“Sports Science Appliance” Experiences of Sport Scientists in Football

“Sports Science Appliance”

"My Experiences of Sport Scientists"

“So I’m widely known in my football club to have average knowledge of this subject specific matter, although I’m constantly looking to collaborate and improve by stealing knowledge from my peers, and beyond about this process for elite performers.  I studied with 300 of them twenty years ago whilst at university. I chose to be a Phys Ed teacher simply because I didn’t love sport science enough to choose it as a career.

I once lived with a highly successful strength and conditioning coach in Karl Halabi. He has worked under Brendan Rodgers and Paul Clement and worked at clubs such as Chelsea, Fulham, Reading, Watford and Derby. Now why has Karl been a success? Firstly he was dedicated to his subject, secondly he was one of the first of my uni cohort to do a Master’s degree back in the 90’s. And finally Karl was a former scholar at Reading and knew his football inside and out. This made him the perfect person to fulfil his role “effectively” for many years to come.

Sport Scientists and Strength and Conditioning coaches are an interesting breed. Some good and some bad like all jobs I suppose but my biggest observation about them is too many are too often “zooming in” and not “zooming out”.

Now what do I mean?

They are very “process” based and don’t always look at the bigger picture of WHAT holistic development is and what it feels and looks like for the players.

What do I mean by process based?

Some think that simply a gym programme, 6 week testing cycle, a bit (or a lot) of data and football training alone is going to get natural gains for players. Well it is… I suppose but my question to them is? Are you maximising this experience for the players? My advice? Is to become teachers. They are not a coach... they are a teacher! Two different things. Teaching methodology simply is deeper and has more meat to the bone. Coaching can sometimes be superficial and lack substance.

So as a summary:

1)     Be a teacher (not a coach) of the subject, a facilitator in order to make their subject come ALIVE for the players. Someone that flips it and make the players believe, understand and aspire to complete their pre-hab, re-hab and weights programme because it’s the right thing to do rather than just be told to DO it.

2)     Try to understand people and learning better! Understand that asking questions with staff about how they can improve the actual “teaching” element of “what they know” with better techniques, hints and tips of the teaching trade. (i.e. Not do testing or weights programmes with players waiting in a line like you would at a bus stop! I call them “bus queues”) That’s mickey mouse delivery. If you’re going to do some fun stuff with players such as races and drills why have 3 teams of 5… when you can have 5 teams of 3??? Resulting in more movement, more fun more gains for players physically and psychologically. Stop looking inwardly (zooming in) and start to look outwardly.

3)     Eliminate boredom at all costs. This is my point about S and C coaches. You’re a TEACHER not just a process and outcomes based practitioner. Your role are far bigger than that!

4)     Bring the DATA you use “back to life” for the players AND NOT JUST FROM THE FABRIC OF A SPREADHEET OR LAPTOP! Stop talking to them about squatting etc and start talking to them about learning and what the data means and how it relates to being a footballer every moment of the day (contextualised learning)! In schools we call it “AFL”. Assessment for Learning. How we incorporate formative and summative assessment into any elite programme. FYI This is the number one trick of the trade!  

I have asked scholars and pros over the years:

Do you know why you are doing that exercise? The answer sadly is often the same. No!

Do you know what your test score is for your 30m sprint? Unbelievably they say no! I mean WOW! In elite education terms those players should be absolutely crystal clear of all their data. It should be tattooed on their forehead. This data should be talked about, used, discussed, shared, challenged, questioned and mainly understood like it’s the bible!

This is another of my points. S and C coaches might know a lot about S and C material. But in order to have the greatest impact on the players they serve they need to know and understand about “learning” and how the human brain operates to learn most effectively.

This is what I mean by process based. Some of the processes I’ve seen are failing the players and often flawed. Now I’m not talking about teaching squatting technique here. I mean BRING TO LIFE everything you do. Use learning to learn techniques (META-LEARNING). The best coaches I have worked with ask question after question in order to get the best deal for the players and up-skill themselves into what teaching and learning really is and what it looks like. If any lecturers are reading this you NEED to implement T and L into your university programme ASAP! Because all you are doing is failing future S and C coaches.

Now before all you S and C coaches think I’m bashing you here! I’m not. Some of my relationships with these people have been the closest I’ve ever had in my work career. Keep up the good work, but start zooming out!

I would like to thank all these guys that have had to put up with me also. Paul Stretch in particular who will be a close friend for life. Also Ian Jones, Alex Berger and Darren Stern. All top class people!

Thanks for reading