Fight Night - Conditioning Methods of World Champion Evander Holyfield

Conditioning Methods of World Champion Evander Holyfield
By Frederick C. Hatfield
From http://www.sportsci.org/news/news9709/Hatfield.html
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Not strictly endurance sport but a really good insight into the specific preparation of an elite athlete
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Training Strategy for Evander Holyfield

The time-honoured -- but unfortunately ill-conceived -- practice of long, slow distance work as a conditioning regimen for boxers is what Evander learned from the training dinosaurs of his youth, and had continued with for years. When I was brought aboard his team, prior to his fight against Buster Douglas in 1990, Evander was in sad physical condition considering the specific demands of his sport. I immediately tested Evander's responses to three minutes of boxing specific total body work (see the 3-minute drill description below), which brought his heart rate above 180 bpm. He needed a full 7 or 8 minutes to recover back to 120 bpm after this single bout, analogous to one hard boxing round. What was worse, after doing five of the 3-minute drills with a one minute rest between, his heart rate remained above 150 between bouts. In short, he did not have the capacity to sustain a high performance level for even half of the duration of a professional fight.

My responsibilities were limited to the physical conditioning component of Evander's training, which had to be integrated into his skills and sparring training. Boxers require not only agility, speed and strength in short, explosive bursts, but also a high level of anaerobic strength endurance in order to perform these bursts over and over for ten rounds or more. I designed Evander's training regimen and nutritional protocol to reflect these all-important elements. The road work ended promptly and completely.

After the 12 week cycle described below, Evander recovered quickly from intense activity, even after a series of ten, 3-minute drills. His agility and limit strength levels increased, and his lean Baudot increased from 208 to 218.

The conditioning program described below was the program I personally supervised Evander through prior to the Buster Douglas fight. He also used the same training cycle in preparation for his most recent fights against Mike Tyson, but I was not there personally to oversee his training. This preparation was supervised by a friend of mine in the strength coaching profession who assures me the Evander followed the prescribed program precisely.

General Points of Conditioning for Boxers

There are several general concepts which helped to shape the specific program that I designed for Evander. First, the work profile of boxing is repeated 3-minute rounds of activity, often with very high intensity bursts within a round. The rounds are separated by one minute rest intervals. Thus, the relative contribution of anaerobic energy release pathways is considered extremely important, with aerobic capacity playing an important role in terms of facilitating rapid recovery. Extreme conditioning is required to fight effectively for ten intense, 3-minute rounds and anaerobic endurance is a key aspect that cannot be overlooked. Short of an early round knockout, boxers cannot afford to win only the early rounds of a fight. They must maintain an intense, but measured pace throughout a long and competitive bout. So conditioning counts almost as much as skill for boxing success. Optimal physical conditioning provides the platform from which the skills can be used. The best way to simulate the demands of boxing is to use conditioning methods which mimic the work/rest ratio and integrated bursts of power that typify boxing.

Boxing is a highly individual sport. Fighters possess unique styles that create specific physical demands. Some rely on explosive strength ("power"), for others it's starting strength ("speed"), and for most a combination of the two ("speed-strength"). True champions alter their style in a way that will make them more able to attack the weaknesses of any given opponent.

Improvements in specific capacities can be made, but they are only helpful if integrated into the fighter's style. For example, extensive footwork exercises may not benefit the power puncher who fights stationary and looks to deliver a blow that starts with the legs and drives right through the opponent (and wins that way). Similarly, a fighter who relies on punching speed and fast footwork should not put all his training hours into heavy bag work and muscle mass development. So, the program designed must not only be specific to boxing, but also specific to the boxer.

Ideally, the boxing punch consists of a synchronization between arm, leg, and trunk actions. The punching movement of a boxer consists of leg extension, trunk rotation, and arm extension, in succession. The more effective the coordination between arm, leg and trunk movements, the greater the impact force of a punch. The leg muscles play a vital role in the power developed in this sequence. Increasing leg force development and coordinating it with trunk and arm action is probably the most effective way to increase punching power.

Because boxing is an explosive sport, ballistic training methods are especially effective during weight training for boxing. This kind of training method requires the athlete to perform each repetition explosively, with maximal intended velocity. Finally, in my view, the best way to weight train for competitive boxing is via a cycled training schedule. This type of training schedule integrates workouts and exercises that will meet all the basic performance demands of boxing, strength, power, speed, agility, and strength endurance.

Evander's Conditioning Plan

The twelve week macro cycle was broken down into four mesocycles of three weeks duration. Each 3-week period had specific goals, and each subsequent 3-week period built upon what was established in the preceding periods. The conditioning goals for each mesocycle were as follows:

Weeks One, Two and Three

1. Maximize muscle mass -- Evander needed to increase his body mass from under 210 to 220 pounds.

2. Minimize fat accumulation during hypertrophy phase (dietary strategies including "zig-zag" diet were employed).

3. Improve general strength and fitness foundation, including moderate aerobic threshold intensity training.

4. Begin training to increase anaerobic threshold.

5. Introduce light plyometrics.

Weeks Four, Five and Six

1. Maximize limit strength of muscles/movement used in boxing (emphasis on legs).

2. Increase anaerobic strength endurance (maximum force output time after time).

3. Begin training specific skills (weaknesses) in earnest.

4. Concentrate on between-workout recovery.

5. Introduce explosive strength and starting strength with moderate plyometrics.

Weeks Seven, Eight and Nine

1. Maximize explosive strength.

2. Specific event skills must predominate all skills training sessions.
3. Continue anaerobic threshold training.

4. Maximize between-workout recovery.

5. Incorporate weighted plyometrics and hill/stairs running.

Weeks Ten, Eleven and Twelve

1. Maximize ballistic strength (starting strength) using "shock" plyometrics (built on a 9-week base of plyometrics progression).

2. Heavy emphasis on anaerobic threshold.

3. Maximize between-workout recovery ability.

4. Heavy emphasis on skills.

5. Emphasize speed, agility, ballistic movements.

6. "Overspend" drills in final preparatory period.

7. Begin "complex training" (description below) as a replacement for normal weight training.

Evander's Training Techniques and Sequences

(abbreviated terms are described after the table)

Explanation of Training Terms and Details

Boxing Skills & Sparring: Evander's personal boxing skills regimen is up to him and his coach. However, Evander's coach and I communicated to establish precisely what physical and mental capabilities this form of periodized conditioning would provide Evander. In this way, Evander's boxing skills were in perfect sync with his fight strategy and his conditioning efforts right up to the fight. Use of the heavy bag early in the 12 week macro cycle was carefully monitored due to the severe ballistic nature of this training medium.

IE Impulse/Inertial Machine: This machine is used to develop starting strength in jabs, uppercuts, hooks. It is tough and requires total body coordination. Evander's problem was that he did not use good total body coordinations in his punches. He tended to be an "arm-puncher." This training apparatus was employed to help Evander develop this motor sequence and use his legs more when punching.

UBE Cybex Upper Body Exerciser (upper body exercycle)

VersaBall: This is a more comfortable variation of the old medicine ball. Upper body plyometrics teaches explosive and starting strength in all punches and requires total body coordination. VersaBall throws were made from the following positions.
-right and left jab positions (single arm)
-between legs (double arm, for back)
-overhead (double arm, for midsection)
-chest pass (double arm)

Weight Training: Initially (during mesocycle one), Evander followed a modified bodybuilding and basic strengthening program using a "variable split" format. A, B and C specify whether the workout is to be a very easy one (A), a moderately difficult one (B), or a high intensity one (C). This part of Evander's program was monitored by Lee Haney, multiple "Mr. Olympia" bodybuilding champion, and a former student of mine.Evander's Variable Split Exercise Listing
The precise schedule of when to do an A, B or C workout was matched to Evander's recuperative abilities.

In mesocycle two, Evander switched to a sports-specific weight training program.In mesocycle three Evander switched to "complex training." This form of training targets limit strength, explosive strength and starting strength/amortization in one "set" of exercises. The exercises are performed back to back and include jumps, bar exercises, and depth jumps--in that order. The function of the complex method is to peak the athlete. My experience has been that it is a better peaking program than simple bar exercises or plyometric exercises alone.

3-Minute Drill: 3-minutes of combinations of forward and backward sprints, skipping, hopping, jumping and "carioca" (football) drills for both upper and lower body.Start out with only three, 3-minute drills with one minute rest between each gradually (over the first mesocycle) work up to six 3-minute drills with one minute rest between Take pulse after each drill (target: 180 bpm), and again after one minute rest (target: 110 bpm). Below are the instructions given to the trainer responsible for monitoring Evander's 3-minute drill training and plyometrics sequences.Bear in mind that this drill is NONSTOP -- pushing him to the absolute limits of his anaerobic tolerance. Keep pounding it into him "CHECKMARK! CHECKMARK!" on all of his movements, including every step he takes, every jump, hop, skip and start/stop. "Checkmark" is a phrase known to all of the athletes I work with. It reminds them to keep the amortization phase (transition from down to up or backward to forward) of each movement pinpoint sharp, the way a "checkmark" looks.The 3-Minute Drill Sequence:
-Jog or step-ups to warm up, then
-sprint 40 yards
-stop and sprint backwards
-stop and sprint backwards
-jump in place high ten times
-get in a pushup position and give me your legs
-run forward on your hands
-run backward on your hands
-run left
-run right
-jump up and down on your hands 10 times
-stop... get up... carioca left 40 yards
-carioca right back to me
-skip 40 yards
-skip backwards back to me

Each 3-minute drill is performed on verbal commands from the trainer. Evander must go for a solid 3 minutes at a heart rate of 180 beats per minute (minimum). After a one minute rest (getting his heart rate back to 110-120) repeat, rest, and repeat again.

Notice that jumps, hops and skips should be performed with "checkmark" intensity, as should every single move Evander makes -- POUND that thought into his head every minute of these drills. Always tape Evander's wrists and wear gloves (protection from debris and potholes)!Plyometrics This is a way of improving starting strength, explosive strength and amortization (the "checkmark") through total concentrated force output in every move Evander makes. On days where the midday workout is limited to plyometrics, they should be relaxed, with much rest between bouts, with each bout only lasting 10-20 seconds.

The Plyometrics Sequence
1. jog or do stepups to warm up
2. easy (not "all-out") jumps, hops, skips, and then
3. do 20 yards of skips
4. again
5. hops like a kangaroo
6. again
7. repeat 3, 4, 5, and 6 backwards
8. one-legged hops 30 yards (both feet)
9. hops on hands 10 yards
10. repeat 9 backwards
11. repeat 9 left and right

In second mesocycle, do all of the above with a weighted vest.In third mesocycle, incorporate bench hops, 10 reps.In third mesocycle, incorporate twisting skips 40 yards, and twisting the other way back 40 yards.

Jake White

Interview with Jake White: World Cup winning Rugby Coach

From http://www.carteblanche.co.za/

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Date : 11 November 2007

Producer : Victoria Cullinan

Presenter : Derek Watts

Researcher : Quereshini Naidoo



It was the match that millions gathered to watch, it was the match that every player in the Springbok squad had played their hearts out to be in, and it was the match that Coach Jake White had dreamed about for 17 years.



Jake White (Springbok Coach): “We wanted to play on the Tuesday. We were so ready to play. That whole week dragged and dragged and then the 78 minutes flew by. I realised that is it. They can’t score twice. They had to score nine points and I realised that physically they couldn’t run the length of the field and back again in two minutes. I realised that we had won the World Cup. The amazing thing was that in those two minutes I thanked the coaches, I thanked the reserves, thanked the non-paying reserves, thanked the security guards, I had time to walk down the stands and get to the field. It was almost like that went in slow motion.”



Jake and the team came back with the most coveted trophy in rugby.



Euphoric South Africans hailed the sporting heroes. Eleven days later while everyone in country was still basking in the glory, Jake held a press conference to tell the world that he was quitting.



[Press Conference] Jake: “I walk away with no regrets but with plenty of sadness.”



A visibly upset Jake told the world that he had not been given the option of renewing his contract as Bok coach.



[Press Conference] Jake: “I’m not surprised because there is no history of loyalty and trust in South African Rugby.”



South African Rugby accused him of playing the victim, claiming he had missed the deadline. His job was advertised while Jake was at the World Cup. The deadline was the 19 October – the day before the Final.



Jake: “One of the things that I always realised in this job is that you are going to get fired, that’s inevitable.”



Jake has had a roller coaster ride as the Springbok Coach and now he has written a book about his rocky relationship with the SA Rugby Union.


Jake: “When I heard BA 643 to London and then to Paris, and I got on that plane and I was on my way to the World Cup, it was probably the first time I realised that I had survived. I never knew what to expect, Derek.”



He has faced accusations of racism, been threatened with dismissal a number of times, his coaching decisions questioned and he even faced attempted blackmail. It all started at the end of 2003 when Rudolph Straeuli was fired.



Derek Watts (Carte Blanche presenter): “The call asking Jake to apply for one of the most demanding and controversial coaching jobs in the world came out of the blue and strangely enough while he was at the Canberra home of a South African star who headed down under, Clyde Rathbone.”



Jake: “And it was quite ironic because I was literally on my way there to see what other opportunities there were abroad. I finished two years with the under-21s. I got the feeling that I probably wasn’t going to go any higher. So I was looking at going to get some knowledge in Australia and then maybe going to go coach in Europe.”



He had a tough task. The once mighty team was ranked sixth in the world. They had suffered a long string of defeats, been subjected to the humiliations of Kamp Staaldraad and had collapsed in the quarterfinals of 2003 World Cup. Jake had to reintroduce a culture of winning into the demoralised team.



Derek: “Jake, you couldn’t have asked for a better start, I mean, winning the Tri-Nations in 2004.”



Jake: “There’s no doubt winning the Tri-Nations and getting South Africa behind you again because we had come off the disaster of the 2003 campaign.”



Then they made a clean sweep at the International Rugby Awards, winning coach, player and team of the year. Jake was rewarded with an extension of his contract up until the 2007 World Cup. But the honeymoon was soon over. Jake had constant rows over attempts to meddle in his team selections. In June 2005, during the French Tour of South Africa he was ordered to substitute Schalk Burger with Solly Tyibilika. He refused.



Jake: “There was a bit of sentiment that Solly should play because he comes form that area. I said, ‘You can’t be making emotional decisions like that. We play for the South African public ... you can’t leave out the player that has been voted the world’s best rugby player because you are playing in PE.’”



Derek: “So there was a crisis meeting with Bryan van Rooyen?”Jake: “I didn’t go to that meeting. But I was told that on Sunday I was going to get fired. We played on Saturday, in fact, some of the guys got text messages from journos saying win or lose he’s gone.”



The Boks won the match and Jake stayed. The confrontations and threats would set the tone for the next two years.



Derek: “2006, you call the year from hell?”



Jake: “That was close to it Derek, let me tell you. We lost seven test matches. We lost disastrously in Brisbane. I had never experienced that Derek. Even as a school teacher I had never lost a game by 49 points to nil.”



Derek: “You were booed?”



Jake: “That was probably the least that happened to me, being booed.”



It was the worst ever defeat for the Boks against Australia. Jakes relationship the board had deteriorated so badly that he was being publicly criticised.



Jake: “I remember reading an article saying that the coach is in a 49 metre hole and it was written by a South African Rugby employee.”



It was in November that things hit rock bottom. After losing seven tests in a row, The Blue Bulls Rugby Union declared a vote of no confidence in Jake. In middle of the tour Jake had to fly back from England to defend himself. He was made to wait for five hours like a naughty schoolboy outside the headmaster’s office before he faced a grilling from the presidents’ council.



Jake: “I literally flew all the way back for a 45 minute meeting. I will never forget the one president said that he goes to a lot of bars and restaurants and he just knows that the people he speaks to there don’t think John is a good captain ... what do I think? I thought it was incredible that I got asked that question.”



Derek: “Jake it is funny now but at the time you must have thought that this could be the end of the road?”



Jake: “I always knew that they wanted to. But I never thought they would fire. I was always fortunate to have the players’ backing and to have the sponsors’ backing. Those were the two groups of people I had to keep happy because those are the two groups that know if you are doing your job or not.”



Derek: “And your management team?”



Jake: “There is no doubt about that. I never had to look over my shoulder to see if there were people trying to take my job or sabotage something within us.”



Derek: “What do you say to critics who say that you made all the right noises about transformation but that you didn’t deliver?”



Jake: “Well, I would say that they are living in a dream world, Derek. I picked a player of colour for every position in my four years, except flyhalf. The reality is that I have done more than any other coach has ever done in terms of being representative at test level.”



Jake was ordered to use more black players but he never had a strong pool to draw on.



Jake: “It’s very difficult at national level to make it more representative if you are not going to get people in the provinces playing there.”



Jake suspected that President Mbeki’s name was often used to pressurise him into making certain decisions.



Jake: “The reality is if our government wanted to instil quota systems, and if they wanted to make sure there was x-amount of players, it would be law. People who say that the government interferes or this person interferes, you know it is nonsense. The reality is that there are certain people that are involved in the decision making in rugby and they use the powers that they have to put pressure. They continually say that the government says or they say but nobody knows who ‘they’ are.”



He got so fed up that he made an appointment to have tea with the President to discuss his problems. But Oregan Hoskins accused him of bringing the game into disrepute. Jake was forced to cancel.



Derek: “With all the niggles and the full blown confrontations of the selection of black players, it was ironic that one of the biggest dust ups, of his four year coaching career, was over a white boy.”



In May, team manager Zola Yeye and President Oregan Hoskins announced the 46 man World Cup training squad. The only problem was that Jake had selected only 45 players. Luke Watson had been added in just before the announcement.



Derek: “How did you feel?”



Jake: “I was flipping disgusted. I was livid to be honest with you. I thought it is unbelievable how this happens in this country you know.”



Derek: “What is the history between you and Luke?”



Jake: “It’s quite simple. I don’t think he is a good rugby player. I think he is the most overrated rugby player I have seen at this level and that’s it, full-stop.”



Derek: “Jake, who were the officials putting you under this pressure?”



Jake: “Pumelela Tshume, who is the chairman of the board. Oregan Hoskins, who is the president. Mike Stofile, who is the vice president. I think there is no doubt about it looking back there was an agenda on their side because of the connections they had with his father. They felt that they had to push him to get him into a team.”



Luke’s father, Cheeky Watson, was an anti-apartheid activist in the 70s who refused to play rugby for whites’ only teams. He joined a black team and played with Zola Yeye. Today Cheeky is a business consultant with friends in high places.



Derek: “And your own team manager Zola Yeye attacked you and the two other selectors.”



Jake: “Ja, I mean he did. Zola knows the family very well. I think there is a story that he actually held the little guy when he was born. So there is a deep rooted connection there as well.”



This intervention was tame in comparison to an offer Jake apparently received a couple of months earlier from the Watson family themselves. He got called to a meeting with their lawyer.



Derek: “There were all sorts of conditions laid down. Luke will be selected for the squad. He will play in a test. He will go to the World Cup. And the bonus for you was that you would keep your job after 2007?”



Jake: “The bonus wasn’t that I would keep my job because there were no guarantees about that. The bonus was that I would go the World Cup. The bottom line was that if this doesn’t happen you might not go to the World Cup yourself. So it was a hell of a thing to hear. I thought, Where is this coming from now?’ Then as I walked away I thought, ‘What way do I go now, is it worth throwing away three-and-a-half years of work literally before a World Cup?’”



The lawyer also allegedly warned Jake that he was being watched, his phones tapped and that he was going to be linked to a ‘third force’ that supposedly ran SA Rugby.



Derek: “The biggest surprise for me was that you were prepared to accept it.”



Jake: “That was the tough thing. I went with my lawyer and afterwards at lunch I sat with him and I said, ‘Listen, what do we do now because this is big hey?’”But the next day they withdrew the deal. Two months later Luke’s name was added to the list. He made his debut in a test against Samoa in Bloemfontein. Fifty minutes into the match Luke was injured and had to leave the field. The matter of Luke Watson was never brought up again.



Derek: “How did the players treat him?”



Jake: “There’s one thing you can’t do and that is bullshit a rugby player. They know if they rate a guy or not. They also found it awkward because they knew under what circumstances he had come into the team. I remember Derek some of the senior players came into my room during the week and said they have got a problem because they are not going to initiate him. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ and they just said they don’t think he is worthy of getting initiated because he wasn’t picked and he got forced in and all that sort of thing.”



Derek: “What is the Springbok initiation?”



Jake: “It is not something we talk about obviously. It is an induction into the Springbok family.”



Derek: “You can’t tell us what they do?”



Jake: “No, I can’t tell you what they do. It is something that is unique to South Africa. It is basically a passing down of traditions from Doc Craven and his dog.”



Derek: “You don’t get smacked on the butt?”



Jake: “There is a little bit of that but it is nothing like playing a test match, so it’s okay.”



For once Jake’s selection of the World Cup squad in July was accepted without a murmur.



Jake: “I got the feeling that they sort of said, ‘Let him go to the World Cup and when he gets back it is finished. We are going to move. We don’t really need to be fighting with this guy too much more. We don’t really get on with him all that much. He doesn’t get on with us. So let him go to the World Cup and if he loses in the quarter-finals or the semi-finals then we are all happy. Then we move.’ They didn’t think that maybe South Africa could win the World Cup. I think that is what has happened ... we came back winners. But I did say that I don’t have energy to continue on fighting with you guys for another four years.”



Rumours are flying about what Jakes next career move will be. Australia, England, Wales have all been mentioned.



Derek: “So where to now for Jake White?”



Jake: “I don’t want to go. I really would like to add to the brand over the next few years. There are some great times ahead for these players if they stick together. For the next coach I say stick to the same principle I did in my four years. You are going to get fired. If you get fired make sure you do because of the way you want to do and not the way everybody else wants you to do it. What happens is if you listen to all the other voices and it goes wrong they fire you anyway. So you might as well go to bed at night knowing you are going to get fired but it was because of what you wanted to do.”

Swimming with Randy

On The Pool Deck – Swimming with Randy
By Jeff Grace
From http://www.swimmingcoach.org
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It was a morning after a night rain fell cooling the normally hot and humid Austin air that I arrived at the Circle C Ranch Community Pool. I walked on deck at 5:45 am to find a man staring intensely down that pool. This is exactly how I pictured Randy Reese from the descriptions I had read in previous years and from his past swimmers and friends, a man extremely confident and extremely focused. I introduced myself to him, he said a quick “Hi,” and continued to stare down the pool completely concentrated on how he was going to orchestrate the morning’s events.

The swimmers began to come into the pool, walking out in the dark morning gathering their equipment and their practice on single sheets of paper which they soaked and placed on the deck behind their respective lanes. As soon as Randy began to describe the first set the focus of the athletes turned directly to their coach for they knew the displeasure that they would experience if they didn’t. Randy gave his instructions and quickly shouted “We are going on the 45 minutes,” which was 2 minutes from the time on the clock. Each swimmer entered the water on time for once again it was an obvious expectation that no one was going to challenge.

This was my introduction to the Circle C Swim Club, which has grown from a seven member team to a team of 175 and one of the premier clubs in the world coached by one of the premier coaches in the world. I spent the next week with Randy on deck for 8 hours each day (Randy stayed on deck 9¼ hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays) in the hot Austin sun.

At the end of the week I spent with Randy, we traveled to a meet at SMU in Dallas where we watched a great deal of swimming and a prize fight on TV that Saturday evening, Gatti vs Ward III. Watching the fight with Randy can sum up the time and what I learned about his views on swimming and life.

As we were watching one of the warm-up bouts between two heavy weights, Randy articulated how he felt about boxers and boxing in general, “I’ll tell ya something, this is the toughest sport there is. No sport tougher. These guys are the toughest SOBs in sport. Don’t ya think?”

“No argument from me, Randy.”

“Head to head, they have to kick the crap out of each other. It’s not like swimming if they let up they will hurt more. If a swimmer backs down they will only hurt less, there is no sport tougher, these guys are big time.”

This would sum up how Randy feels people need to approach things in their life and swimming if they are to be successful: plain and simple they need to be “tough SOBs.”
“Matt Cetlinski, now there was one tough swimmer, he left his heart in the lane after every set, gave you everything off of every wall; he was big time.” Randy has a simple philosophy when it comes to swimming fast and achieving athletic potential: you have to learn how to be tough.

The practices and the way that Randy plans, are based on the premise that you can teach people to be tough. One of the most consistent pieces of equipment that Randy uses in his training is kicking and swimming with shoes. His philosophy of perseverance and toughness comes out when he describes why he does this training, “The shoes just kicks the crap out of them, you really have to bust your butt, get the feet kicking large and fast to get going. Everyone can make one minute per fifty that is about perseverance and toughness; they just need to learn to get it out of themselves.”

He not only sells this philosophy to the athletes but he is up front with the parents in the club that this is something that each athlete needs if they are going to reach their potential in the sport. Randy is extremely upfront with the parents and they respect that. As his brother Eddie expresses, “When you get old you can say what you want to parents as long as you say it nicely. Randy is at a point where he can say what he wants however he wants.” In a discussion with one of the parents of an athlete whose attitude he described to the boy in the morning as “Your attitude is as bad as I think I have ever seen anyone’s,” he expressed. “He just needs to bust his butt for three weeks, go through a lot of pain and once he gets through it he will feel the same paces that he thought were hard as easy; he just needs to be tougher.”

Back to the main event now where ESPN is showing highlights from Gatti vs Ward I and II. “These little guys have skill. This is the toughest sport in the world. You have to be an athlete to do this. “Absolutely these guys need to be quick and are so skilled. I love watching the little guys fight (maybe because I’m little),” I responded. “I’ll tell you something - these guys are big time.”

Skill and technical efficiency are two things that are at the core of Randy’s philosophy of swimming. He believes that the best performers will most often be the best technically as well. Through his personal experience he has seen that the best pick up on technique the quickest, which is a huge sign of their potential. “Tracy Caulkins was just amazing with it. You would tell her to put her hand in this way or that way and it would be done the first time. She would stay with the change consistently until we figured out if it worked.”

The major aspect of Circle Cs’ technical training is the use of stroke drills. Randy believes that you must change technique through drills and that there must be a large focus put on specific drills. “To truly teach technique you must use drills a lot and consistently.” Randy will most often use a variation of drills in all of his workouts. The most common way that he uses these drills is to mix them with swims so that the athletes take the time to implement the changes that he is trying to make through each drill.
As Gatti and Ward were battling in the first half of the fight using creativity and skill, my mind switched to some of the creative thoughts on teaching technique Randy shared with me through the time I had spent with him. “Do you think if you were able to turn the lights off in the pool and use glow sticks so the swimmers could see the wall but nothing else, that their feel for the water would improve?” When it comes to teaching technique this is only one example of how Randy has a large tendency to think outside the box and do what ever it will take to make sure that the swimmers are going to learn how to do things right.

It is now in the seventh round of the fight. Gatti is continuing to dominate, despite hitting Ward in the hip with a right hook during the third round re-breaking his hand. Randy inquires, “What do you think, is it age or fitness that is not allowing this guy to take advantage of Gatti’s broken hand and win the fight?”

“Hard to say, Randy. To me it looks like the fitness is the major factor, but his age might have something to do with it.”

“Yeah, probably fitness. These guys are the toughest athletes out there. You have to be fit to be in this sport, a real athlete.”

One of the things you realize when spending any amount of time with the group of Circle C athletes during their training is that they are one fit group. Randy believes in working hard and being fit, including endurance, speed and strength.

When you ask him how he plans practices, his response is “I usually write out a whole bunch of stuff and than realize how hard it is and tone it down. It usually comes out to a point where they still think it is really hard.” It is incredible to see the intensity that the athletes train with day in and out. Randy judges the training by its’ intensity, since he feels volume can be looked at in many different ways, dependent on what components a coach feels important (kick, drill, swim etc...). Since he feels that the amount of rest in a practice is a better indicator of volume, intensity is what he uses to determine the training overload each day. Randy uses this sustained intensity to build the endurance base which he believes is required in all swimming events.

To develop strength and speed Randy uses a lot of creativity in his planning. One example of this is how he uses pulleys and shoes. Power workouts using this equipment are done two to three times a week in a short course yards pool set up. He uses both shoes and pulleys to develop both strength endurance and raw power by covering distances from 25s to 200s.

Dryland training at Circle C is limited by their lack of facilities such as a weight room and storage for equipment. For this reason the dryland is based on simple muscular endurance that has a mix of weights, abs, medicine balls and jumps. By having his dryland set up this way Randy also avoids one of the problems he sees with lifting heavy more than once a week. “When you lift heavy more than once a week, they start getting too big and too sore to swim properly.” These endurance based dryland workouts take between 40-45 minutes and are performed before each afternoon practice.

Once the fight concluded, Gatti had beaten Ward by a unanimous decision in a fight that the announcers felt would go down as another great showdown in the history books.
“What did you think of the fight?” I asked Randy.

“I didn’t think it was that good. I don’t know what the announcers are talking about. It wasn’t that good, but man this is the toughest sport there is.”

Expectations are always high when you are around Randy. From doing sets correctly and taking pride in one’s work to expecting himself to get off his butt and get in better shape, Randy expects the highest level of effort from everyone around him day in and day out. Communicating these expectations in a formal way through team meetings is the best way that Randy feels you can get your point across, “I need to get back to having meetings again to explain my expectations and let them know where we are going. We need to do this at least once every two weeks so that the team can create an environment where everyone is buying in.”

One of the things that many great coaches have been able to do is to convey high expectations on a daily basis and be extremely hard on their athletes, while at the same time letting the athletes know how much they care. “Once a swimmer swims with Randy for 6 months they will lay on the railroad tracks for him. They will complain about him and his ways, but they will understand how much he cares and go to the wall for him. ”This is how his brother Eddie describes the relationships Randy forms with his athletes. He does not smile much and very rarely, if ever, is he satisfied with performance, but it is evident in his interactions with the athletes that they know how much he cares.

Upon leaving Austin, I came to the pool once again at 5:45 am to thank Randy for taking the time to share his thoughts and experiences with me. Once we said our good-byes he went back to the same spot where I had first seen him at the end of the deck on a dark and hot Austin morning, staring down the pool, contemplating how to make the group of swimmers in the water the most fit, most skilled and toughest athletes in the world.

Randy’s Favorite Stroke Drills:
Fly - Three kicks to each pull
Back - Double arm
- One arm
- Spin Drill
Breast - No breathing
- Two up one down
- Br pull with free kick
Free - One arm
- Catch up with stick


Power Workout Example:
a) Pulleys
6 x (4 x 50 @ 1:10 #4 max weight)
1) Kick
2) Kick with fins
3) Swim
4) Swim with paddles
5) Swim with fins
6) Swim with fins + paddles
b) Shoes
3 x 4 x 25 Kick Fly or Back @ 40
2 x 50 Kick @ 1:00 Free)
4 x 100 @ 2:00 as fast as possible

Recent Developments in Sports Science

Recent Developments in Sport Science
By Dr. Valery Kleshnev, 2001
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Video Analysis

Video Analysis of Technique – Schleswig-Holstein Rowing Federation Video Evaluation
Original PDF's available from http://www.rudertechnik.de/checklisten/sprachen.html
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Rowing the Mahon Way

Rowing the Mahon Way
From Keystrokes – NZ Coaching Newsletter, April 2005
www.rowingnz.com
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This article was sourced via the internet. I no longer have the source page and have been unable to re-find the link and the author of this document. The purpose of this statement is to acknowledge the contribution of the author and Harry Mahon.

Many of us have witnessed Harry Mahon at work at close quarters. I have asked Harry to put a few thoughts on paper regarding:
What he felt were the main requirements of good technique in order to produce top boat speed.
What were the prevalent faults he had seen in NZ that were hindering boat movement.

Harry Stressed:
The rowing stroke is a push and not a pull.
We must aim to move the boat past the oar, and not the oar past the boat. Hence a large white frothy puddle suggests a waste of energy in that the oarsman is pulling rather concentrating on a good lock up of the blade in the water.
The importance of the inside arm in finishing off the stroke – the inside arm coming past the body with a relaxed shoulder allowing the oar to come easily out of the water at the end of the stroke.
The sequence of legs, body, shoulders, arms and hands during the drive, and in reverse on the recovery.
Placing the blade in the water with the outside arm from a strong body position (sit tall!), and the outside arm again performing a vital task at the end of the stroke in extracting the blade out of the water with a downward
pressure.
The avoidance of shoulder lift and arm snatch at the catch – the arms merely connecting the oar to the energy source.
Relaxation – easily said, less easily achieved.
Encouraging your rowers to sit and feel the boat running. Hence the importance of picking the boat up at the catch with no hesitation on the front stop.
Sculling being no different to rowing, and providing the ideal vehicle for interpreting the run of the boat – watch the stern movement.
Balance – Harry said he does not stress balance as such but works on those things that in themselves produce good balance. He is wary of balancing exercises that lead to a tensing of the body when relaxation is of prime importance.

Harry noticed:
A lot of pullers
Catches being taken with the arms, and in some instances with shoulders
Tightness of the body at the finish resulting in poor finishes and awkward body movements.
Rushed recoveries with knees coming up too soon
Resulting in arriving at the front stop unprepared in body and mind for the catch and causing unwanted body movements and pauses at the very place that they are not wanted. Harry stressed his debt to the influence of Thor Nilsen as demonstrated at the 1981 Seminar which helped to crystallize his thinking on both technique and training methods. It is interesting to note that in his eight seasons with Waikato their 15 premier titles have been achieved with a variety of techniques as Harry slowly developed his approach to what moved the boats best. The following are some comments written by a club oarsman after a session with him. For those crews who have had the opportunity to work out with Harry, a useful exercise could be to get the rowers, like this one, to put their interpretation of what they heard and did on paper as regards the Mahon Way.

In reading the following remember it is one oarsman’s thoughts on what he heard and understood.
The catch is a placing of, or anchoring of, the blade in the water so you can push against it with the legs.
The stroke involves pushing with the legs, keeping the shoulders and arms relaxed, and at the same time opening hip angle and shoulders to keep the distance between body and oar handle.
The finish of the stroke should be strong with the inside arm, and elbow pushed straight back.
In the recovery phase hands should flow out at the speed they came in, and pack up before moving forward. Emphasis here was on rhythm and flow.
Sit tall with a strong back, and can therefore have the hands higher at the catch which is stronger.
A lot of white water represents pulling and not pushing = loss of power.

Some thoughts on technique by Harry Mahon:
After having travelled to many parts of New Zealand over the past 15 months, it may be of interest to coaches and rowers for me to comment on aspects of the rowing stroke that require attention on order that the many people rowing can improve their efficiency and boat moving effectiveness.

Some key faults:
Pulling the oar with the arms rather than anchoring the oar in the water and pushing the boat past the oar (or sculls). The only pushing ‘mechanism’ available to us is our legs. Some indicators of this fault are: a washy blade (large puddle), and legs not going down quickly.
One arm rowing – this involves taking the catch with the inside arm, in many cases with only one hand on the oar. It generally involves a snatch of the catch with that hand and sometimes means that the person rows short. It is fairly obvious to see, but often a difficult fault to correct. This results in a weak finish. Energy expended on the catch is therefore not available for the end of the stroke.
Tightness (stiffness), particularly of the inside shoulder at the catch. If this shoulder is higher than the outside the entry level is lessened; as well, the tightness does not allow the power from the legs to be transferred to the blade.
Feathering and squaring the blade needs more attention. Oars (and sculls) are being gripped too tightly and the structure of the gate is not being utilised. In general, many people are not ready to enter the water when they reach the front of the slide. The blade must be squared before reaching the front so that entry can be immediate. Only the inside wrist should be used in this operation with concentration on placing the oar in the water with the outside hand. As well, people with an inadequate finish turn the blade (by varying degrees) to help with the extraction.
Lack of finish to the stroke. The power is not finished off with the inside arm. As a consequence the amount of boat run per stroke is lessened. These are probably the most noticed individual faults and the first three mentioned are very closely interrelated. There are some other less commonly seen individual faults:
Leaning away from the oar at the finish of the stroke and consequently not keeping the body weight behind the blade.
Leaning back to far at the finish and pulling up on the shoes. The person is unbalanced and has left the shoulder segment of the stroke too late.
Traveling around the blade on the way to the catch, leaning away from the oar. This creates balance problems as weight is shifted from one side to the seat to the other.
Pushing away with the legs before the blade has been locked in the water. Thus the full leg drive is not utilized and no effective contribution is made to crew power generation.

Finally some crew problems:
Slide control – either too much or too little. In the first case it means that by the time the crew is entering the water the boat has slowed considerably from the previous stroke. Consequently more effort is required to ‘pick up’ the boat again. If the slide has traveled too quickly the run generated from the previous stroke is cut considerably as the boat is not allowed to run. This generally results in a high rating crew which does not have a strong finish to each stroke. It is important that a perpetual motion situation is developed which allows for maximum efficiency.
Crew stiffness in crew movements, especially on the recovery. Additional energy is thus used which should be utilized in moving the boat. As well, balance problems occur.

Note well:
The important thing is that all of these things cannot be worked on at once and coaches must isolate the problem that they feel is the most significant and work steadily through each person’s needs. I tried to correct the whole lot at once because in most instances the time allocation came to just a few minutes per person. So take your time, and many of the smaller problems will take care of themselves.

Interview with Christian Felkel, High Performance Director, RowSA

Interview with Christian Felkel, High Performance Director, RowSA

1. What is your rowing & coaching background? (no. of years, crews coached, responsibilities, results etc)

I started coaching in 1983 in Germany as assistant coach in women’s rowing club in Frankfurt/GER. Every year we had people in the German National Team at various levels.

The highlights:
Year Boat class Event Result
1984 LW 4- FISA Championships Gold
1985 LW 4- Worlds Gold
1986 W 2- Nations Cup Gold

In 1992 I took over the lightweight men in Frankfurt/GER
Year Boat class Event Result
1993 LM 4- Nations Cup Gold
1993 LM 2x Nations Cup Silver

In 1995 I went to South Africa where I started to coach the women. They managed to qualify for the Atlanta Olympics and came 11th at the Olympics.Since 1997 I looked after the whole South African team. In 1998 we started the men’s pair. The women’s pair went to the 2000 Olympics.

Highlights:
Year Boat class Event Result
1998 W1x Worlds 11th
1998 M2- Worlds 10th
1999 W2- Worlds 9th
1999 M2- Worlds 7th
1999 LM 4- Worlds 10th
2000 W2- Olympics 5th
2000 M2- Olympics 6th
2000 LM 4- Olympics 5th
2001 M2- Worlds Bronze Medal
2002 M2- Worlds Silver Medal
2002 W2- Worlds 5th
2002 LM 4- Nations Cup Silver Medal
2003 M2- Worlds Bronze Medal
2004 M2- Olympics Bronze Medal
2005 M2- Worlds Silver Medal
2006 M2- World 7th
2007 M2- Worlds 5th

2. Who taught you how to coach/where did you learn how to coach?

I joined a rowing club and I worked under the coach at the club for the first few years. I also completed coach’s courses from the German Federation. In addition I went to take part in the FISA Coaches Academy in 2001.

3. Who has influenced your coaching method the most and why?

Without a doubt on the technical side it is Harry Mahon. I have never met a person with such good understanding on how to move a boat. In other aspects of coaching I am influenced by the German approach. Hard work. Long hours.

4. What advice do you have for young or novice coaches?

Listen to people to pick up on information. Share knowledge, then the other will be more open. Listen to your rowers; they are a good source of information. They way they feel when doing your programme.

5. What do you think is the most important element to get right with regards to technique?

Connection, I think without that the rower will not feel anything. So the focus should be on finding the boat and connecting to it.

6. Describe 2 drills/exercises that you think are the most important

The catch exercise to feel the connection, it is approach to the catch and entry. Start from 3/4 slide, come forward and take the stroke and feel the hang on the handle. Watch the timing of seat and spoon to optimize the exercise.Legs only, and with this attention on the hanging, that means that the bodyweight has to be off the seat. Try to use the legs just for the first 1/4 and see if you can connect and hang. Then push longer and longer. Most importantly is the connection through the back. It must not give but the shoulders should be relaxed.

7. What session do you think is your most important in your training programs?

Since good performance comes from a variety of sessions not one is more important then the other. Having said that I do believe that PowerStrokes are a great session to do, it is important to look out for poor execution but it is a powerful session. Make sure that the resistance is not too great. You need some fluid movement of the boat. Don't do more than 40 strokes at the time. I have seen that the quality of execution is suffering if it goes over 40 strokes.Example: (6 x 30) x 3

8. What is the most important thing that you think South Africa coaches should work on with their athletes?

Endurance, in rowing it is important to have a big engine, even for lightweights, and the only way to get a big engine is to train a lot. Long hours on the water are required, if water is not available then the erg. Best would be to use the RowPerfect as it doesn't impact on knees and backs.

9. Which is the best crew that you have seen rowing?

The Australian pair is one of the best as they have a rhythmic and powerful stroke, they are concentrating on quality of each stroke. Don and Ramon on a good day are going in this direction. If you catch them on Roodeplaat have a look at the rhythm and the power that is put into each stroke.

What Coaches Can Learn From Great Managers

What Coaches Can Learn From Great Managers
What Coaches Can Learn From Great Managers: “Breaking All The Rules” In Selecting And Coaching Your Athletes
By Kirsten Peterson PhD
From Olympic Coach, Vol 16. No#2, Summer 2004
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Athletes don’t change all that much. Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left
out. Try and draw out what was left in. That is hard enough.

This paraphrase is at the heart of the best-selling management book entitled First, Break All the Rules. Through numerous in-depth interviews of the best versus average managers, the authors of this book question the conventional wisdom about how to select for and develop productive employees. The main findings of this book have some interesting implications for coaches interested in maximising the performance of their athletes.

Understanding Skills, Knowledge, and Talent
Central to this book’s message is that skills, knowledge and talents are distinct and different concepts. The authors argue that understanding these distinctions are critical for coaches eager to tap their athletes’ potential in its entirety. One such distinction that great coaches already know but that managers are just beginning to realise, is that while skills and knowledge can be taught, talent cannot. What is interesting for coaches is what falls under the heading of “talent” and is therefore considered unchangeable. For the sake of clarity, here is how each of these terms is defined.

Skills are the ‘how-to’s’ of a role – capabilities that can be transferred from one person to another. Knowledge, on the other hand, comprises what you’re aware of factually as well as what you have learned from experience.

Experiential knowledge is what you pick up over time as you reflect back on your experiences and draw connections and patterns and includes, among other things, your unique perspective, your biases, and your values. The athlete who is able to analyse her competitive experiences to determine what works best for her during competition is developing her experiential knowledge.

Talent, the authors contend, is distinct from knowledge and skill and is the product of how your brain’s pathways developed and in response to your unique upbringing and which kinds of thinking and behaving were rewarded or punished along the way. In short, your talents are your recurring thoughts, feelings, or behaviours. The authors have identified three types of talents:

Striving – this talent explains the ‘why’ of an athlete. What motivates her? Is she competitive, achievement oriented, afraid to fail?
Thinking – this talent explicates, the ‘how’ of an athlete. How he thinks. Is he disciplined? Organised? Spontaneous?
Relating – this talent explains the ‘who’ of an athlete. Who he is drawn to or repelled by, is he introverted or extroverted?

Great coaches therefore, should find their players roles that play to those players’ talents and can do so in two ways. They create the environment that allows each athlete’s talent to flourish. Second, they define the right outcomes and allow each athlete to find his own route to those outcomes.

Some coaches might question the idea that qualities like ‘drive’ and ‘motivation’ are unchangeable. There is little that is as frustrating as the highly skilled athlete who is not motivated to train or compete to her perceived potential. Few sports psychologists escape the question from coaches wanting to know how to better motivate those one or two gifted, but seemingly uncoachable athletes. Great coaches, like great managers, have learned something from this kind of frustration, and have learned to redefine the issue. Accepting that an athlete’s source of motivation is unchangeable does not necessarily mean that you cannot succeed with him. It may just mean that you have not yet individualised your approach enough to help this particular striving talent emerge.

Lesson #1: Individualise Your Approach to Cultivate and Maximise the Talents of Your Athletes

Great managers will tell you to focus on each person’s strengths and manage around his weaknesses. Don’t try to fix the weaknesses. The lesson for coaches? Don’t try to perfect each of your athletes. Instead do everything you can to help each athlete to cultivate his talents. Help each athlete to become more of who he already is. Keep in mind that this does not mean that athletes cannot learn to do things differently. Skills and knowledge are malleable. Talent, however, is not.

Great managers can describe in detail the unique talents of each of their people, what drives each one, how each thinks, and how each builds relationships. Great coaches do the same. Ask your athletes about their goals, about where they see their career heading, and how they want to interact with you. Other great questions for your athletes:
Ø Do you want public recognition or private? Written or verbal?
Ø Tell me about the most meaningful recognition you ever received. Why was it memorable?
Ø How do you learn best?
Ø Who was the best coach you had? How did he or she help you?

Great managers consistently reject the Golden Rule: Don’t treat your people as you would like to be treated….treat them how each of them would like to be treated. The hardest thing about being a manager is realising that your people will not do things the way you would. But get used to it. Because if you force them to, two things happen. They become resentful – they don’t want to do it. And neither is productive over the long haul.
Lesson #2 – Spend Most of Your Time with Your Best Athletes
“The harder he works, the better he performs, and the more leeway he gets from me.” – Jimmy Johnson, NFL Coach

Great coaches such as Jimmy Johnson break conventional wisdom management rules by refusing to apply one-size-fits-all approach to the athletes in their charge. They reject the traditional approach that suggests that the best use of time is to bring up the lowest performers, and to assume that their best athletes are doing fine without them. Great managers agree, for the following reason:
It’s fair – the only way to treat someone fairly is to treat them as they deserve to be treated (not treating everyone the same) bearing in mind what they have accomplished
It’s the best way to learn – You as a coach can’t learn about excellence by only spending time with those athletes who need more work. Ask questions and spend time with your best athletes. Listen to what they do, watch how they do it. Replay it, dissect it, and understand what happened and why it worked.
It’s the only way to reach excellence – The best managers don’t use ‘average’ but ‘excellent’ as the standard to judge performance. Those who are already performing above average are the ones most likely to reach excellence.

Lesson #3 – Be a Catalyst
Great managers refuse to limit their role to controller or instructor. Instead, they spend their time trying to figure out better ways to unleash their best performers’ distinct talents. Certainly all coaches would consider teaching to be central to their role, since sport acquisition is obviously critical to athletic success. Taken on its own, however, skill is often not enough. Consider Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, who languished as play-off non-contenders for several seasons before Michael was persuaded to redirect his considerable skills to put the interest of the team’s success over his own. Here are some ways that you become more of a catalyst with your athletes:
Ø Strive to cut out a unique set of expectations for your athletes that stretch and focus them
Ø Highlight each athlete’s unique style. Draw his attention to it; help him understand how it works for him and how to perfect it
Ø No news is not good news for athletes – it kills behaviour. Great coaches don’t forget to continue to reinforce the talents of their best performers. If you see your stars acting up, it is a sure sign that you have been paying attention to the wrong behaviours and the wrong people

As the authors of ‘First, Break all the Rules’ rightly pointed out in their introduction, there are more differences than similarities between the world’s best, be it coaches or managers. Beyond these differences in style, however, there do appear to be some universal truths in how best to help your athletes achieve their best. Don’t be afraid to break some rules along the way.

Talent Identification

Talent Identification
By Tudor Bompa
From Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training, 4th Ed. Human Kinetics Publishers. Pp 273 – 285.
---------------------------

The process of identifying the most talented athletes to involve in an organized training program is one of the most important concerns of contemporary sports. Everyone can learn to sing, dance, or paint, but few individuals ever reach a high level of mastery. In sports, as in the arts, it is therefore important to discover the most talented individuals and select them at an early age, then to monitor them continually and assist them to climb to the highest levels of mastery.

In the past, and even today in most Western countries, a youngster’s involvement in sport was based mostly on tradition, ideals, and desire to participate in a sport because of its popularity, parental pressure, a high school teacher’s specialty, the proximity of sports facilities, and so on. For East European training specialists, such methods are no loner satisfactory. They discovered that individuals who, for example, had natural talent for distance running often ended up as mediocre sprinters. Obviously the outcome rarely led to high performance.

A coach must invest work and time in individuals who possess superior natural abilities other wise the coach wastes talent, time, and energy, or at best produces mediocrity. The main objective of talent identification is to identify and select those athletes who have the greatest abilities for a sport.

Talent identification is not a new concept in athletics, although not much is formally done about it, especially in the Western World. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, most East European countries established specific methods for identifying potential high class athletes. Some of the selection procedures used were discovered and directed by scientists, who then advised the coach which youngsters had the required abilities for a sport.

The results were more than dramatic. Several medalists in the 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984 Olympic Games, particularly from the former East Germany, were scientifically selected. The same was true for Bulgaria in 1976, when almost 80% of its medalists were the result of a thorough talent identification process.

A group of scientists and rowing specialists in Romania in 1976 selected young girls to participate in rowing. The initial 100 girls were selected from 27 000 teenagers. By 1978 the group had been reduced to 25, and most of these made the team for the Moscow Olympics. The result was 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. Another group selected in the late 1070s produced 5 gold medals and 1 silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and 9 medals at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.

The talent identification process has to be a preoccupation of training specialists and coaches, to further its advances and improve psychobiological criteria used to discover more talented individuals for high performance athletics.

Using scientific criteria in the process of talent identification has several advantages:
Ø It substantially reduces the time required to reach high performance by selecting individuals who are gifted in sport.
Ø It eliminates the high volume of work, energy, and talent on the part of the coach. The coaches training effectiveness is enhanced by training primarily those athletes with superior abilities.
Ø It increases the competitiveness and the number of athletes aiming at and reaching high performance levels. As a result, there is a stronger and more homogenous national team capable of better international performance.
Ø It increases an athletes self confidence, because his or her performance dynamics are known to be more dramatic than other athletes of the same age who did not go through the selection process.
Ø It indirectly facilitates applying scientific training, because sport scientists who assist in talent identification can be motivated to continue to monitor the athletes training.

Talent Identification Methods
In training there are two basic methods of selection, natural and scientific. Natural selection is the normal approach, the natural way of developing an athlete in sport. It assumes an athlete enrolls in a sport as a result of local influence (school tradition, parent’s wishes, peers). The performance evolution of athletes determined by natural selection depends on, amongst other factors, whether by coincidence, they take part in a school sport for which they are talented. It may occur, therefore, that an individuals performance evolution in slow, mostly because the selection of the ideal sport was incorrect.

Scientific selection is the method by which a coach selected prospective youngsters who have proven natural abilities for a sport. Thus compared with individuals identified through the natural method, the time required for those selected scientifically to reach high performance is much shorter. For sports in which height or weight is a requirement, for instance basketball, volleyball, football, rowing, and throwing events, you should strongly consider scientific selection. The same is true for other sports, such as sprinting, judo, hockey, and jumping events in athletics, in which speed, reaction time, coordination, and power are dominant. You can detect such qualities with the assistance of sport scientists. As a result of scientific testing, the most talented individuals are scientifically selected or directed in an appropriate sport.

Criteria for Talent Identification
High performance athletics requires specific biological profiles of athletes with outstanding motor abilities and strong psychological traits. Training science has made impressive steps forward in the past decades, which is one of the min reasons for constant improvements in athletic performance. Other dramatic improvements have also bee in the quantity and quality of training.

If, however, an individual involved in sports has a biological handicap or lacks the necessary abilities for a sport, then even excessive training cannot overcome the initial lack of natural abilities. Scientific selection is therefore vital to hig performance athletics.

Individuals not selected for high performance athletics are not excluded from sports. They can take part in recreational programs in which they can fulfill their physical and social needs and participate in competitions.

Optimal training requires optimal criteria for talent identification. Not necessarily in order of importance, some of the main criteria are as follows.

Ø Health is an absolute necessity for everyone participating in training. Each youngster must, therefore, have a thorough medical examination before being accepted into a club. The physician should recommend and the coach should select for training only healthy individuals. During the examination, medical and testing specialists should observe whether a candidate has physical or organic malfunction and make recommendations accordingly. You should not select an individual with a malformation for dynamic sports, for instance hockey, basketball, track and field, swimming or boxing. On the other hand, such discrimination should be more liberal for sports with static characteristics such as shooting, archery and bowling. Similarly, physiological status of an individual, that is the ability to move arms, legs and so on should also play a role in talent identification, because physiological disparities can play a restrictive role. Once again, the eventual discrimination between candidates has to correlate with the physiological needs and specifics of a sport.

Ø Biometric qualities, or anthropometric measurements, of an individual are important assets for several sports and, therefore, you must consider them among the main criteria for talent identification. Heigh, weight, or length of the limbs play dominant roles in certain sports. It is however difficult to predict the dynamics of an individuals growth and development during the early stage of talent identification, which is performed at the age of 4 to 6 for such sports as gymnastics, figure skating and swimming. During the primary phase of talent identification, therefore, look mostly for harmonious physical development. You can do this by examining the leg joint and hip and shoulder widths and the ratio between them.

Ø At a later age (teens), you may use hand plates (growth plates in the wrist region) and hand radiography (X-Ray) techniques to test whether growth is complete. If the tester concludes growth is complete, the coach may make decisions as to whether the height of the given athlete is optimal for a particular sport.

Ø Heredity, a complex biological phenomenon, often plays an important role in training. Children tend to inherit their parents biological and psychological characteristics, although though education, training, and social conditioning, they may slightly alter qualities.

Ø The view on the role of heredity in training is neither uniform nor unanimous, but the athlete’s genetic potential will ultimately limit the improvements in physiological capabilities. Klissouras et al (1973) implied that systems and functions are genetically determined: the lactic acid system to the extent of 81.4%; heart rate 85.9%; and maximal VO2 93.4%.

Guidelines for Talent Identification Criteria
The criteria for talent identification, including tests, standards, and the optimal model, have to be sport specific. In many sports, especially those in which endurance or high volume of work is crucial, base the final selection on the athletes working capacity and the bodies ability to recover between training sessions. Dragan (1978) identifies the following test criteria:

Rowing
Ø High anaerobic and aerobic capacity
Ø Coordination, concentration span
Ø Tall, long limbs, large biacromial diameter
Ø Resistance to fatigue and stress

The Quality of Approachability

The Quality of Approachability
By John Leonard
http://www.swimmingcoach.org/articles/9805/9805_3.htm
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Recently at a swim meet, I had "accidental contact" with a young coach whom I had never met before. He came to offer his thanks and appreciation for what ASCA and WSCA are doing in the drug wars in our sport. After a few kind words, he mentioned that he didn't agree with all of ASCA's "philosophies," but knew that things are "a balance" and wanted me to know that he appreciated my efforts. Very nice of him.

I thanked him, and then asked what particular things he didn't agree with.... I am always interested in how the things we are working on are perceived. I was prepared for criticism of some program or project that we were undertaking, because I have certainly come to recognize that you can't please all of the people all of the time. What he said however, surprised me.

"Well, maybe its not philosophies, exactly... its more like, well, uhummmm... ah .... well ... ummm, it's that you seem so unapproachable sometimes."

Unapproachable? Me? Moi? Mr. Telephone-stuck-in-head, Mr. Walk the deck at every meet, talk to everyone, Me? Me? Gulp. What am I hearing?

I got over the shock, and asked him what he meant. He said, "you always seem so busy, and I never get to talk to you." As he said it, I saw something else cross his face.
My response was, "Gee, it doesn't seem like that to me. I spend about half of every work day answering phone calls from coaches, and another hour a day answering e-mail from people I often don't even know, and another hour a day writing letters in response to letters I get. If I'm unapproachable, an awful lot of people have gotten past it."

My new friend thought about that for a moment, then said, "you know, as I said that a second ago, I thought maybe really the problem is in me, not in you." Now I wanted to leap on that and agree with him... anything to avoid blaming myself ... but I resisted, and thought some more.
"You know" I said, "I think if you walk around this deck, you'll find an awful lot of coaches who bring me ideas in hopes and belief that I, and the ASCA Board, can help bring them to fruition. We have a pretty good track record in that regard.

"I know" he said, "and I think that's why I feel like I'm cut off ... I have ideas I want to get out there also."
A light came on like a cartoon in my mind.
"How old are you, coach?"
"I'm 29."

Well, at the time of this incident, I was two days short of my 50th birthday. "Coach, you know, you may have something there .... when I was 29, I couldn't even bring myself to talk to any of the name coaches in the sport. You're a long way ahead of that curve, you already have some ideas."

Some age-old principles of communication came back to me. The most relevant of which is that work expands to fill the time available. So does communication. I do an enormous amount of communicating. Everyone I have known and know now, communicates with me, some quite regularly, some everyday. Some, several times a day. And we are all like that. As a swim coach, we spend most of our time getting and receiving information from those we know. We rarely or scarcely have time for those we ... don't know.

So we are all "approached" and communicate very often, sometimes it seems, way too much. But each and every one of us spends most of our time communicating with those we know.

For a person like me, working with an association, or a person like you, working with another kind of association, known as a team, there is a huge temptation to reach "saturation level" with communication, and not seek out those people who are a "stretch" for us to communicate with. In my case, this young coach reminded me that I spend so much time receiving communication ... incoming calls, people coming up to tell me something, e-mail, snail mail, third hand reports, that I can neglect to get out and force myself to find ever more people, who I don't know, to get more input from, and seek out ideas. And that's a good idea for every coach.

And I think the young coach had a sudden realization that he was behaving a lot like the young parent who bemoans the "lack of communication" from the coach, but never telephones the coach, or comes to talk to the coach. He saw, I believe, that the opportunity was there, and he wasn't taking it.

The second principle of communication that this reminded me of is that unapproachable is in the eye of the beholder. I have never met a person associated with swimming in the coaching profession, who would not, when asked at a reasonable time and place, take all the time in the world to consider your question, and give you a respectful and well-thought-out response and try and help you. Its a cornerstone of our profession that we help each other to the best of our ability. I was thirty-two when I first got up the nerve to ask George Haines a question, after sneaking up behind him for years to listen to what he would tell his athletes at nationals. I was thirty-five and starting work at ASCA before I could bring myself to ask Coach Peter Daland for advice. Doc Counsilman came to me early in my career, and reminded me "how we do these things," or I might never have met him, and that turned into a lifelong admiration and respect and eventually friendship. I don't know that I ever would have felt worthy to approach Doc for help if he hadn't taken the initiative to help me out by straightening me out.
For young coaches today, including my new 29 year old friend, the key coaches in swimming are the Richard Quicks, the Mark Schuberts, the Skip Kenneys and many others. Those gentlemen are just as "approachable" as Doc, or George, or Peter, or Don Gambril. Respect their privacy and their need to take care of their own teams first, and then introduce yourself, tell them why you are coming to ask them something, then ask. You'll find them just as friendly and approachable as every other great coach throughout history, and as eager to help, and continue the tradition of established coaches helping the next generation the same way they were helped.

As for me, I'm going to make it a point to meet three new coaches I don't know, everywhere I go, and spend some time talking to them. Thanks to my new young friend, I was reminded of the valuable truths above.

And I hoped he learned that "approachable" is within you, not within the person you want to approach. Do it with your team parents, with your school administrators or other teachers .... and do it with your fellow coaches.