Scottish Athletics held its coach development weekend at the Emirates Indoor Arena, which again proved to be an invaluable learning experience for three Harriers coaches, Donald McIntosh, George Morton and Harald Bartl.

The weekend started off with a workshop for coaches, who are enrolled on the new Event Group qualifications (level 3). This qualification is build on the Athletics Coach qualification and are designed for those coaches working with athletes at the event group stage of the UKA athlete development pathway (typically 14-19 years old). The course is a mixture of 25 online modules and 4 weekend workshops. The topics covered at this weekend were Training, Organisation & Decision Making, which covered subjects such as as coaching philosophies, strategies in devising appropriate training plans that take into account the various stage of the developing athlete.

Some of the key messages were the importance of focusing on technical development versus too much physical loading, which easily can lead to overuse of the muscular and skeleton system and is likely to result in injury. Less can be better than too much and quality versus quantity. It is also worth remembering that athletes within this age range are going through significant changes – physically, mentally and emotionally. The UKA Athlete Development Model is a helpful guide to address some of these issues. Specific info on the various models relating to particular events such as endurance, jumps etc, can be found at the UKA coach web site: http://ucoach.com/search/10745099c661afcb4da77cccbf030141/.

The weekend then continued with an excellent presentations from Phil Moreland, Head of Strength and Performance Conditioning at sportscotland institute of sport, who discussed the topic of Awareness of Physical Competencies. Again the presentation referred to the subject of long term development and the importance of developing athleticism instead of developing only certain aspects of physical conditioning. The whole presentation was heavily influenced by ideas taken from Movement Dynamics Athlete Development by Kevin Giles, who emphasizes the importance of developing movement efficiency. It is foremost the development of physical qualities to develop an athlete, who is then equipped with performing high intensity and highly technical events in a competitive environment. Physical competence is important for athletics in order to be able to absorb the mechanical load. For example triple jumpers have to absorb high forces during the jump phases (hop, step and jump), which are close to 11 to 15 times of their own body weight. The forces a high jumper has to endure is about 3.5 to 5.5 times of their own body weight. It is important to emphasize that the athlete has to absorb these forces all on one leg, as most athletics events are performed on one leg: running, jumping and phases of the throws as well. Considering these high forces it is easy to see how important it is for athletes to have good joint stability in ankles, knees and hips. Any weaknesses in any of these body parts or inefficiencies in movement patterns can easily lead to injuries due to overloading the body. Phil Moreland explained the difference between physiological load and mechanical load and the fact that coaches are often primarily concerned about the physiological load e.g hear rate training zones, distances run, speeds attained or loads lifted but fail to understand the mechanical load. Furthermore, performance improvements are often sought by increasing the physiological load instead of looking at inefficiencies in movement skills.

Stephen Maguire, Scottish Athletics Director of coaching, shared his experience with the audience from the time when he was still coaching London 2012 double paralympic champion Jason Smyth (100 and 200m). Maguire explained that he had times when he had to hold his young athletes back from running too fast, realizing that overloading would cause injury and instead worked intensively on improving running efficiency. Putting this statement into the context of his presentation ‘The Developing Athlete‘ there is a powerful message for all coaches with regard to their own coaching philosophies. Concentrating on improving the athletes energy systems (aerobic, anaerobic or lactic) is often focused on whereas improvements in inefficient movement skills are regarded as less important. Simply increasing the number of various reps during a training session can have only limited effect for a sprinter, who over strides or runs with low hips. In fact it is likely that overloading an athlete with inefficient movement pattern could do more harm in the long term and will lead to injuries.

It is interesting that while studying for my Pole Vault module I came across a very useful drill called “20/20 drill”, which is designed to address correct running mechanics with or without pole. Correct running mechanics are obviously crucial for an efficient approach run. (the drill develops stride frequency and emphasize the vertical application of force within the running cycle. Athletes must fit 20 steps into a defined 20 meter segment. This drill helps to correct the movement patterns of athletes who are prone to running with their hips in a low position or over-striding. These athletes will spend a long time on the floor over-pushing horizontally and will run ‘behind themselves’ the result being a late heal recovery and subsequent low knee lift) .

Tony Hadley, UKA Event lead for Speed teaching drills

Tony Hadley, UKA Event lead for Speed continued in his presentation on the development of speed reiterating the importance of developing efficient movement patterns, that is the correct running mechanics. What does running mechanic mean or to use another term running technique? I quick search on the Internet brought up the following definition:

“Running mechanics and running techniques simply means the proper and most efficient way to position your hands, feet, head, elbows, wrist, etc. to allow your body the maximum efficiency and biomechanically advantageous running posture.”

It all sounds rather technical and even academic. There has been a lot of good research been carried out by clever sport scientists. For people inclined to study this subject in more detail Frans Bosh a dutch academic and athletics coach to elite sprinters and jumper, has published an excellent book called Running Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology Applied in Practice. However, the question for myself is always what does this all mean for my own coaching environment. How can I apply this knowledge to my own group of 13 year old athletes?

The answer is simply by introducing the correct drills, which exactly teach these movement patterns. Tony Hadley taught a number of drills and conditioning exercises to a small group of teenage athletes, who had never done these exercises drills before and was able to evidence that even within a short period of time kids can be taught correct running technique with very good results. The following video is an example of lifting the foot over the ankle in an continous movement and landing with a FLAT foot each time. (click here for video)

The challenge for me as a coach now is to figure out how all these new ideas and knowledge can be applied into my own coaching philosophy. In a way that’s almost a summary of what I personally learn as a coach by attending these workshops. By observing good practice and getting a better theoretical knowledge about certain subjects, I as a coach start to reflect on my own coaching practice and how this could be developed further. In fact that is what coaching development is all about, developing a reflective attitude about what you do? Why you do it? I can clearly remember when I attended my first training workshops the expectations was to find quick solutions, something like off the shelves training manuals etc. What benefit would it be if some elite coach gives you a training’s plan from some of his elite athletes detailing how many sessions/intervals, specific weight sessions etc. he or she does. Although such as training plan might be useful as a framework, giving you some ideas, it is highly unlikely that it will meet the needs of your own athlete.

I personally find usually inspiration or ‘food for thought’ from most training sessions, even if it discovering that some of the presented ideas/concepts are not really relevant for your own coaching environment. Such an experience can actually be very positive as it challenges you to come up with concepts or ideas that meet your own needs.

Lastly, why I am writing this article, suppose to share some of my thoughts with other volunteers in the club, who are somewhere along the pathway of becoming a coach. It is always worth remembering that all these top level coaches have started somewhere small, probably in a similar way than most people; some coming by chance into the coaching environment either as a parent or as an amateur athlete. Hugh Murray, the former National Throws coach, started his athletics career as a jogger, then marathon runner and later as a club coach and competing athlete in throws events. In fact, people do their first steps into coaching often without any prior knowledge and people develop as a coach through commitment and dedication. Sharon Hannan, who coaches Sally Pearson (World and Olympic hurdler) talked about the challenge to develop as a coach in order to be always one step ahead of her fast developing athlete, who constantly challenged her with regard to finding ways to help her to progress to the next level.

Tips To Run Faster Using Proper Running Techniques http://howdoirunfaster.com/speed-drills/tips-to-run-faster-using-proper-running-techniques/

Frans_Bosch_Positive_Running.pdf

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