Ask the Expert – Tom Smale (Leaf Academy)

Posted Leave a commentPosted in Applied coaching, Ask the expert, biological maturation, Long term athlete development, Youth strength and conditioning

Would you mind giving us a bit of background about yourself? I studied at University of Stirling getting a BA (Hons) in Sports Studies and MSc in Sports Coaching. Whilst doing my MSc got the opportunity to shadow S&C sessions run by the University and Sportscotland Institute of Sport and realised this would be a […]

Sleep and the Youth Athlete (Video)

Posted Leave a commentPosted in Animated videos, biological maturation, Long term athlete development, Parents, Youth strength and conditioning

After the success and positive feedback of the last animated video on Relative Age Effect in Youth Sport, I decided to continue with a series on “The Youth Athlete”. This series will focus on a number of issues that coaches often encounter when working with young athletes. These videos will focus primarily on educating coaches, parents […]

"Weight training isn't safe" – myths every sport parent needs to know

Posted 2 CommentsPosted in Applied coaching, biological maturation, Coach development, Long term athlete development, myths, Myths series, Parents, Soccer, Youth strength and conditioning

Unfortunately there are a number of untruths that continue to negatively influence youth athletes, parents and coaches. In this series, I am to address a number of them which continue to hamper the progression of youth athletes to full senior level performance…

Broken collarbones and the man-child

Posted Leave a commentPosted in Applied coaching, Coach development, Long term athlete development, Youth strength and conditioning

It was a crisp Sunday morning in Perth, Western Australia. I was still pretty drowsy from an early start to get to my football match on time. I was playing centre back. I remember everyone taking about how the other team had a “man-child” playing. This guy was an early-starter… I was about to find […]