Coaching journal

My position as National coach has proven so far to be enjoyable but not without its obstacles, Having only been in the job the nine weeks, it feels longer.  I sit here on the eve of my first major championships reflecting on the preparation and pondering over what could be.  Being placed in a position of diminished responsibility but given full responsibility of the outcome will surely spell the demise of any coach, but as we draw closer the event priority of winning must take over.  This is what I do!! Many of the athletes I will be seeing for the first time, so this will allow me to assess their abilities and form a more accurate projection for future events.  In short a 'perfomance indicator', however there are some I know and personally coach so I have a clear picture of their abilities.

The dynamics of coaching such a diverse group is a complex one and can be approached in several ways;

• Autocratic - Do as I say!  You have no opinion only My way!  mmmm urrgghh

To use this method all the time is a 'cop out'.  Yes sometimes it is needed and makes control easier but is suppressive and over used will undoubtedly have a backlash of some kind.

• Democratic

This allows the athlete to have some input into their training and ultimately gives them more responsibility over the outcome.  Advanced practitioners have their own proven methods and ideas.  Who knows I may even learn something myself and at the very least gain a valuable in site into the workings of a given athlete.

I agree you can't asked everybody, every time to teach a combination what they think, its impractical. and time consuming. So how can we create a democratic environment? Well, try completing one-to-ones with all the athletes and ask everyone the same questions (to keep consistency), a pattern may emerge which will help to guide future sessions.

• Empowerment

I personally love this one.  Empower your athletes to want to go out and achieve their best performance, to enjoy the journey and not squander their once in a life time experience but to realise their potential.  Ah!! I just remembered why I love coaching.  Not to be confused with  'Laissie Faire', (laid back and of nonchalant appearance), although this has its place in helping to relax nervous competitors and subsequently controlling anxiety and anticipatory heart rate increase.  Last thing we want is the inverted 'U' theory!! (google it if your not sure.

Session content and how you treat each one requires strategic diversity in built into session plans to ensure all have an equal opportunity to develop.  This requires an undrstanding of the diffenrence between 14 and 20 year olds.  We must remember over 18's are adults, they can vote, legally consume alcohol , sign their own codes of conduct and if we communicate their personal details with their parents without their consent we breach data protection policies, phew. A complex web but having worked in further education for 10 years, I think I'm headed in the right direction.

No coach is complete with out a team working behind him toward the same aim.  With the upset of Paul Newby Assistant National coach rupturing his achilles in pre-training, Davin Pack another bright young coach has stepped in a short notice to assist in the procress. Between the HOD, the Chaperones and ever present Physio' Mo we will crack.  Come the day step back let the coaches do their job and enjoy the ride.  its gonna be a bumpy one!!!!

Anyway, I guess it's time for them to go and write their own history, its a blank page at the moment and remember, this is sport 'ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN'

Core Stability and Medicine Ball session

Select your med-ball according to your strength (you will soon know if its too heavy!!).  This session can be done in small groups of up to 4 or on your own.  You can improvise using a wall and/or simply in a field where you would run and collect your own ball and throw it back.  (Adapt and overcome!!)

This session should be completed at least once per week as no doubt a degree of core work would be involved in other sessions, e.g. lifting, circuit training etc.  It good to have a least one session clearly dedicated to core.  This guy is smashing it with some excellent exercises.

This session incorporates more explosive dynamic movement with generic core exercises.

Warm Up

Jog 20M Recovery walk back (R)

Fast feet / patter 20M  x 5 (R)

Squat side-walks, one foot in-front then behind x 3 each side (R)

Lunges x 5 10M (R)

Press up walks keeping legs straight x 4 (R) 10M

Spider crawls knees in x 3 (R) 10M

Spider crawls knees out x 3 (R) 10M

MEDBALL – groups of three

Russian twist throws – 10 from right, left and centre (30 in all)

Chest throw – seated 3 x 10reps

Over-head throws – seated 3 x 10 reps

Standing chest throw and run 8M x 10

Reverse over-head throw and run 8M x 10

Reverse threw leg throw and run 8M x 10

Chest  / over-head / reverse over-head / threw legs with 8M run between each throw  x 10 Reps

Cool down and stretch

A Med-Ball is a vital part or your personal training - GET ONE!!! 

The Banzai Cup - Berlin 2011

 The Banzai Cup proved to be an ideal warm up for those attending the WKF Junior World Championships in Malaysia.  Attendending countries were England, Scotland, Wales, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway, Russia and of course Germany1 (I'm sure I've left a few out lol).  As my role as National coach (and regional coaches)  international coaching is of paramount importance.  In addition to supporting your club athletes we get to see whats going down!!!  Reflect, review and plan new drills and training adaptations.

What did I learn? Mmmmmmmmmmmmm  !! When coaching elite athletes who already have a high level of technique, the emphasis should be placed on tactical awareness and this should be relected to training sessions.

Training with ergonomic aids

Training with ergonomic aids can enhance standard Karate training overtime whether we use them for resistance work or over speed training. Varied training helps to keep sessions interesting and motivates athletes to work hard. It brings fun to training whilst increasing loads will develop strength and bring forward the onset lactic acid. Excellent for lactic threshold and tollerance development!!

Trial and error is a good way to develop specific training drills, heres one which is common to Karate, however we added resistance to the punches to add intensity to the exercise. Then after an alloted time significantly reduce the resistance and continue the exercice.

Take a look!!

Performance day - Speed-Endurance & Masterclass

Another great days training with former World Champ' Willie Thomas and former GB sprinter Graeme Beasley. After an extensive warm up the track session was based on speed endurance with varying distances but all at maximal effort. All gave 100% and paid the price, but will reap the rewards of their efforts. Another session in the bag. ______________________________________________________________________ 

 

After a recovery period we travelled off to the Karate venue which focused on the little things that make a big difference. Focus, staying relaxed to maximise speed, spacial awareness, ring craft and the usual point scoring combinations. Watch this space as next month we focus on plyometrics on the track and explosive power in the Masterclass. video clips to come!!

Training compilation

Plyometrics and speed on the track - A master class on developing power and speed in Karate

On Saturday 6 August Peak4karate hosted a specialist session on the development of speed, power and its application within a sport Karate context. Graham Beasley (former GB international) led the track session, first with an extensive dynamic warm up preparing the athletes for the work ahead.



Graham took the group through a range of hurdle drills, not only emphasises on the 'up' movement but the importance of the down stroke and its relevance to limb speed. Graham explained the science of how to maximise power output using the ratio of force and contact time.



Hurdles can vary in height with some of the more powerful athletes attempting the higher hurdles. The drills were demanding and challenging asking for new coordination skills to be used.





The most challenging of the drills was the box format, watch here as Graham explains.



Then came the sprints and although Graham had said he more interested in the individuals power output as opposed to the winner of the 30M sprint, The competitive nature to win was just too much to resist!!



The session was bought to an end with a cool down and a big thank you to graham for sharing his knowledge and experience with us. After a well earned break and lunch the athletes prepared themselves for the Kumite session with myself. The warm up was taken by Michael Burke then we went straight into hand / eye coordination drills.



We then moved onto a plyometric adaption that is specific to Karate. This can be adapted in various ways but here is one drill that can be used in any club. If you do not have benches you may (at your own risk) use people!!



We progressed through a number of drills designed to maintain focus, develop speed and power and to be enjoyable.



There were a number of burning questions but the most prevalent was how often would you do a track session of this nature and how long before we can see the benefits of this type of training. The fact is you would do this session once or twice per week dependant of other sessions you have planned, recovery time and total hours you have available to train, so as many are not training like professional athletes once per week should suffice.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog and hope you may be able to attend the next session of we will focus on speed / endurance.

Willie Thomas
National Kumite Coach

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