10 Take Home Messages From A Graduate Sports Coach. Part 1

As my first year has finished at Bloxham, it feels right to reflect on what I have learnt and what key messages I can take forward to my next year of coaching

1) There is a difference between Physical Education and School Sport: However, many teachers, pupils and parents believe playing competitive games constitutes P.E. The job of Physical Education is to make a child as physically literate as possible. Every child in this country is taught to read and write, the same is true for P.E; every child should be taught to run, jump, throw, twist, pull, push, squat, lunge, brace and rotate. But many people try to stick a child on a rugby pitch who can’t control his/her bodyweight, let alone other peoples. Without the appropriate physical comprehension, many children struggle to play competitive sport and as a result get injured or just drop out of sport all together. Baroness Sue Campbell summarised this concept very well at a conference I recently attended; P.E is a need to do subject, competitive sport is a nice to do subject.

      2) Always reinforce the quality: This cannot be emphasised enough, especially with regards to strength and conditioning. Many children I have worked with this year feel as though they have earned the right to do certain exercises. If they can’t master the basics, there is no method of progressing up the athletic development ladder. Even with the more capable athletes, the basics can be mastered on a daily basis, through the use of warm ups and cool downs. This is the bread and butter, the fundamentals that all children should be competent in doing. Reinforce that quality from the start, and make your athletes aware that this is what is expected every time they train.

     3) There is more to life than sport: Due to the nature of our school sport structure, all of the children I coach play 3 terms of sport, an attribute which many children fail to complete due to early specialisation. This certainly helps them become more versatile athletes, but it means that Sports Coaches are pulling them in different directions throughout the school year, in order for them to gain advantage come game day. What is crucial for children, parents and coaches to understand is that there is more to life than sport. Sometimes children need to say no; have that afternoon off, catch up on coursework, use their ‘free time’ to learn an instrument or just chill out and be a kid. From my experience, the children that are pulled in these directions either get fed up of that sport or over-train and suffer the injury consequences that are associated with this.

4) You are part of a bigger team: Coaching doesn’t just involve yourself and the athlete. Parental education and support is vital if the child is going to succeed in sport. Communication from their sport coaches is imperative and needs to be constantly updated. You are just one part of a multi-disciplined team, each member can highlight aspects of the child’s life and sport, which has a direct impact on your coaching structure towards them.

5) Everything starts in the warm up: The attitude and direction of the session, whether it be in the gym, outside on the court or field, is dictated in the warm up. Too many of the children I work with thought that the warm up was an opportunity to discuss social agendas while lying down on a bench press! Set the tone and set the attitude for the session in the warm up; it is an opportunity to see how the athlete moves and works and therefore requires your concentration and commitment, as much as theirs. Treat each warm up as an opportunity to get better. 

My Coaching Toolbox

What does your coaching toolbox contain? The below diagram only illustrates 3 components of my toolbox, however, these 3 components still have many subsections within them and it's possible to go into even more detail than I already have.

Being able to review, add to or replace your tools in your toolbox is a vital part of the coaching framework. By standing back and looking at what this toolbox contains I can already assess my own strengths and weaknesses as a coach, and of course areas which require updating. 

All coaches operate using a toolbox, they dip in and out of it every time they coach. Having a wide variety of tools to use and pick from can open up your coaching methods and provide you with a greater depth of understanding, which will only benefit your athletes. 

My thanks are passed onto James Marshall, who first brought this idea to my attention.

‘‘I have done 1.2 million squats in my career’’

The above quote was taken from Paul Nixon, ex Leicestershire and England wicket-keeper, who ran a course I attended this week on coaching cricket to children. This proved to be a great day and credit must be given to Paul for providing a fun, relaxed and stimulating course. 

Paul Nixon in action for England  

Below are some of the take home messages that I took from the day:

1    Being agile in cricket: the ability to fall, turn and move quickly off the ground is central to any good cricketers match preparation. Paul demonstrated this a lot while showing us wicket-keeping drills and concluded that crickets need to be flexible and athletic enough to put their bodies into sometimes awkward and challenging positions. Many of the drills we completed were similar to gymnastic type movements; children find gymnastics fun and it’s a great way to test our bodies to move from one position to the next.

2   Head movement: Not just for wicket-keepers but for all fielders this is a crucial take home message. For your body to move quickly towards the ball your head moves first, this provides your central nervous system with the information on where to go and how to get there. This message can be relayed across all sports which require speed and agility; the head moves first and the rest of the body follows.

3    Get into good habits early: For children, getting into good habits early is fundamental for success. These habits can be in the form of nutrition, match preparation, goal setting and balancing sport with school work. However, Paul focused on warm ups in relation to this point. Getting the children to jog round the pitch, have a few stretches and a few throw downs is not preparing the child physically and mentally for competition. Promote decision making and movement skills in a warm up, this will get children into good habits early.

4    5 min of quality is better than an hour of rubbish nets: This was a very important point which I’m sure is faced by every cricket coach at some point, how do make net practise productive and worthwhile for the children? Much net practise is of such low quality that it is almost worthless. In some cases it can be damaging to technique by reinforcing bad habits. The most worthless situation is having 6 boys in one net, batting 10mins each in rotation, facing a mixed bag of bowling in rapid fire, where bowlers are expected to bowl for the 50mins they are not batting. The ideal number for a net is 3 or 4. This can be achieved, even if there are too few facilities, by involving players in different forms of practise within the same session. Treat nets like a circuit so that players have an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of training situations.

5    ‘‘I have done 1.2 million squats in my career’’: Even for someone who has played 23 years of professional cricket, this is a lot of squats and therefore places a huge strain on the body. This quote highlights the physical requirements of a wicket-keeper, but also reinforces a key concept that alignment and control are vital in cricket. Therefore, getting wicket-keepers doing endless amounts of squats because this is a common movement pattern will not help their long term development. Teaching correct posture, maintaining lower back and anterior/posterior muscle balance however, will keep them on the pitch and not consistently needing massages or rehab. Bowlers are very much the same, a huge amount of strain and force is placed through the body, and because of this many bowlers are lopsided and have uneven alignment. Placing more strain on the body in the form of weight training and high repetitions will only increase the chances of injury. Get the body aligned; get it moving well under control and then place resistance upon it.

Athleticism and Cricket going hand in hand

Testing is Training and Training is Testing

The above statement has been used by countless coaches, however I think it applies extremely well with the children I work with at Bloxham School.

With limited time available, putting aside a day/afternoon or even a couple of hours towards testing can be very difficult. Therefore, every exercise, each rep is an opportunity to evaluate. This term for example I find myself working alongside Boys Hockey and Girls Netball; we have used a very simple but yet comprehensive 5 exercise screening tool. This provides me and the coaching team vital information regarding potential injury risks, muscles imbalances and areas of strength and weaknesses.

The exercises are:

Overhead Squat (with a wooden dowel)

Wall Angels

Single leg balance and reach: Left and Right measurement

Single leg squat: Left and Right measurement

Press up

Each exercise is performed 5 times and is scored out of 5 using a marking criteria.

Figure 1: A good example of an overhead squat, although to score maximum marks we would like hamstrings to be parallel with the floor 

Figure 2: A poor overhead squat with the ear not staying in line with the ankle bone. This could be due to hamstring tightness/lower back flexibility and poor strength. 

Both sets of results were extremely varied; with the boys hockey ranging from 26/35 to 7/35. Common results from the boys came in the form of over reliance on one side, poor lower back control and very tight lower limb flexibility.

The range was very similar within the girls Netball squad; poor upper body strength, weak knee control and poor strength/control of the hips was commonplace within this group of girls.

Now with a foundation to work on, and a structured programme in place, future assessments can be taken place throughout the training calendar so to indicate any positive/negative changes from the original screening.

Injury Prevention in Netball

With Netball taking over as the main focus sport next term within the School I work, I felt it necessary to make a review of the current literature regarding injury prevention in Netball players

Proactive or reactive

Netball involves rapid acceleration, deceleration, and directional changes which place considerable forces through articular and periarticular structures, similar to other field and court sports ¹. A high rate of overuse injuries occur among both elite and amateur players; lower back, ankle, knee and the shoulder are sites of the most consistent injuries, with injuries from the lower limbs coming from repeated impacts with hard surfaces during landing, hopping and, to a lesser degree, when pivoting. Young people especially are at particular risk of sports injury because of high levels of exposure at a time of major physiological change ². Although fewer lower-limb injuries occur in junior players ³, incidence of injuries from falls at 35% suggests that such injuries could be due to poor balance or a lack of other key movement skills ⁴.

It is important therefore to understand the frequency and nature of sports injuries at the youth level to assist in the development of effective injury prevention strategies. Once again the role of any Strength & Conditioning/athletic development coach is to get the athlete fit and ready to take the field of play.

Even national squad multi-disciplined teams have confessed to being reactive rather than proactive with regards to the injury prevention/strength & conditioning programme of its Netball structure ⁵. Previous attempts of being proactive include the use of ankle or knee guards but without a detailed strength and conditioning programme alongside; this shows a lazy approach to injury prevention. The evidence is uncertain regarding the use of knee braces, although there is some evidence from cadaver studies that knee bracing does offer protection to knee ligaments under external load ⁶. This effect may not carry over to the high-velocity, multidirectional forces encountered during sporting activity, such as Netball. What is becoming clear is that there is significant and consistent evidence in the literature to support the use of injury-prevention strategies in adolescents that include preseason conditioning as well as functional training, education, strength and balance programmes that are continued throughout the playing season ⁷.

Screening

The effects of screening players, both before and throughout the season has several advantages; highlighting injury risk of players, physiological imbalances and the progress of fitness development. In addition, the act of screening players can develop self-evaluation/awareness of their own anatomy, body mechanics and the purpose of specific aspects of their training.

Upon working with a handful of Netball players this term; some were unable to control a basic lunge or squat movement under body weight conditions, yet were loading these movements in a gym situation. This caused compensation strategies and accentuated stress on areas of relative flexibility, where injuries appeared. By screening these elements separately, it is possible to demonstrate to players and coaching personal the reasons for these problems, as well as laying foundations for the changes that would be necessary to overcome them. An example of a progressive screening could be: Single leg balance-single leg squat-dynamic hopping with turning in the air. This example looks to screen for possible knee ligament tear/sprains of which are consistent with an inability to counterbalance external torque/rotation when landing or pivoting.

Hypermobility

Hypermobility or generalised joint laxity is defined as a condition in which most of an individual’s synovial joints have a range of motion beyond normal limits. The prevalence of hypermobility in schoolchildren has been estimated to be 13–27%⁸, with a higher prevalence in girls than boys ⁹. In some sports, hypermobile joints may be associated with a performance advantage—for example, spin bowlers in cricket, gymnasts, and ballerinas. However, previous studies have revealed an increased incidence of musculoskeletal complaints such as arthralgias, joint subluxations, joint dislocations, and sprains in sportsmen with hypermobile joints ¹⁰.

Hypermobility in the knee joint-a risk factor for potential knee ligament injuries

The Beighton index gives an overall composite score of 0–9 with regards to joint hypermobility and can also be categorised into three groups: 0–2 (not hypermobile); 3–4 (moderately hypermobile); 5–9 (distinctly hypermobile) ¹¹. Not surprising that the indices of injury rates increase alongside the increase in the Beighton index. But researchers still argue whether this is a cause or effect scenario due to the cross sectional method of most of the research. What seems to be more conclusive is that patients with hypermobility syndrome have been shown to have impaired joint proprioception in both the knee and finger joints ¹². This impaired proprioception may not just account for an increase in acute injuries, but may also explain the increased incidence of secondary degenerative osteoarthritis seen in hypermobile joints ¹³.

Risk factors for Netball related injuries

Not warming up before a game. A simple precaution but still not adhered to by some coaches. One study found that only 60% of netballers reported warming up before training and the game! Previous studies have shown that the range of movement of a joint can be different before and after a warm up ¹⁴. This is very important when you consider the amount of joint related injuries in Netball. Participants who reported training for at least 4 h/week had significantly fewer injures than those who trained for <4 h/week ¹⁵. However, it should be noted that the quality of training should always outweigh the quantity of it.

Although disagreement still surrounds the most effective warm up for Netball, and indeed most sports, I have included some necessary key points when designing any warm up:

-           Make it fun

-           Include multi directional changes of direction

-           Provide an environment for players to develop decision making-don’t just go through the routine

-           Mimic the sport to a degree in the warm up; if you’re preparing for a rugby game-contact has to be essential. Cricket = catching and throwing the ball from a variety of different body positions

Conclusion

Injury prevention strategies should seek to reduce the incidence of common injuries in netball by gaining and understanding the mechanisms associated with each of these injuries. Training programs should be specific to netball and focus on demands of the games. Skills and movement patterns of individual positions during game play should form the basis of these programs. All injury prevention programs, resources and strategies should be produced in formats that encourage coaches and players from all levels of competition to take them up. It may also be appropriate to investigate if injury prevention models that have proven effective in other sports could be extrapolated to netball. Lastly, education, both from a coach and player perspective, is vital if injury prevention programmes are going to be successful in the long term.

References

1.      Smith, R., Damodaran, A. K., Swaminathan, S., Campbell, R., Barnsley, L. (2005). Hypermobility and sports injuries in junior netball players. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 39(9), 628–631.

2.      Lidqvist, K. S., Timpka, T., Bjurulf, P. (1996) Injuries during leisure physical activity in a Swedish municipality. Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine, 24, 282–92.

3.      Finch, C., Valuri, G., Ozanne-Smith, J. (1998). Sport and active recreation injuries in Australia: evidence from emergency department presentations. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 32(3), 220–225.

4.       Routley, V. (1991).Sports injuries in children-the five most commonly presented sports. Hazard, 9,1–8.

5.      Elphinstona, J & Hardman, S. L. (2006). Effect of an integrated functional stability program on injury rates in an international netball squad. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 9(1), 169—176.

6.      Paulos, L. E., Cawley, P. W., France, E. P. (1991). Impact biomechanics of lateral knee bracing. The anterior cruciate ligament. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 19(4), 337–342.

7.      Abernethy, L., & Bleakley, C. (2007). Strategies to prevent injury in adolescent sport: a systematic review.  British Journal of Sports Medicine, 41(10), 627–638.

8.      Van der Giessen, L. J., Liekins, D., Rutgers, K. J. (2001). Validation of Beighton score and prevalence of connective tissue signs in 773 Dutch children. The Journal of Rheumatology, 28, 2726–2730.

9.      Larsson, L. G., Baum, J., Mudholkar, G. S. (1987). Hypermobility: features and differential incidence between the sexes. Arthritis & Rheumatism, 30(12), 1426–1430.

10.  Finsterbush, A., Pogrund, H. (1982). The hypermobility syndrome: musculoskeletal complaints in 100 consecutive cases of generalized joint hypermobility. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 168, 124–127.

11.   Boyle, K. L., Witt, P., Riegger-Krugh, C. (2003). Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the Beighton and Horan joint mobility index. Journal of Athletic Training, 38(4), 281–285.

12.  Hall, M. G., Ferrell, W. R., Sturrock, R. D., et al. (1995). The effect of the hypermobility syndrome on knee joint proprioception. British Journal of Rheumatology, 34(2), 121–125.

13.  Jonsson, H., Valtysdottir, S. T., Kjartansson, O., et al. (1996). Hypermobility associated with osteoarthritis of the thumb base: a clinical and radiological subset of a hand osteoarthritis. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 55, 540–543.

14.  Bird, H. A. (2004). Rheumatological aspects of dance. The Journal of Rheumatology, 31, 12–13.

15.  McManus, A., Stevenson, M. R., & Finch, C.F. (2006). Incidence and risk factors for injury in non-elite netball. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 9(1-2), 119—124.

Is It Bad For Females To Do Press Ups?

This blog is in response to a question I was asked recently by a girl at Bloxham School; ‘‘I have heard press ups can affect a women’s ability to have baby’s’’.

This is a hardly surprising question due to the way gyms market fitness for females; the majority are encouraged to stay away from the dumbbells and instead are pushed into pilates, spin classes or ‘’core stability’’ workshops! However, this will not prepare the young female athlete for an enjoyable and perhaps successful journey in sport. Strength & Conditioning/athletic development coaches should be encouraging basic bodyweight strength exercises from a young age, especially for female athletes. 

Why should female athletes invest more time in Resistance Training?

There are certain characteristics within the female physiological make up which make them more prone to injury while playing competitive sport:

Hormones: During puberty the production of estrogen in girls increases fat deposition and breast development, whereas testosterone production in boys increases bone formation and protein synthesis. Though estrogen also stimulates bone growth, boys have a longer growth period, and therefore adult men tend to achieve greater stature than adult women. Resistance training can stimulate the synthesis of growth hormone in female athletes, which aids protein synthesis.

Joint laxity: Some females have too much movement in their joints. Resistance training looks to develop key stabilising muscles around the joints.

Lower limb alignment: 

This image shows the Q angle; this is the angle formed by a line drawn from the ASIS to central patella and a second line drawn from central patella to tibial tubercle. An increased Q angle is a risk factor for patellar subluxation, while the average Q angle is 14 deg for males and 17 deg for females. Strengthening the lower limb muscles, especially the vastus medialis obliquus, can help increase the stability of the knee joint in women.

Muscle strength: When expressing strength relative to body weight, the lower body strength of women is similar to that of men, while the upper body strength of women is still somewhat less.

Ligament size: A growing amount of research has shown that females on average have smaller ligament widths when compared to male athletes. It has been speculated that smaller Anterior Cruciate Ligaments (ACL) may predispose females to ACL ruptures. Resistance training has been shown to increase the size and strength of tendons and ligaments, especially in the lower limbs. This takes on even more importance when you consider female athletes are known to be 6 times more likely of injuring their ACL while participating in competitive sports.

But how does this impact on sport?

Apart from the above physiological improvements, the number one factor that strength training achieves is the ability to get the athlete onto the field of play. Staying fit and injury free has to be the main aim for any Strength & Conditioning/Athletic development coach. Strength training, if done correctly can enhance an athlete’s durability. As well as this, many sports which involve contact with the floor and falling over require sufficient levels of strength just in order to prevent upper body limb injuries from occurring.

‘‘I have heard press ups can affect a women’s ability to have baby’s’’

In conclusion, and in response to the above question, even during pregnancy resistance training is recommend to help keep mum and baby fit; as long as the load is light to moderate and the emphasis is on muscular endurance (12-15 reps). Luckily, these types of questions are few and far between at Bloxham and slowly we are starting to change the culture surrounding resistance training and its role with female athletes.

What is Dynamic Correspondence?

Here is a guest blog I wrote for Excelsior Sports performance investigating the term ''Dynamic Correspondence''.

http://www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk/blog/what-dynamic-correspondence