Talent Identification discussion

Hey Guys,

Today to continue my journey through the unit of sport coaching pedagogy, I have gathered thoughts and opinions from a recent post of a fellow blogger Leigh Sherman.

 In Leigh’s recent blog ‘Something Interesting’ that has this picture and in the top left hand corner you will see the quote

‘If you have a body you are an athlete’ 

This quote made me reflect on talent identification and long-term athlete development in sport.  As sport has become more professional so has the recruiting process and the identification of potential athletes in certain sports. Sporting organizations have for a long time focused on anthropometry or attributes such as speed and endurance to identify potential athletes.  Successful Australian hockey coach Ric Charlesworth has for years strictly identified athletes that have raw speed to play hockey, as in his belief speed is not a skill that could be taught, however hockey specific skills and game sense can be. 

However take into respect a player that has been playing the sport since they were 5 or 6 and have amazing hockey skills, but do not have raw speed or power does this mean they are little chance of being successful at the elite level?

You would think not, however because of the professionalism of sport and the industry being so cut-throat, an attribute speed could be difference between getting contract to the national side or not.

Taking in consideration what has been said, Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt in the past couple of years have made the transition from Rugby League to AFL.  Both having little experience in AFL, but they had attributes that coaches such as Leigh Matthews and Mark Thompson believe would make them successful in the sport.

Taking in what has been said and considering both these situations do you think that it is essential to have knowledge and game sense of the sport to be successful long term or can key attributes ultimately make you successful long term in the sport?

Anyway would like to know your thoughts on this post or anything to do with this interesting topic.

Thanks

Coaching Material

Hey Guys,

Today I’ve chosen to blog about a topic that come up in discussion with a fellow blogger Sarah Taylor in regard to coaching material.

When completing most assignments in sport coaching or sport science, you will look at journals and books for information regarding the topic that you are looking for.  However, some of the time these materials are too specific and may not be what you’re looking for, so where do you turn to next?

Websites, videos and coaching manuals from NSO are the most common as they are specific for the needs, however in most occasions they are not peer reviewed or backed up by scientific research.  Does this mean the information is incorrect and cannot be used, if not, where is the line drawn to what constitutes valid material that people can implement to their training or coaching regime?

And I would like to know your thoughts on your experiences with using coaching material that does not have scientific evidence behind it and for your coaching or training purposes?

For Example:

Recently when completing an assignment at Univerisity, I had to coach the fundamental skills of AFL to a novice. When researching for information on the skills of AFL, there was only research on a biomechanical analysis of skills or the tactical aspects of the game, something far to technical for a novice. However when looking on the internet and after talking to the Development Manager of the AFL in Canberra, I was lead to several coaching manuals made for the use of coaching novices. Once speaking to the development manager, I found that it however had no scientific research done on the methods of coaching or of the ways to teach the skills, however it had been determined that these methods were best way of teaching this to athletes in this stage of learning.

Similarly a mate of mine was struggling at the gym and had an aim of gaining muscle mass. He didn’t go to university so he therefore did not utilize the journal and books. However through the use of some useful websites he was able to constantly gain in muscle mass, through the periodization of gym sessions, changes in nutrition habits and recovery processes.

Anyway let me know what you think.

Cheers

The start of an amazing journey!

Hey guys,

Sorry for the delay in my blogging I’ve been full on with university and internship commitments.

Today I’ve decided to blog about my journey through this semester with my internship at ACTAS and progress on the research project that I’m currently completing. My internship at ACTAS is in the field of sport science specializing in hockey, this role requires me to cater for the needs of the hockey scholarship holders, by monitoring training loads, completing field testing for national teams reference, data analysis in games and training and recovery after training and matches.

As part of my internship and university arrangements I’m required to do a research project during my time at ACTAS and I have chosen to directly do this in the sport I’m involved with in hockey. Over the past 2 months I have been researching a stroke in hockey known as the drag flick and last month completed a literature review on the drag flick, which identified the key body segments used and sequences that they are used in. Currently along with the ACTAS head coach were are creating a methodology for a drag flicking project to monitor athletes from the squad on their consistency of key segments during the drag flick over a period of time.

Often we hear Keith in lectures, refer to something being a journey and I think that this internship for me has been nothing but an amazing journey. In just four months I have experienced what it is like to be in the sport science industry and been able to see the professionalism that goes into long-term athlete development and talent identification. I have also had the opportunity to work with the Australian Hockey team and later in the year will go over to Perth to do some further work experience with them.

Although this blog was not as informational was previous blog I hope you have got something out of it and keep posted as I’m hoping to catch up on my blogs in the home straight of first semester.

As always if you have any thoughts I would love to hear them!