sport-motivation

Recruiting a Successful High Performance Team in High Performance Sport

 

Gone are the days of the “Guru” sports coaches: the “Super Coach” of the past has lost his powers to the kryptonite of modern sport – i.e. the increased complexity and sophistication of high performance sports environments.

Sure, the great names of coaching have all been “one man bands” – strong, decisive, authoritarian, personal leadership focused head coaches who controlled every aspect of the team’s performance.

However, high performance sport has developed at an incredible rate over the past twenty years and the knowledge and skills required to win a high performance sporting competition are greater than any one person can bring to the table.

Think of the advances in performance science, sports science, sports medicine, analysis, IT, nutrition, psychology and technology since the 1980s.

How can we expect that any one person can be the expert in all performance areas plus coach the team, deal with the media, work with Club Board and Executive, recruit new players, talk to sponsors, meet the fans etc etc etc?

So – the Coaching Team and High Performance Team concepts are born.

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By Wayne Goldsmith, ago

Sports Science: Observations of Philosophies in Sports Science and Sports Medicine in High Performance Sport

Sports Science has to Change

Over the past 20 years I have had the fortunate experience of working with some of the leading sporting nations in their quest for elite sporting excellence.

I write this article as a plea to all sports scientists, regardless of discipline, to evaluate what they are doing and think about being more innovative and creative in their methods and practices. (more…)

By Wayne Goldsmith, ago

Bye Bye Bompa, Bompa Bye Bye….the death of periodisation.

First let me say I have total, 100% complete admiration and respect for Bompa himself – a true pioneer of the sports coaching and the sports performance industry. This article is in no way a criticism of him personally but rather a proclamation that Periodization as a concept is now officially dead and buried.

Periodization – that is, the traditional sports training planning model involving long blocks (cycles or phases) of training which emphasise specific aspects of training is 20 years past the use by date and it’s time we all moved on to something more relevant and more effective for the training and preparation of athletes in this century.

The popular version of periodisation was developed in the Eastern block, 40 years ago, for senior athletes: another time, another system, another world – and totally inappropriate for today’s athletes. (more…)

By Wayne Goldsmith, ago