Supporting grassroots coaches in the development of their athletes
The YSCA Assistant Coach course is an entry level course at the beginning of the YSCA coaching pathway. It is aimed at Coaches and Parents who have an interest in youth fitness and movement, but have no previous knowledge or experience in the area. I think the course is pitched perfectly with a good balance […]
Read More Course Review: YSCA Assistant CoachI’ve been involved in youth athletic development for over 10 years now across a variety of sports and contexts. Unfortunately, I regularly see the same mistakes appear in athletic development programs for young athletes… 1. Going sport-specific too soon I see this one quite a lot. A coach or parent often requests a “sport-specific” training […]
Read More The 3 biggest mistakes coaches make in Athletic Development (Part 1)I was chatting with one of my S&C colleagues, Uti Ousselam the other day. One of the things we were discussing was how people often think that buying a certain new piece of equipment or software would make a dramatic improvement to the quality or results of their training program. Often the failure to get […]
Read More Try before you buy…Imagine you are dining in a nice Michelin Star restaurant. You enjoy a delicious starter, followed by a great main course and a decadent dessert. You have had a fantastic experience and your tastebuds have been sent into overdrive. It’s a brilliant experience and you’ve thoroughly enjoyed yourself. You thank the chef and the service […]
Read More It’s not you, it’s Gordon Ramsay…Sport is an incredible tool. Some athletes may grow in self esteem and confidence because of it. Some athletes may learn valuable health and fitness lessons from it. Many will make life-long friendships because of it. And some athletes may be lucky enough to make a fulltime career out of it. So just what’s wrong […]
Read More What is the real problem with grassroots sport?In the first part of this series, we discussed all the various tasks and roles you may be asked to do as an S&C coach! If those tasks haven’t put you off, in this post we’ll discuss exactly what you should do, how you should do it and why, in order to stand the best […]
Read More So you want to be a Youth S&C coach? The 6 most important things you need to do…(Part 2)Ultimately, you can’t always choose what role you’re given in the team…
Read More So you want to be a Youth S&C Coach? What are you signing up for? (Part 1)Unfortunately, injuries are part and parcel of participating in youth sport. Yes, we can reduce the likelihood of them occurring with a good warm up, sound movement mechanics, tolerable work loads and appropriate strength and conditioning programs, BUT we can never really eliminate them. Sometimes, despite all our hardest efforts, a late tackle or poor […]
Read More “If you can’t fly then run…” Training around injuriesThe cycle of learning…
Read More The problem is you don’t know what you don’t know…Recently I was interviewed for “The Curve Mindset” podcast. “In this one hour special, we sit down with Athletic Evolution founder Rob Anderson. Rob is a Scottish Rugby strength & conditioning coach working in the Borders & East Lothian Academy. This is a fantastic insight from a coach with such a varied background in sport.” […]
Read More Podcast Interview!