Monday, November 27, 2017

"That kid gets in her own head"...Overcoming Fear

We've all seen the athlete or student who lets fear get in their way, often using the term, "That kid gets in her own head".

Every coach will come across an athlete, or every athlete will come across a teammate, or every parent will see their child struggle, or every athlete or student will come to a mental crossroads at some time in their life when fear paralyzes their ability to succeed on the field or in the classroom.

I think an effective way of helping them is, not only to gain perspective on their thought processes, but also to help teach them to "take apart" their fear and see what it is based on. From there, they gain some perspective for themselves and can proceed on fixing it and moving forward.

This video is outstanding and takes things apart in just that way. Trevor Regan and his Train Ugly curriculum and methodology is a great tool for a coach to have in his toolbox.

Credit: http://trainugly.com/

Monday, November 20, 2017

Pain & Brain - some questions answered about sports injuries...

Injury is part of competition...some thoughts on three questions that as an athlete or parent, you may, unfortunately, have to think about:

1. How is it that some athletes seem able to overcome a painful injury with ease, while others really suffer?

2. How can the same injury produce different pain experiences in different athletes?

2. Should you ignore pain and try to shrug off an injury?

In the past, the scientific and medical world has seen the mind and body as two separate entities and the sensation of pain as the result of purely physical and chemical processes as a result of damage to tissues.

Modern medicine however is beginning to show the limitations of this approach. Most magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have shown that there's little link between the degree of tissue damage revealed in a scan and the amount of pain experienced, while nearly 40% of people with abnormal and damaged spines have no pain whatsoever!

Tissue damage alone it seems is insufficient to explain the degree of pain experienced.

The "gate control theory" proposes that the central nervous system (CNS - brain and spinal chord) plays a central role in modulating the what kind of pain you experience i.e. the type and degree of tissue damage only partly explains what you subsequently experience; it's the CNS processing of those initial tissue damage signals that determine how debilitating and sever that pain is and how rapidly it diminishes.

While the gate control theory has been continually modified and expanded, it has stood the test of time and is backed up by over forty years of scientific research.

Because the brain is involved in interpreting and processing pain signals, the thoughts, emotions, beliefs and attitudes of the athlete can and do play a role in the pain that is experienced after injury.

In other words, pain effectively emerges from the combined action of the pain system, which comprises of three components:

•	Peripheral modulation - where pain receptors are stimulated by an initial injury or trauma and then by the release of pain stimulating chemicals.
•	Spinal modulation - where the signal travelling from tissue to brain can be either amplified or decreased by nervous interactions as it enters the spinal chord.
•	Supraspinal modulation - processing in the brain involving attention, beliefs, attitudes and previous pain experiences.

The interaction between these components is complex but helps to answer some of the questions raised earlier. For example, scans of brain activity show that different people respond differently to the same pain stimulus, while studies involving twins have shown that learned behaviours are also important.

Even in the same athlete, the pain experienced can vary significantly depending on the circumstances becoming significantly less during competition when supraspinal and spinal modulation act to inhibit the transmission and limiting awareness of the pain signal.

Sometimes, chronic pain produces changes in the functioning of the pain system so that it becomes over-sensitised. When this happens, even everyday movements and pressures that would normally cause no irritation or pain in tissues continue to cause pain, long after the originally injured tissue has healed.

This can be compounded by an athlete's fear and anxiety about their ongoing pain and by focusing too much attention on the pain. When this "maladaptive pain" becomes entrenched, a gradual and graded approach to activity designed to desensitise the pain system is required.

Should you ignore pain and try to shrug off an injury?

The initial phase of sensitisation is designed to encourage you to stop using injured tissues to avoid making things worse. You therefore need to ask yourself three questions:

•	Can I cope with the pain?
•	Can I continue to contribute a meaningful performance?
•	What are the consequences of continuing?

The answers to these may well depend on the situation you find yourself in, and require a judgement call. If that's the case, you need to qualify the questions above by asking:

•	Am I prepared to cope?
•	How important is contributing a worthwhile performance to me?
•	Am I prepared to suffer the consequences?

Using a potentially risky pain killing injection the day before an Olympic final, would seem quite reasonable thing to do if it was the only way an athlete could compete, but the same course of action would not seem reasonable for a novice runner before a fun run!

You may be able to overcome acute pain and continue to compete, but it doesn't necessarily make it a wise decision, which is why professional advice at the earliest possible opportunity is invaluable!

Inevitably, the most successful athletes are those who best understand the relationship between pain and performance; they're prepared to overcome pain, but make wise and informed decisions about when it is worthwhile trying to do.

source: Andrew Hamilton, Editor

Peak Performance, https://www.peakendurancesport.com/
High-performance training tools, tips and advice for endurance athletes
Peak Performance reveals the latest, cutting-edge training advice for high-performance endurance athletes. From strength training to muscle building… injury prevention, nutrition stamina and endurance strategies; you’ll find everything you need to improve your fitness and competitive results.

Monday, November 13, 2017

How To: Warm-Up Your Goalkeeper

Source:

The Keeper Institute

http://www.thekeeperinstitute.com/

This warmup progression is what we use to warm up our college and professional goalkeepers. We aim for 28-34 minute total based on the allotted time we have. Remember this is not a training session. Keep it short, sharp, and simple.

No "coaching" technique, tiny adjustments and quick reminders work best.

After the dynamic warm up start...

#1- Passing and receiving. Aim for 5-6 minutes of intermittent passing and stretching.

#2- Handling- Simple footwork with handling. Do not tire the goalkeeper out, 8-10 reps is sufficient. Make sure to hit some serves off the surface as the surfaces tend to change, i.e. turf, grass, and weather conditions.

#3-Diving. 3 sets of four serves. Set1- two low shots to the back post, 2 to the near post. Set2- same as set 1 but in the air. Set3- unpredictable shots, can add a 1v1 or two. Make sure to work bot sides of the goal. Positioning is also important in these sets.

#4- Shots from distance- Live paced shots from distance, can add 1v1s. Make sure to work all angles on the top of the box.

#5- Crosses- Take about 5-6 uncontested, then add traffic. Goalkeeper can throw or strike after they take the cross.

#6- This is where they would see about 2-3 minutes of live shots from the team (if they desire)

#7- Distribution- Allow the goalkeeper to warm up with some 30 yard clipped balls. Then allow the goalkeeper to strike goal kicks, drop kicks, and one touch clearances. Make sure the clearances are with left and right feet and using both instep and inside of the foot based on the back pass.

Source: The Keeper Institute