Various methods, such as volume load calculations in strength training, heart rate monitoring (HRM), and global positioning systems (GPS) for team and endurance sports are available. These methods all have their own strengths and weaknesses. There has been a difficulty in quantifying different forms of exercise into a single measure of volume. Use of the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) as a form of monitoring has been found valid for a wide range of exercise types (5), including resistance training (11) and soccer (9). Session RPE training-impulse (TRIMP) is a product of the athletes’ perceived exertion for a session and the total training duration (4, 5). Another method, as proposed by Edwards (3), is a training load method based on time spent in various heart rate zones. Impellizzeri (9) found a strong correlation (8) between the session RPE TRIMP method and the Edwards heart-rate training load (r = 0.71, P < 0.001) during soccer training. To our knowledge, no such comparison between the above methods has been conducted with NCAA Division 1 male soccer players. Therefore, the purpose of this poster is to investigate and present a simple and cost effective way of performing the first step in the monitoring process, along with suggestions in how to move forward from that point.

Methods

22 players from an NCAA Division 1 men’s soccer team (N=22) volunteered for this study. Team data (mean & standard deviation) from the 1^st day of preseason is illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. The procedures for testing have been previously described (10). The subjects read and signed informed consents prior to participating in the present study. The present study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of East Tennessee State University.

Merry Christmas (training) from the CESSCE & ETSU men's soccer

It is that time of year again - how quickly has it come around!?!

Brazilian, Japanese, American, Nigerian & English 

(behind the camera) - sounds like the start of a joke to me!

Potentially THE BIGGEST problem with NCAA sports is what the athletes do when they are not required to be training with the team. If you add Christmas break to the summer period you have at least 4 months when they may be without formal instruction and training.

Following the general rule that you lose attributes twice as quickly as you gain them - 8 months of training can easily be counteracted by 4 months of inactivity / poor training. Even with the best possible program, a sports coach who buys in, and great athletes, all of this may well be futile if the right things are not done during time away.

In his recent presentation, Duncan French talked about his role with Great Britain Basketball. The majority of the time, his players were away playing elsewhere in Europe or in the NBA. Duncan stressed the importance of "pocket tests", workout logs, and keeping in close contact with his athletes during these times.

On behalf of everyone here at the Center of Excellence for Sport Science and Coach Education, and of course ETSU men's soccer, we wish you a Merry Christmas and good training. 

Now I am off to call some players!

Zach Krych - injury & comeback video

Truly inspirational! Makes my own progress look pathetic!



This reminds me - a rehab update is long over-due (but there won't be anymore skinny leg photos).

CESSCE Coaches College 2010 presentations (part III)

Again check out posts I and II for the other presentation notes and the disclaimer!

Sportably

Jeremy Gentles

Fellow PhD student Jeremy Gentles presented a demo on the FREE athlete monitoring system Sportably. This system is based on the web and anyone can sign up as an athlete or register a team. It offers the coach or sport scientist an easy way to track outside factors such as sleep, diet, and stress. These things are vital in the recovery-adaptation process.

Please visit sportably.com to register (again it is free – I use it personally with our team and my own training).

CESSCE Coaches College 2010 presentations (part II)

Please see part I for the disclaimer on this series of posts. Part III is here.

Training for Throwers

Mike & Meg Stone

Calling on 60+ years experience in sport science and coaching (at the top level), Mike & Meg Stone showed exactly how much support and quality an interdisciplinary staff can give to athletes.

Time management: delegation to volunteer assistants

Loyalty and trust within a staff – key

Challenges from the NCAA – volunteers used wisely – safety

Freshman – poor technique & weak – gradual / careful progress – outside / social factors

Developing perfect technique may not be realistic – improving strength and power will help this athlete compete – and actually may help technical ability

Tactical training – where & when certain drills should be used to address problems

Tactics – first throw key – big bang theory

Focus on technique in the circle not the measuring tape. It is that technique that will produce the distance

Simulated competition – 20 + min between throws – lines – tape measure – etc.

Age – sensitive periods for high potential for improvement – see slide

CESSCE Coaches College 2010 presentations (part I)

The 5th Annual Coaches College presented by the Center of Excellence for Sport Science and Coach Education was a success this past weekend. Despite being hit with an ice storm the night before the conference, we still had over 100 people come into town to attend - many of whom were new. This is part I of my recap - here is part II and stay tuned for part III.

Similar to my UKSCA National Conference posts (part I & part II), these notes are very rough, but I have included some slides to help illustrate certain key points. Feel free to post a comment if you have a question on any of these. This is my interpretation of the presenters’ thoughts, and not theirs directly. Also, as part of the staff for the conference, I was in and out of many of the talks so may not have seen the entirety of them all. I will try to get a recap of presentations that I missed when I was presenting or was watching another talk.

What is Sport Science?

Dr. Mike Stone

Dr. Stone opened proceedings with a talk that helped set the stage for some of the presentations that followed later in the conference.

History of science in sport

Traditionally as part of exercise science – now moving away from this – less focus on wellness.

Exercise science – health

Sport science – enhancing performance

What is a sport scientist?

Doc had a realization shortly after moving to Scotland following criticism of sport scientists from coaches: That they take data for own studies but don’t give it back to the coaches quickly enough, etc.

·      More than just research – application

Dear NSCA

Dear NSCA

I just received this in the post from you:

Please never send me anything like that again.

Thank you,

Howard S. Gray, MA, CSCS, ASCC

Coaches College coming your way

This is going to be a good weekend. Here at the Center of Excellence for Sport Science and Coach Education, we have all been busy preparing for our annual Coaches College over the past few weeks. This was made more complicated with November-December being crunch time with our own studies, and work with the teams at East Tennessee State University (winter training packets galore!).

The Coaches College has grown since I first attended in 2007. I am glad to say that I made it back over the pond to Tennessee each year I was based back in England also - well worth the trip. This year I have already had the privilege to meet people from China, Taiwan, Japan, along with a fellow Englishman. Great considering that the conference hasn't even started yet!

Over the next two days we will be hearing from some top notch sport scientists and coaches. This years event is focusing on practical application in sport with a number of CESSCE folk presenting, including myself. It will truly is a great honor to talk in front of such a good crowd with Scott Calabrese, Satoshi Mizuguchi, and Andrew Swanson.

Working in sport, I often hear the following:
"I am an applied guy"
"I coach, I work in the real world",
or "That guy is a science guy" etc. etc.

Scott Calabrese named 2010 south region coach of the year

Congratulations to ETSU head men's soccer coach Scott Calabrese for being named south region coach of the year. There are a lot of very well respected collegiate programs and coaches in this region, and it has been a great experience being part of Scott's staff the past 6 months. Without a doubt, the most rewarding experience in my professional career so far. Good luck to Scott at the NSCAA national conference in Baltimore - he is now on the ballot for national coach of the year.

Our captain on and off the field, Guilherme Reis, along with forward Aaron Schoenfeld were named to the south region team for their performances in 2010. Gui is a senior, graduates in May and will be sorely missed. Aaron will be back for more next season.

Strength and Conditioning - biological principles and practical applications

A lot of VERY well respected evidence-based practitioners and sport scientists from around the world have come together to produce this piece of work. I am looking forward to it very much. Pre-order it now!

Strength and Conditioning: Biological Principles and Practical Applications

Marco Cardinale, Robert Newton, & Kazunori Nosaka (Eds.)

The release date is December 17 in the UK, and February 22nd in the US. I am getting a copy flown in from the motherland, and a review will be posted as soon as possible. Enjoy.

Football / soccer players - from another planet?

The game of association football is like no other. No other athletes face the exact same unique demands that football / soccer / voetbal / putbol / futbol / sokker / fotboll places on them.

The sport requires such a diverse range of abilities - both endurance and strength-power based. Without a doubt, to effectively train these athletes, coaches and sport scientists need to have knowledge of the demands and the characteristics of the sport.

Football players are still human, however. If you have been listening to a certain high profile football fitness expert of late (in the media I might add - not the scientific literature), you would think that they are from a different planet.

The bones, muscles, tendons, cartilages, ligaments, vessels, nerves, organs, and skin of a footballer is not unique. Having a good understanding of physiology, and how it pertains to sport is key in improving the performance of all athletes, including those guys that run and kick the round ball around.

Basic training principles, such as periodization, came from other sports, but it isn't new in football. My primary school coach (my dad) was periodizing when he used to drop training volume before important games. Maybe he deserves credit for this football periodization revolution?

We can learn a huge amount from the excellent professionals working in other sports. Yes, this does have to be carefully applied to our sport - but note - much can be applied.

I guarantee, football has learnt a hell of a lot more good training science and practice from other sports than other sports has learnt from football!