Holy Schmoley we've been busy! When we are in the middle of things, we keep on working hard and doing our best, so it is easy to forget about all of the great stuff we have going on. 

Meg Stone (our CESSCE and OTS Director), put together a neat newsletter to keep us all in tune with the HUGE list of neat happenings with the Center of Excellence in Sport Science and Coach Education and with the ETSU Olympic Training Site this entire Fall.

You can download or view it below!

Day 2, the final day of the coaches college is now over. We had some great practical sessions for weightlifting and sprinting, and a whole lot of great information about using new technologies in sport.

We used a slightly different format for our practical sessions this year.  We split the attendees into two groups- one group starting with a weightlifting practical session with Dr. Satoshi Mizuguchi, the other group met with Dr. Brad DeWeese to learn about speed development.  After about 90 minutes, the groups switched.

This format worked out great because it allowed for a bit more one-on-one attention, and smaller group discussion on the topics at hand.

After the practical sessions, we had lunch, then buckled down to listen to Dr. Kimi Sato and Matt Sams about the long term development of GPS, from the initial launching of military satellites to the sport science application of today. Matt gave us some information about how GPS is and can be integrated into comprehensive monitoring of athletes today.

Up next we had Jake Grazer, standing in for Dr. Adam Sayers. Jake taught us about how GPS technology can be used as part of a comprehensive training plan for soccer players.

Clive Brewer gave us, as usual, an incredibly interesting, funny, and media filled talk about working with rugby. He had a lot of great things to say about how all of our data can augment our ability to give great training feedback to S&C coaches, sport coaches, and players. He helped us through some of the pitfalls of all of this data as well, drawing from his experiences.

Finally, because we had a bit of extra time left, we were able to have one last roundtable discussion, where we brought in every speaker we have had over the whole weekend.  While there were some interesting discussion on training specifics, probably the most interesting discussion was on the topic of becoming successful.  Despite their differences in training backgrounds, sports, and origins around the world- all of the speakers showed us that one will not be successful without a few things: working hard, maintaining immense focus, and developing relationships with colleagues and potential mentors. We also were reminded of the incredible importance of watching for new opportunities in every step of the way, every single day.

It was a great event. We enjoyed the heck out of putting it together, and we hope you enjoyed attending.

See you next year at the 10th Annual Coaches and Sport Science College.

We have had an excellent day so far. Lots of great information from all sorts of speakers.

First up, we got to hear from Meg Stone, about the evolution of an aspiring elite coach. She walked us through major responsibilities of the coach, problems faced by coaches, and how to walk the line between the art and science of coaching. The science of coaching is what dictates the decisions we make for training, but the art helps us to make it work with the real world with our athletes.

Second, we had Dr. Stone up to teach us about the scientific underpinnings of developing power.  You probably won’t be surprised about this, if you know anything about Mike Stone, but he highlighted how incredibly important it is to develop strength prior to developing power. He also spent some time speaking on the concept of task specificity, and the growing body of research that supports the idea that hypertrophy is specific to the training that you do. Non-specific hypertrophy that might occur from poor training choices may make athletes slower than they would be otherwise.

Next up we had Brad DeWeese to tell us about the quadrennial plan used for preparing bobsledders for the Winter Olympic Games. He not only broke down the theoretical side- the plans that he made for the quadrennial, and the science behind why various planning decisions were made. He also explained about the reality of the training situation- where even the best laid plans have to be modified when, for example, the only training facility you get access to is a parking garage (for weeks!).

Chris Carmichael laid out his ideas and experiences about developing elite athletes, from very early in their careers, all the way up to the highest level. Chris has had a long, successful career, so we got great advice mixed in with stories about athletes he is worked with. It is rare to hear a coach mention both the Olympic Games and the Tour de France in the same breath, especially when he has had athletes in both situations on many occasions.

Meg Stone stepped in again for Chris Layne, who unfortunately had something pull him away at the last minute. Meg regaled us with the realities of representing high level athletes as an agent. While she isn’t an agent, her long and illustrious career as a discus and shot thrower, and then a coach, gave her lots of experience with sports agents. Her numerous stories about the “business side” of sports gave us all a lot of insight.

Jon Carlock gave us a whole lot to think about in a world of training that most us have little experience with. Jon works in a strength and conditioning capacity with military personnel, with experiences that sometimes vary widely from those that we in the sports world have. We were given immense insight into relationship-building, which is extremely important, regardless of the training situation we find ourselves in.

We finished with a roundtable from all of our speakers, who helped to clarify topics from earlier in the day, and gave us their varying opinions on a number of different topics.

Well folks, that is it for the first day! There’s the banquet coming up here pretty soon, then to bed to dream about barbells and sport science.

We look forward to tomorrow.