From the Weight Room to the Field: 5 Lessons/Thoughts of a Strength Coach turned Sports Coach (Draft)

1. More is not better, more is just more. 

Managing the load and creating some boundaries is crucial for managing an efficient training session. We only have the field, or weight room, for a certain time. So, we must make the most of it. it can be tempting to just do one more set, or one more drill, or one more sprint to hammer the point home. But, is more really the answer?

In today's youth sport environment, it is common for an athlete to have a practice and game schedule that rivals the major leagues. With all of this load these kids have placed on them,  Athletes want to find the minimal effective dose for their goals to avoid burnout and injury.  It is rare that an athlete(s) wants to stay after practice to grind out more drills when they know that there is four more practices and a game on the weekend.

Limiting the athletes to timed blocks in practice removes the need to seek perfection in the drill, but also creates consequences. Each rep counts, each rep must have intension, and even if their are errors they are done with a sense of urgency. The amount of times "one more time coach" because the team was half-assing it, or needed to seek some perfect line run, has made me loose time at the end of practice than I can count. 

Conversely, adult clients sometimes want to do more than is asked of them often because they don't work hard enough inside the parameters, or they just want to get it "right." Wither it is the "used to" client or the person who loves to choose lower weights/higher reps approach to avoid "getting bulky." 

The load boundaries are there to create the right intent for each exercise. It provides low stakes pressure to the drills and creates a game-like environment. 

2. If you are bigger, stronger, faster, we can teach you the rules later...but the best player is not always the best in the gym. 

Physicality, general strength, and top end speed are all qualities that we as strength coaches can help enhance in the athletes that we work with. Overall development of these qualities far outweighs the micro skill development in youth sports. As mentioned earlier, kids are getting enough stick handling and game exposure through the copious amount of practice sessions and games in their endless seasons. Conversely, with all of those practices and games, they are not giving themselves the time to develop those base qualities that would impact everything they look to do on the field. 

Think of the last tryout you went to. There is always that one physical outlier running faster, jumping higher, physically dominating the competition, but lacking the base skills to be a "real (insert sport here) player." It is no surprise when the coach takes them for the top side due to their potential to learn the finer things later. 

Over 80% of all high school athletes do not go on to play in NCAA competition (https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2015/3/2/estimated-probability-of-competing-in-college-athletics.aspx). Those exceptional athletes are built to exceed at the higher level, and we can help them along the way. For the others that do not continue to pursue an athletic career, we must work to instill a strong love of strength and conditioning.  

That all said the best athlete is not always the best player. If they have bricks for hands or keep getting penalized, chances run dry. The best player might be the person in the weight room who doesn't see the need to load up barbell, or bound, or sprint...they are already the best.

3. Diversity of movement in sports, and consistency of movement in the weight room. 

    As a strength coach, it should not be my job to teach you your sport and make things "sports specific." That is the job of the sports coach. And as a sport coach, it should not my job to get you in shape, it is my job to get you prepared to play the game. Now there is a small bit of overlap that is unavoidable. Conditioning is going to happen at practice and there is some exercise selection that might be look like the sport, but that is really it. Once we try blend roles, or even just flat out try to do the other coaches job, we are missing the mark on what is best for the athlete.

Especially in an environment where youth athletes are practicing and playing multiple sports at the same time, it is on the coaches to structure practice to avoid physical burnout. Conversely if your entire team comes in out of shape, game preparation might include a few sprints throughout the session to make sure they are getting some non skill based conditioning. 

Sport coaches have a great opportunity to create infinite scenarios and problems for players to solve during practices. These problem solving opportunities can be structured to create a wide variety of movement patterns and conditioning environments. 

4. If you have to run at the end of practice you better have a good reason why. 

    Building off of the last point. Conditioning at the end of practice should be voluntary. Players can stay after and do their extra work if they please, but prescribing mindless conditioning is just a waste of time. Structure your drills to mimic what conditioning qualities you would like to work. IF you bring the right intent to the drills the athletes should not need to do "extra" at the end. If you want them to get conditioning in at the end, play games. It is entertaining and is a sneaky way to get in the work. 

Small sided games/drills conditioning structure:

Anaerobic work : ~ <30 seconds of work (ex. defensive work or "dirty work")

Aerobic work: ~<2 minutes of work (ex. skill and run like pass and follow)

These small sided games expose them to the work they need to do while still keeping the ball in hand/play. This allows for constant problem solving that will transfer to game play. 

5. If your athletes keep getting hurt, it is your fault. 

    Contact injuries are one thing, but non-contact injuries are non negotiables. They will happen, but it is in your best interest to avoid them at all costs. 

Look at the time of year, preseason is always a big time for non contact injuries; hamstring pulls, groin pulls, plantar faciitis, all are culprits of too much too soon. If your athletes are not prepared for the load you are about to put on them, it is on you to recognize that. 

Managing the preseason load can also have positive effects over the long haul (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28640152/). A high workload in the preseason can help reduce injury later in the season, and you have to make sure they are prepared for the road ahead. If your athletes keep getting hurt in practice they were under prepared for the demands you are putting on them. This is where hiring a qualifies strength and conditioning professional can be beneficial. Even if it is only for off season programs or recommendations on strength and conditioning structure over the season; the benefits are worth the costs.