Blog

In sports analysis and high performance settings, video provides an essential resource. However, many teams and video coordinators still need to overcome the significant obstacle of having countless hours of game film but little time to review the footage.

In this context, it becomes important to find solutions for organizing videos and locating key moments in performance to ease the review and analysis process. Companies like Nacsport have developed specific video analysis software to meet these needs.

Video analysis systems allow video coordinators to observe and analyze critical moments that occur in sport events (mainly during games and training sessions). These are then presented to athletes and coaches so they can count on high-quality information to make better decisions in the future.

Nacsport software solutions are specifically designed to improve sport video analysis. Unlike conventional video editing programs, Nacsport offers tools and features developed to simplify and speed up the analysis, so coaches and video coordinators can have access to the precise data in a more effective way.

How Does the System Work?

Nacsport programs have been created to assist every video coordinator or game analyst, no matter their level or budget. Six different options have been carefully scaled with tools to adapt to a full range of needs.

The observer decides which “items” need to be analyzed in any specific game or training situation. These items can be specific actions, players, pitch areas, or any other points of interest. Once decided, buttons are created for each item.

Any time these items or moments happen during a game or training session, the analyst clicks the corresponding buttons for each of them. Each click generates a register—a tag marking the time when they happened.

When the event is over, the video coordinator will have all these registers organized in two ways: grouped into category rows and with the registers showing chronologically on a timeline.

The coach and/or team will have immediate access to all registers and be able to work with them in the film room. This includes editing their length, adding drawings or text notes, comparing actions, and creating stats, as well as many more features to improve sport analysis workflows.

Analysis concludes with a presentation of the highlights, which can be shared either by exporting the files or playing them back on a computer.

Applying Video Analysis to Achieve Results

Since 2003, more than 5,000 teams and individuals, encompassing more than 35 sports in over 60 countries, have utilized Nacsport video analysis. Here, the analysts on five of those teams discuss the benefits and impact of video analysis on athlete performance.

Atletico Madrid

“Our main goal is to become one of the three most important analysis departments in the world,” says Jose Luis Sanchez Vera, Head of Analysis for Atletico de Madrid.

According to their methodology, Atletico de Madrid’s Analysis Department “want[s] our analysts to observe games to get information, not just capture videos to get footage. We think our work will be important if our knowledge is applied during game day, to reshape goals if necessary so we can improve our players’ performances both as a team and individually.”

The relationship between Nacsport and Atletico de Madrid began during the 2016 season. Daniel Velazquez, then performance analyst with their first team, started to use the software on a personal level. Simultaneously with the club’s U19 side, another performance analyst, Jose Luis Sanchez, did the same. Both teams achieved great results that season.

In light of the outcome, the red and white teams’ managers decided to go beyond by creating the Department of Analysis and increasing their package of licenses so all the Academy teams could be analyzed with the same software.

With Nacsport, Atletico de Madrid “can optimise our time and we can easily extract any data we need. It’s an intuitive tool providing us with insights that enable us to reach the deep data we are looking for. Along with this, it’s so easy to understand the basics that anyone can start using it with a couple of instructions. Our team has adjusted really quickly to the solution.”

Gloucester Rugby

“A lot of our content starts as big files of video, which are then edited down into the most important things our players need to know, to give them the confidence to take the field as prepared as possible,” explains Darren Lewis, Head of Analysis at Gloucester Rugby, a competitive team in the Aviva Premiership.

“We also analyse all of our training sessions. It’s the time on the training field that is so important, so what we provide for the players and coaches in terms of our training resources is crucial. It’s a huge learning environment, so it’s important we take as much out of what we practice as possible.

“We’ve been working on this project for a long time now as there are a lot of factors to consider in making the move to Nacsport,” Lewis continues, describing Gloucester’s switch from a previous analysis system to Nacsport. “But the more and more I sit on the program, watch the reactions of coaches and players when they see some of the features and how easy it is to use, just gives me the absolute confidence that we are going to be able to completely surpass everything I’ve done up until this point.”

Valencia CF

Current Valencia CF boss Macerlino Garcia Toral has been a longstanding Nacsport user. For almost a decade, he has been faithful to the same software. At the beginning of this season, he signed for Valencia CF to restore their lost prestige after some particularly disappointing seasons—and he did it. Now the team is at the top of the table in La Liga, and video analysis played a key role in achieving this result.

“You can customise whatever aspect you need to analyse,” says Toral about versatility as a vital factor in video analysis. “We always analyse our rivals—how they attack and how they defend—but it’s different when it comes to our own analysis. It depends here on how we are facing the game and specific needs on each game.”

Nacsport allows him to customize this analysis.

Silver Ferns

Coaches with different inputs and cultures can all find ways to use the same tools for video analysis, revealing the adaptability and versatility of the solutions. The Silver Ferns are a New Zealand netball team, and Bobby Wilcox has been their performance analyst for over a decade. In 2017, they decided to start using Nacsport.

Wilcox explained: “We use the software to give visual feedback to the players, as well as prepare them for upcoming opposition, through both team presentations and online sharing for the players to watch processes and discuss in their own time. We have found Nacsport very intuitive and easy to pick up quickly—an important feature in a hectic environment!”

Sevilla FC

Sevilla FC has recently showed the world of soccer they are ready for big dreams. After winning four Europe League trophies in a row, this season was time for a major goal: the UEFA Champions League. They did it. Although they were not among the favorites, they reached the Final Eight, even knocking out top-flight Manchester United from the competition.

The Sevilla FC success comes from a commitment across all levels of the club. Their First and Academy teams have worked with Nacsport video analysis software for many years. The ability to apply video analysis does not depend on the head coach or the individual players: The software is established within the whole sporting structure of the club and it has been an essential tool for their analysis workflows.

The Area of Analysis currently has five members. They are responsible for capturing and analyzing all Academy games, and they are also a booster for other areas. “We started with one goal, but today we are much more than that. We are still responsible for capturing and analysing games and training sessions, but we are now helping staff in specific training sessions when they request it. We capture and analyse strength work, physical tests, etc.,” explains Ramon Vazquez, Head of Analysis. “The Area of Analysis is now a booster for other areas, but they all have a common goal: improve the team’s performance.”

“We intend the Academy to benefit from our work by any means, filtering information and footage. Without Nacsport, this task would be impossible. You help us save hours of work and you enrich our work. We can do this with a couple of buttons. Saving time make us more efficient so we can focus on improving players and teams.”

Analysis for All

Nacsport pursues the ideal of Analysis for All. The company has developed its software solutions to comply with the requirements of all coaches and sports staff—no matter their level, budget, or sport—with a suite of products that is scalable depending on end user needs. Nacsport provides the performance analysis community with simple, quick, and effective leading video analysis solutions that are constantly updated and improved to provide users with more and better tools each and every day.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

Sport can cause swings in emotion, varying from passion to disappointment. It can produce an emotional environment that, at times, causes us to wobble and lose our composure. However, that same environment can also cause us to proactively respond and find new levels of competitiveness that raise our game.

The psychology of sport is certainly not a cliché element. It can be, and often is, claimed as a romantic and comfortable part of something that we have all probably participated in: competition. The role of this article is to break away from the clichés and offer well-founded information that is currently being used with young athletes who have the ambition of pursuing excellence.

There is an undeniable link between our attitude, our approach, and the effort that we exert towards a task and its overall outcome. In essence, if we offer a positive attitude and direct our energy towards the desired outcome, then, ultimately, there is a greater chance of eliciting conducive thoughts, feelings, and, importantly, behaviors.¹ So, cognitively, if we are not quite “mentally switched on,” our physical qualities will probably also decline.

Work Ethic and Accountability

There is an increasing number of young people that, as Kelvin Giles says, “want it now and want it easy.” It is definitely not all doom and gloom, however, because there is a very large number of people out there that will commit with 100% intent, acknowledge their mistakes, and seek options to make things better, remain close to their values, and tell you what they think. If you work with someone like that, look after them because they are a real gem.

As strength coaches, we like to see PBs in the weight room, but I personally enjoy nothing more than working with somebody who brings character, intensity, and effort to the floor. They can serve as a role model and raise the ceiling for everyone in the environment. As coaches, we must project the characteristics that we seek. So, if we have identified honesty as a key quality in our environment, we should also be bold enough to “fess up” and say what needs to be said, as opposed to saying what people would like to hear.

Honesty is not just something that we use when we make a mistake; it is doing what is best for an individual at any time. We are role models to those that we coach. Nobody will benefit from hypocrisy—if we say we value something and we agree on it, that is that.

I attended one of Mark Bennett’s Performance Development Systems workshops and he stresses the importance of “non-negotiables.” These are the elements that we agree on with our athletes, and then are relentless and patient in pursuit of them. We need to demonstrate them in everything that we do.

12 Psychological Characteristics of Developing Excellence

Areas that are commonly discussed within sports psychology include confidence, attitude, “culture,” motivation, frustration, focus, and arousal. All play their part in performance, but there are definitely more psychological skills that coaches need to foster in order for an athlete to sustain their performances over a prolonged period of time. In the literature, these traits are referred to as “psychological characteristics of developing excellence (PCDEs).” ² As the term suggests, they include many psychological traits observed among individuals that have achieved relative success in their careers. Some will say, “If you’ve got them, great. If you don’t, good luck.” Let’s say that if they are present, there is a greater chance of a young person fulfilling their potential.

As is often the case, the path of performance sport, whatever that means for the particular individual, is rarely a linear and smooth route. The likelihood is that the athlete will encounter some bumps and, with help from their support network (including us as their coaches), they will need to work out how to either roll over a bump or navigate their way around it.

Before delving into the highlighted characteristics, it is important to recognize that, as coaches, we have a great opportunity to foster the desired skills and contribute towards the overall growth of the individual we work with. That being said, it is not only the coach that can influence psychological development. Parents, family, teammates, friends, and teachers all have a role to play, so it is worth involving them in the process.

Without support and understanding from those stakeholders, the progress that athletes make during training, and sometimes away from training, can be undone when they do not recognize the underlying reasons behind the changes in behavior. With this, always provide a “why” when introducing new concepts regardless of how “right” they are. It is not always as clear to the stakeholders who has the best possible intentions for their child or friend, including us as their coach.

Consider the young player that is eager to develop their nutritional habits but, when they suggest “better options” to their parents, they are brushed away. Thus, the usual—and sometimes poor—habits remain. This is a fundamental problem because I guarantee the young player will become frustrated and suffer the consequences of poor habits, and this will reduce their chance of realizing their potential. Involve their parents, clearly explain why nutrition is paramount, and suggest ways that it can be made more effective and—you guessed it—they might just warm to the idea. Even more than them warming to the idea, we need them to actualize it, so keep in touch and see how things are going.

We need to highlight what these psychological characteristics look like as we would with technical models, such as teaching the squat. It’s great shouting them from the rooftops, but unless people actually know what they mean, they are more or less useless.

Table 1. These 12 psychological characteristics for developing excellence significantly contribute towards the realization of performance. (Based on Talent Development: A Practitioners Guide.)³

1. Commitment
Without motivation, commitment will more than likely stumble. As you have probably gathered, many of the psychological characteristics are interdependent, meaning that without one, the others may suffer. Commitment is our direction, drive, resiliency, and energy towards our role. I recall coaches asking me; “Did you apply yourself to that?” If we have applied ourselves to the role, we will direct almost, but not all, of our energy towards it. “Pursue excellence because nothing else is worth your time” springs to mind.

Commitment and motivation are inextricably linked and, for this article, I will link it with Self-Determination Theory. Competence, autonomy, and relatedness are three of our basic psychosocial needs. When none of them are met, our motivation and commitment towards a task wane. That is a problem because, as with most things, there can be a “hurricane effect” whereby one issue grows and starts to pick up, and feed into, other issues. There are then those athletes driven by progressing and those fearful of regressing.

Progress generally motivates the people who can self-regulate their behavior, and their thoughts. One of the best ways to develop commitment is to create an emotional attachment and an understanding of what is happening and, importantly, why it is happening. If the athlete is invested in the goal, they will not want to let their team down and they will do what is necessary to maintain progress.

2. Focus
Maintaining focus when distractions inevitably occur is an important skill. Without it, not an awful lot will happen. The ability to regain focus is maybe even more practical. Unless you are a robot, I would suggest that you have momentarily lost your focus at one time or another. It is important how we respond and regain composure and, with that, focus. Sport obviously requires a variety of skills, so there is a danger that athletes start to direct “too much” energy, both physical and cognitive, towards a particular element. As a result, they are more likely to lose sight of their goal.

As Mike Young told us as a group of interns in 2016, “The goal’s the goal.” To elicit focus, I personally like to ask the athlete what the goal is: “Remind me what you are working towards?” If the behavior is not conducive to the goal, then why is it occurring?

3. Intent
Determination, drive, and application all come to mind. Approaching our work with an intent to produce our best possible output should be the goal, but to do that, we have to care about what we do. If we have little interest in the work that we do, we are unlikely to work with the desired intensity, unless the value is highlighted. For example, why are we doing heavy squats today? What is the benefit of doing this? Answer that with clarity and, if your athletes are there to progress, they will lift with intent.

This particular psychological quality is very much linked with the PCDEs mentioned because there will be a good number of people that require a very small amount of additional motivation. Often, people will have their goals, as well as their drives, and they will direct all their energy towards that outcome. However, when it is not as straightforward, and intensity is lacking, we need to relate our approaches to the overall goal. Again, Mark Bennet refers to goals as “critical outcomes.” So, in essence, it is a matter of relating, and transferring, everything towards the critical outcome.

As a simple example, if somebody wants to improve their starting speed and we prescribe exercises with a dynamic effort emphasis, we need to clarify the reasons behind that approach. We can definitely develop intent because, ultimately, behavior will change over a period of time. Behavior is a dynamic concept and we largely serve as “choice architects.”

4. Realism
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” We need to accept that somewhere along the way, our plan will probably let us down. However, if we understand that and don’t become too rigid and structured, we are more than capable of reacting. It becomes an issue if we plan and are completely oblivious to potential roadblocks because, if and when it all falls apart, it might take a while to react and work things out. That concerns planning, or periodization, in the sense of “writing in pencil and being prepared to change.”

We need realism in our ambitions. While it is great to set lofty targets, if they are out of reach at that moment and we know that they are, it will hurt when we don’t achieve them. There is then the argument of “talent needing trauma” for us to learn how to respond to future setbacks and adapt. That concept, of course, has a place, but considering the effect of stress on our health and performance, is it sensible to expose ourselves to a chronic stress stimulus?

I think that a lot of goals are imposed on people, which raises the topic of perfectionism. As a coach, I tend to provide regular feedback at the end of the session to address what is going well and what needs improvement. If something is not quite good enough, then I will state it because it is of no real benefit to temporarily fill the cracks. Feedback is positive and objective in nature, wherever possible. By that, I mean that comments are not just positive buzzwords but, rather, they carry genuine meaning and are founded upon observations and measurements.

5. Coping Under Pressure
Excessive stress is not good for our health in general, let alone when we are attempting to perform and improve our standards. Similarly, on the idea of “chaos in training”—Is there not already enough chaos in “our” athletes’ lives, including school, work, personal relationships, and personal commitments? Are we throwing larger rocks at people who, unbeknownst to us, have already had a few thrown their way recently?

With that said, we need to take the time to engage with people without making it a fluffy questioning session. Investing your effort, energy, and interest, and giving positive-objective feedback, far outweighs the often “tea party”-like approaches to psychology. It is not appropriate to shelter someone from stress because, the reality is, it will probably show up at some point and challenge our ability. Instead, we need to help develop coping mechanisms that work for the individual as opposed to rolling out the book of standardized questions that work for everyone—they don’t.

Why Developing Coping Strategies Is Important

We must also consider the attitudinal effect on biochemical balance, particularly in and around dense training periods. John Kiely has really sharpened my approach to this area with his belief that imposing stress on the body is more than a physical stimulus. Instead, as an athlete executes a program, there are psycho-emotional and cognitive stressors occurring that influence our output. This is obviously not only applicable in sport.

If we are chronically stressed, anxious, and just generally a walking time-bomb, our performances will be quite poor. Sleep, for example, is often neglected, both by choice and by nature, due to chronic stress. With stress comes increased allostatic loading, or our body tries to restore internal balance, and then sleep quality declines.⁴ Why is this important? Well, if we ignore the reality that stress is a psychological concept and neglect the biochemical stress response, the athletes that we coach will more than likely have limited progress. More holistically, it will damage their overall condition both physically and mentally.

6. Perfectionism
Perfectionism is one of those traits usually associated with the devil and it has certainly been thrown on the coals. However, while the pitfalls of the quality are regularly highlighted, there are also plenty of positives. There are two forms of perfectionism: harmonious and obsessive. Harmonious perfectionism is driven by enjoyment, passion, and autonomy. Obsessive perfectionism is powered by, well, obsession and a feeling of guilt and failure if certain things are not done.

We certainly want perfectionistic traits because, with harmonious drives, there are evident benefits. However, if they become excessive, the damaging effects are also noticeable—primarily burnout, but also the lasting effect that these traits have on the individual, their family, and their friends. Whichever type of perfectionism we identify needs to be controlled, but certainly not caged.⁵

There are plenty of “perfectionism stories” in sport that are then glorified. However, it is often just people doing their jobs to the best of their ability and wanting it done well. Perfectionism is a difficult trait to control, so this is where regular conversations become paramount. If things are not going quite to plan, then you need to have a conversation about why this is the case and that it is okay, as long as you all work hard to get back on track.

7. Self-Awareness and Self-Regulation
Without self-awareness, we will struggle to understand what we are good at and what we are poor at. It is, therefore, no coincidence that some of the greatest athletes and coaches all tend to display high levels of self-awareness in their behaviors and performances. Self-criticism is, again, another trait that people view as a “dark side” quality. There are two sides to the coin, however, as excessive self-criticism can be damaging but there needs to be sufficient honesty to accept that things are not quite good enough. With that comes self-regulation: the process whereby people manage and change their own behaviors in accordance with their goal.⁶

In general, those with better self-regulation skills, such as evaluation, reflection, and planning, achieve more productive learning and performance outcomes. Athletes that self-regulate their behavior have a strong overriding purpose, and they understand their current levels and what they can progress towards.⁷ Active learning will always encourage self-regulation because it encourages high levels of accountability and autonomy, so while the coach acts as a facilitator, the athlete works things out for themselves. To me, this is the ultimate goal: Give the athlete the tools to then replicate their training without supervision.

8. Goal Setting
Goals must be created by the athlete. A goal that is imposed will not have the same meaning to the individual. In essence, it has to invoke a sense of passion and determination, so that when things do go wrong, there will be a work ethic in place that is capable of overcoming the obstacle.

By all means, follow the SMART principle, but you must also regularly monitor the goal. In addition, identify what the goal is and then work backwards. This is the principle of reverse engineering in process. To achieve the goal, we must know what is required to achieve it because, without the requisite components, we are probably training aimlessly.

9. Quality Practice
There is a substantial amount of literature surrounding the type of practice that we plan; however, that is beyond the scope of this article. By “quality practice,” I mean the attitude that coaches and athletes display in terms of commitment, intent, and effort. The coach assumes a pivotal role in developing quality practice sessions, but then the athlete must take ownership of their performance and approach everything with the desire to develop. Every session is an opportunity to develop.

In my experience, there have been many young athletes that display a genuine desire to learn how to train and develop their ability. They are exactly what we look for. Now, because we are social beings, there is a danger that if we highlight those individuals as the “shining lights,” other team members are going to grow to dislike them.

This is not what we want, but rather, a desire from every team member to represent the environment and help things move forwards. This is where an environment of excellence becomes prevalent again. Frank Dick talks about “the badge” and being passionate about the organization. I fully agree, because if you care about the “badge,” you will probably do the required work, and do it with high levels of intensity, commitment, and effort.

10. Imagery Skills
Having an idea of what success looks like is a valuable skill. Everyone has different ambitions and success looks extremely different for many of us. For some, it may be tangible (financial reward), but for others, it may be intangible (making family proud). Neither are “wrong” because, as always, the two rewards can intertwine.

With effective imagery skills, there is a greater chance of developing a confident performer. During practice, they envision the required intensity, and then they perform the repetitions. They can imagine themselves performing with clarity and, when the time comes to physically execute, they are often ready.

Obviously, to truly prepare for competition, they need to experience a competitive atmosphere. There are many athletes that are excellent during practice, but on game day they do not fulfill their potential. As long as we do not simply throw them into the competition without any guidance, I am confident that they will be okay. Part of the issue is that athletes often do not have a coach with them, which is very important.

11. Effort
To progress at something, whether a skill, education, or our job, we must commit to it. If we are simply going through the motions on a regular basis, progress will be limited. It is about starting with a goal at the front of the mind, lighting the fire, and keeping it alive for as long as possible. Effort means taking a relentless, but very patient, path towards that goal.

12. Seeking Social Support
“Everyone needs a mentor and a couple of people around them that will give them a clear, unbiased view.”–Paul McGinley

This quote typifies what seeking social support is about. With that, I think we all have a responsibility to make sure that people are okay because, sometimes, they won’t be comfortable seeking support. We have to create a warm environment because we definitely do not want people on edge.

Everyone on the Same Path, Bringing Their Value

Being part of a team, naturally, requires working together to achieve the objective at hand. This is the Shared Mental Model concept: Everyone shares the desire to achieve the objective and an understanding of what is going to happen.⁸

I primarily work in private coaching, and this is particularly important because, at times, we are not there when “our athletes” train. So, whoever is available should be able to offer the necessary support and ensure that everything is done correctly. There will be more than one coach in contact with athletes, which is a good thing. However, if we want clarity, we need to all think in the same way, only with different approaches.

There are many ways to get to Rome. Some may get us there quicker, but on the whole, most routes will get us there.

References

1. Hays, K., Thomas, O. & Bawden, M. (2009). “The role of confidence in world-class sport performance.” Journal of Sports Sciences. 27 (11); 1185-1199.
2. MacNamara, A., Button, A. & Collins, D. (2010). “The role of psychological characteristics in facilitating the pathway to elite performance. Part 1: Identifying mental skills and behaviours.” The Sport Psychologist. 24 (1) 52-73.
3. Collins, D. & MacNamara, A. (2018). Talent Development: A Practitioners Guide. p.69. Routledge: Abingdon.
4. McEwen, B. (2007). “Physiology and Neurobiology of Stress and Adaptation: Central Role of the Brain.” American Physiological Society. 87; 873-904.
5. Hill, A., Macnamara, A. & Collins, D. (2015). “Psycho-behaviourally Based Features of Effective Talent Development in Rugby Union: A Coach’s Perspective.” The Sport Psychologist.
6. Kirschenbaum, D. (1984). “Self-regulation and Sport: Nurturing and Emerging Symbiosis.” Journal of Sport Psychology. 6; 159-183.
7. Toering, T., Elferink-Gemser, M., Jordet, G. & Visscher, C. (2009). “Self-regulation and performance level of elite and non-elite youth soccer players.” Journal of Sports Science. 27 (14); 1509-1517.
8. Jonker, C., Riemsdijk, M. & Vermeulen, B. (2010). “Shared Mental Models: A Conceptual Analysis.” Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

A coach should continually reflect, adapt, and innovate to develop, both as a professional and as an individual.³ Indeed, according to some authors, “it is the capacity of coaches to practice, reflect and then learn from their experience that is central to developing coaching effectiveness.”¹³

How can we implement reflective practice on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis? This article provides reflective tools that coaches can easily use in their daily practice along with examples from my work in Canadian university football.

As an interesting starting point, we can combine the different sources of information that represent the constant change associated with sport and use the combined information to support the coach’s decision and training processes.¹² Nowadays, data is required not only to evaluate and track improvements in training and competition but also to help coaches make training decisions. 

Tools to Implement Reflective Practice

Using statistics, video analysis, and discussions with peers enables the coach to take a step back and evaluate an event.⁷ Different sports will generate different sets of game-related statistics. For example, in Canadian university football, we had a game-related key performance indicator (KPI) that characterized our defensive play. Per game, we wanted less than three explosive plays or plays where the opponent’s offensive unit completed a play of more than 20 yards. These statistics provided coaches with specific information regarding the game’s tactical aspect.

Reflective Cards

Reflective cards can be part of our data analysis either post-training or post-competition.^4,5,10 As part of my Ph.D. thesis, we asked Canadian university football coaches to fill out post-competition reflective cards. The cards contained a few questions related to contextual variables (opponent, score, home or away, weather, etc.), game-performance KPI, and weaknesses they should address in the upcoming week of practice.

We also had coaches fill out reflective cards after each training session during the week, answering prompts such as:

• briefly describe the training session
• evaluate what went well and what went not so well
• explain why they went well and why they did not
• propose improvements for the next training session

Reflective cards, as opposed to a reflective journal, take a few minutes to complete, are straight to the point, and can provide valuable information that coaches can compile and review.

Video and Voice Recording

Time can be a limiting factor, however, when using a written form of reflective practice. Luckily easy access to technology gives us other tools to use such as video. As reported by Kidman,¹¹ videotaping oneself while conducting a training session has gained popularity in coach education settings as a means to self-train. Another interesting method we can pair with video is the Thinking Aloud (TA) method where coaches are asked to verbalize their thoughts while performing a coaching task.

Using a Dictaphone or microphone, for example, they can then put into words their inner speech; encode and vocalize any scents, visual stimuli, or movement; and explain their thoughts, ideas, hypotheses, or motives regarding a specific task. TA shares some principles with Schön’s “reflection-in-action” by allowing “coaches to reflect-on their in-event reflections” when reviewing the recordings¹⁹ by themselves or with the help of a coach educator or mentor.

Obtaining Objective and Subjective Data

We can obtain objective and subjective data in a variety of ways. To gather information on external training loads (work completed by the athlete and measured independently of their internal characteristics) and internal training loads (the relative physiological and psychological stress imposed on the athlete), we can use three main approaches:¹⁸

• the observational approach
• the physiological approach
• the subjective approach

We could also add any neuromuscular assessments to these approaches, such as various jump tests.

With Canadian university football players, we monitored internal training loads using the Session-RPE method (sRPE = duration of training x RPE) to gather information about training. Looking retrospectively at the data collected over the previous two years, we were able to adjust the training content to match the various demands of the student-athletes better.

For example, in the graph below, we can identify increased acute training load and decreased freshness levels at the beginning of the winter semester, during winter camp, at the beginning of summer training, and during the pre-season. Equipped with this information, the coach can adjust training and implement more recovery methods before or after these periods to facilitate recovery. The coach could also plan for lower training load at specific times in the academic calendar, such as the last two weeks of April when student-athletes have assignments to hand in and exams to prepare for.

Combining objective and subjective data such as training load with wellness questionnaires is a powerful way for coaches to optimize training and prevent overtraining. It also provides good feedback about how players are handling different stressors and sets the dialogue for good communication between the coach and the athletes.

Daily Introspection

Reflective practice requires a certain degree of introspection from the coach and should be a daily activity.¹⁵ One could use a reflective journal, reflective cards, video, shared reflections, or an oral approach such as TA to implement a reflective practice.

Writing down one’s actions and thoughts following an event or a day’s work in a journal or logbook quite often serves as an introduction to reflective practice. However, recent studies question this approach,² especially the time it takes to sit down, pause, and reflect.¹⁴ Moreover, the entries in a coach’s reflective journal at first might look more like descriptions of the various events rather than a reflection on those events.

Instead, coaches can engage in a critical reflection. This requires coaches to not only question their thought-process but also question or review their beliefs and values regarding their experiences as well as the wider social context of their practice.^6,8 This “self-induced momentary confusion” can be supported and guided by a coach educator or mentor, who can help motivate one to sustain a reflective practice.

Here’s a very good example of this support system as described by Gallimore.³ A struggling high school basketball coach implemented reflective practice after meeting and communicating over several years with legendary basketball coach John Wooden. The high school coach’s practice and coaching record improved over these years.

In the end, a reflective practice appears to benefit both professional and personal development in various fields, including coaching. Using reflective practice to improve one’s knowledge and coaching qualities, such as communication, also impacts the coach’s athletes. The coach-athlete-performance relationship would likely benefit from taking time to reflect. Fellow coaches are encouraged to triangulate the different sources of training decision-making information that best fits their own coaching context.

References

1. Borresen, J., & Lambert, M. I. (2009). The quantification of training load, the training response and the effect on performance. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 39(9), 779‑ http://doi.org/10.2165/11317780-000000000-00000.
2. Dixon, M., Lee, S., & Ghaye, T. (2013). Reflective practices for better sports coaches and coach education : shifting from a pedagogy of scarcity to abundance in the run-up to Rio 2016. Reflective Practice, 14(5), 585‑ http://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2013.840573.
3. Gallimore, R., Gilbert, W., & Nater, S. (2014). Reflective practice and ongoing learning: a coach’s 10-year journey. Reflective Practice, 15(2), 268‑ https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2013.868790.
4. Ghaye, T. (2008). Putting reflection at the heart of good practice: The user guide. Reflective Learning-UK.
5. Gilbert, W. (2017). Coaching Better Every Season : A Year-Round System for Athlete Development and Program Success. Windsor, Ontario: Human Kinetics.
6. Gilbert, W., & Trudel, P. (2013a). The Role of Deliberate Practice in Becoming an Expert Coach : Part 3- Creating Optimal Settings. Olympic Coach Magazine, 24(2), 15‑
7. Gilbert, W., & Trudel, P. (2013b). The Role of Deliberate Practice in Becoming an Expert Coach: Part 2 – Reflection. Olympic Coach Magazine, 24(1), 35‑
8. Hickson, H. (2011). Critical reflection : reflecting on learning to be reflective. Reflective Practice, 12(6), 829‑ http://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2011.616687.
9. Hopkins, W. G. (1991). Quantification of training in competitive sports. Sports Medicine, 12(3), 161‑
10. Hughes, C., Lee, S., & Chesterfield, G. (2009). Innovation in sports coaching: the implementation of reflective cards. Reflective Practice, 10(3), 367‑ http://doi.org/10.1080/14623940903034895.
11. 11.Kidman, L. (2005). Athlete-centred coaching: Developing inspired and inspiring people. (T. Tremewan, Éd.). Christchurch, New Zealand: Innovative Print Communications Ltd.
12. Kiely, J. (2012). Periodization paradigms in the 21st century: Evidence-led or tradition-driven? International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 7(3), 242‑ https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.7.3.242.
13. Knowles, Z., Borrie, A., & Telfer, H. (2005). Towards the reflective sports coach : issues of context, education and application. Ergonomics, 48(November), 1711‑ http://doi.org/10.1080/00140130500101288.
14. Knowles, Z., Gilbourne, D., Borrie, A., & Nevill, A. (2001). Developing the Reflective Sports Coach : A study exploring the processes of reflective practice within a higher education coaching programme. Reflective Practice, 2(2), 185‑ http://doi.org/10.1080/14623940120071370.
15. Lyle, J. (2002). Sports coaching concepts : A framework for coaches’ behaviour. London: Routledge.
16. Robson-Ansley, P. J., Gleeson, M., & Ansley, L. (2009). Fatigue management in the preparation of Olympic athletes. Journal of sports sciences, 27(13), 1409‑ http://doi.org/10.1080/02640410802702186.
17. Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflexive practioner: How professionals think in action. Basic Books Inc.
18. Wallace, L. K., Slattery, K. M., & Coutts, A. J. (2009). The ecological validity and application of the session-RPE method for quantifying training loads in swimming. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 23(1), 33‑ https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181874512.
19. Whitehead, A., Cropley, B., Miles, A., Tabo, H., Quayle, L., & Knowles, Z. (2016). ‘Think Aloud’: Towards a framework to facilitate reflective practice amongst rugby league coaches. International Sport Coaching Journal, 3(3), 269‑

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

Are your athletes counting on you to help them find a college roster spot? As coaches, our athletes view us as experts. We may not know everything about the recruiting process, but we do have an obligation to give our athletes encouragement, and assistance if they want to compete in college.

You need to be able to offer them direction on getting started. Here are a few guidelines you should pass on to your athletes.

What Athletes Can Do

Tell your athletes to be proactive. The athletes willing to market themselves are the ones who will have the most opportunities. Share these seven easy-to-remember steps your athletes should take. Since a teenager will feel like you’re asking them to scale Mt. Everest, encourage them (and their parents) to take one step at a time.

1. Research colleges. Athletes should come up with a list of 10 colleges that have the athletic programs that interest them. This list will change over time, but it will help them get started. They should research the academics, athletic program, area, etc. and make sure each school is a place that would interest them even if they were no longer on the team.

2. Contact coaches. They should call and email each coach to introduce themselves and make the coach aware of their interest. If the coach responds, they should send follow-up emails and phone calls regularly.

“When a high school athlete takes the time to send an email with their contact information, personal best marks, academic information, etc. it means they are serious about considering Duke as a potential university.” Rhonda Riley, Duke University Cross Country Coach.

3. Fill out the questionnaire on the team’s home page. This will get the athlete into the database of both the coach and the admissions department.

“If an athlete knows they are interested in our college, they should reach out to someone on our coaching staff or complete a recruit questionnaire.” Scott Bahrke, Northwestern College Cross Country and Track & Field Coach

4. Prepare a video highlight film. Athletes should post the film on YouTube and send a link to each coach they are in contact with.

• Highlight starts and show complete races.
• Jumpers and throwers should make sure their technique is clear and visible.
• Be as close to the event as possible so there is an unobstructed view.

5. Keep college coaches updated. Athletes should let college coaches known when they will be competing.

6. Send stats. Keep track of the athlete’s stats and the event(s) they were in, and have them send the information to college coaches. The place the athlete finished is not that important.

“We are in a very objective sport where the initial 90+% of recruit filtering takes place by simply using their marks/performances.” Bob Braman, Florida State University Track & Field Coach

7. Attend camps. Athletes should go to university camps and summer camps where coaches from the schools that they are interested in will be working. These are advertised on the program’s web page. They will see a link or a banner to click on.

What Coaches Can Do

One of the most important things you can do is give your athletes honest guidance about the collegiate level at which they can be successful. Some coaches will only recommend Division 1 or 2 programs, but there can be excellent coaching and competition at every level. The continuum is NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and NJCAA (JUCOs). Give them several options to look at based on their talent, work ethic, and academic level. If you don’t know, don’t make it up. Ask another coach for their opinion.

You can also assist athletes in getting film. Good quality is the key to good film. It doesn’t have to be expensive: You can use your tablet or phone. Try to use a tripod if you can. If you don’t have the resources to film your athletes, ask the parents and see who has the skill and equipment to get it done for you.

Finally, contact college coaches for your athlete. Coaches at Division 1 and Division 2 have strict guidelines governing them when they contact athletes. The club or high school coach is often the intermediary for communication. It is your job to provide a reference for the athlete and relay information from the college coach to the athlete. This is how athletes can verbally commit to a school before a college coach is allowed to call them.

Remember: Your reputation is on the line each time you speak with a coach. Your honesty and integrity about an athlete will impact whether a college coach uses you or your athletes in the future.

“A student athlete that has interest in a particular school should have his or her coach contact the school.” Gary Pepin, University of Nebraska Track & Field Coach

Help Position Athletes for Future Success

As coaches, our job doesn’t stop at the finish line; our goal isn’t to see an athlete win the next meet. Our goal should be to help an athlete transition their hard work and talent into future successes. For many athletes, the next prize for which they are competing is a college roster spot. They need to earn that prize, but coaches can help.

Jeff Jenkins, Piedmont College cross country and track & field coach, lists three common mistakes that student-athletes make during the recruiting process:

1. They wait too late to begin.
2. They make premature, uninformed decisions.
3. They don’t communicate effectively.

Your goal is to coach an athlete’s recruiting mindset. Teach, educate, and guide them through the process. Coach toward the best version of their future.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

It all started because I did what I always do when I’m a bit “down” or lonely—I grabbed my soccer ball and went out to find a wall to kick off of. In my typical fashion, I got obsessed trying to master some challenge I set for myself. Not thinking much of it, I decided to film myself and post the video on YouTube to see if anyone else could do it. From there, it became a fun little experiment—who out there in the world of the internet would try my skill challenge and post a video of themselves doing it?

And so, my YouTube channel grew and I felt the power of technology tying us all together; people from all over the world who shared this common interest. To my surprise, many people reach out and tell me how they use my training ideas or that their kids spend hours trying a certain Backyard Skill Challenge. It has become my way to give back.

Love the Journey

When I was 9, I dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player. Thanks to the hours and hours I spent on my own with the soccer ball, I’ve been able to live that dream. I was incredibly fortunate as a young player to have some amazing coaches and mentors, including my parents, who inspired me to spend time with the soccer ball, mastering the tool of my trade.

Players, parents, and coaches often ask me what’s the most important thing young players can do to set themselves up for success. My answer: Spend time with the ball! So many youth soccer players are playing the game without having mastered some of the basics that are vital to not only performing well and becoming elite, but enjoying the game more fully.

From ages 11-14, I was the only girl on an all-boys team. Overall, the boys were much more aggressive and athletic than me, even at that age. This was the time frame where I REALLY started to hone my technique. Not only is technique the great equalizer—there’s no reason that male and female players of any age should have a gap in technical ability—but it’s one of the few things athletes have complete control over.

Some people are born faster, quicker, bigger, or smaller, and there’s not much we can do about that. You can certainly improve your athletic capabilities, whatever they may be, in small percentages. But technique is something you have full control over as an athlete. There’s no magic or predisposition to it. It’s a simple equation—your ability correlates to the time you’ve put in to master the skill.

Moreover, ball control and skill are not qualities that exist in a vacuum. Developing these areas forces players to improve coordination, agility, quickness, and even flexibility and endurance. The process of practicing repetition and working towards mastering the ball also encourages athletes to be self-coaches and really delve into the concept of deep practice, which trains focus and mental toughness as well.

Long term, I always had a vision of offering soccer players something a bit more substantial than the random training videos I put out on YouTube. When I was a young player, all that was available were a few VHS tapes that my dad would order from soccer catalogs. When they came in the mail, we’d watch them over and over and I’d write down all the skills from them to go out and practice on my own until I had them memorized. To this day, I can still quote lines from those videos!

Nowadays, there are thousands of videos out there all over YouTube and social media. There are tutorials, training sessions, freestyle, trick shots. I always tell players: “There’s no limit to what you can learn to do with the ball!” In addition to my YFutbol channel, here are a few YouTube channels I recommend:

• Beast Mode Soccer
• Trainer Gorres – Performance Coach
• Indi Cowie
• F2Freestylers

With so many amazing ideas and resources out there, I saw that it could be hard for young players to figure out what’s most important to work on if they have the time and desire to train on their own. So, the idea for Techne Futbol was born.

Training with Techne

I wanted to create a way to curate all the amazing content available and give players an actual blueprint to follow to achieve their dreams. After all, that’s what I had done for myself, with the help of my amazing mentors and the limited resources I could find at the time. Beginning with the very ambitious vision of creating a personal trainer for each and every player out there, I set out to start with the minimum viable product.

• Profile Page: Each player can create a profile and view their stats: Total/Daily/Weekly Time Trained, Training Streak.
• Training Sessions: Every training session includes 30 total drills, all with a demo video and written description. Many drills have an option to adjust the difficulty so players can work along a progression, depending on their current ability. Each drill also includes a timer, which allows the player to work on the skill for one minute and then adds that time to their training log.
• Sock System: Similar to the belt system in martial arts, we have a Training Sock system where players earn their next level of socks after logging a certain amount of time in the app.
• Leaderboard Competition: Players can compete with others from all over the U.S. and the world and view where they stand on our Leaderboards.
• Time Trials: To measure technical proficiency, players are prompted to record scores in the app for various time trials. They can work to improve these scores over time and track their progress.

Types of Drills

• Juggling: If you love juggling, it’s probably because you’re good at it. If you hate it, it’s probably because you haven’t spent enough time practicing to make it fun! I think juggling is one of the most important skills to master, not just for first touch. It helps with balance and coordination, and it’s easy to keep track of your progress because you can count your juggles.
• Dribbling: The app includes stationary ball work, dribbling through cones set up in different formations, 1v1 moves, and pretty much any way you can imagine being on the move with the ball at your feet. Dribbling is cool to practice because there are a lot of different ways to be a good dribbler. Personally, I don’t often attempt to dribble past players (like Messi or Mallory Pugh), but I do pride myself on being able to maintain possession of the ball in tight spaces.
• Wall Work: While growing up, I always used to try to force my sister to train with me. On the days she refused, the wall was the perfect training partner. It never says no! I used to spend hours at the schoolyard near my house, kicking against the wall.

Anywhere/Anytime:

• One thing I like to stress through Techne is to get creative with your training. I train on/in fields, parking lots, parking garages, tennis courts, racquetball courts, driveways, and the house. That way there are no excuses. There’s always a way to make it work if you want to train!

Inspiring Youth Soccer Players to Own Their Development

The amazing thing about business and technology is that they’re incredibly similar to athletics in some ways. You start off with the grand vision of what you want to make or who you want to be. Then you ask yourself: “What can I do right now with the tools I have?” and “What should I be doing every single day to bring me closer to that vision?” As in athletics, I was well aware of my areas of expertise (my strengths) and where I would need to find experts I trust to guide me.

From the start, I employed the help of a friend and advisor, Samantha Weber. A former college soccer player, she understood the vision, and had also worked in the tech world in San Francisco. Samantha had a good understanding of business and technology, which I certainly lacked. She connected me with a freelance developer, Daniel Woodall.

Over roughly seven months, Dan built out the first version of Techne. It was a subscription-based web app that offered subscribers a weekly training session based on a drill library that I had spent hundreds of hours preparing as we built out the first version of the app. The idea was to spend minimal money (although if you could monetize my sweat equity it would definitely not be minimal!) and then scale up as we proved the concept was viable.

Since September 25, 2016, when we first opened signups and October 2, when the first training session went live, not a day has gone by that work hasn’t been put in to improve the product and user experience. Since then, we expanded our subscription system to allow for groups and I’ve brought an amazing developer, Russell Richardson, on board as a partner in the business. Through Russell’s work, Techne Futbol is now in the Apple and Google Play app stores and we continue to push forward on product development, chipping away with a very ambitious long-term vision in mind.

I view the project as threefold: the technology/product development, the development of the Techne system as a whole and the subscriber experience, and the actual training content. Each of these pieces is a constant work in progress. My goal is to form a community of people who care deeply about the process of mastery and skill development in soccer and leverage their expertise and passion to grow the Techne brand. The future will include more options for players and coaches to customize training sessions, as well as more training content from other players and coaches around the world.

Training with Techne is about embarking on a journey. It’s about making the ball your friend and understanding the process of mastery. But more importantly, it’s about empowerment. Techne subscribers comment all the time on how much more confident they feel when they play, and that they can feel themselves improving and doing things on the field that they weren’t able to before. And players don’t have to rely on their parents, coaches, or any fancy equipment to make that improvement. All they need is a ball, a wall, and the Techne app!

It’s been a fun but exceedingly challenging process to share this part of the sport that I love so much in a quality and engaging way. I’ve fallen in love with the puzzles of technology and business, in a similar way to falling in love with the soccer ball as a young girl. Techne Futbol has brought me full circle in some very powerful ways.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

As athletes and coaches, we spend all of our time preparing to perform at the highest possible level in competitions. But what if we’re leaving some of our training-derived improvements on the table? That was the question posed by two leading sports performance researchers, Dr. Liam Kilduff and Dr. Christian Cook at a recent symposium I attended.

The key problem, as presented by Dr. Kilduff, is that athletes often prepare inadequately at competitions. The idea of the warm-up is to enhance subsequent performance, and there are many mechanisms that achieve this. One is the increase in muscle temperature that improves nerve conduction velocity, which boosts force production.

And yet, quite often after completing the warm-up at many high-level competitions, the athlete undergoes a long perod of inactivity in the call room. At the Olympic Games, I was called up roughly 60 minutes before my races. At the World Youth Championships, I had an even longer 75-minute call room period. Given that this can reduce body temperature (both core and muscular) and that for every 1 degree Celsius reduction in muscular temperature there is a concurrent 3% reduction in the amount of force produced by the leg muscles, it’s clear that an extended cooling period can seriously hamper performance.

During the symposium, Dr. Kilduff presented data from elite team sport players showing that the lowest distances covered by these players occurred within the first 10 minutes of each half. This is puzzling because, at this point, they should be at their freshest. Yet they are underperforming relative to later in the game.

It’s criminal to prepare an athlete for competition, only to waste the last 1%-2% of potential performance on competition day. Following these excellent presentations, I decided to look at the referenced studies, do some of my own research, and put together a guide on how best to enhance performance on the day that it matters most—competition day—through various priming activities. None of these represent an increase in physical capacity; the athlete already gained those improvements through training. All these do is allow the athlete to perform to their potential.

Step 1. Lay the Foundations

Competition represents the ultimate test for athletes, especially high-level competitions. They provide the opportunity to excel but also to fail—in many cases very publically—so athletes are often very nervous before competition. This often harms their sleep the night before. Poor sleep has the potential to negatively influence cognitive, motor, and physiological performance, which is less than ideal for competing.

Sleep

Indeed, the research indicates that athletes often get less sleep prior to competition, a finding which is often replicated. Note that many of the papers exploring sleep and performance study subjects that are sleep deprived, meaning they haven’t slept at all. This doesn’t necessarily mirror what happens in athletes pre-competition—many get at least some sleep, and some suffer no problems at all—but it does represent the worst case scenario.

I’ve written about sleep numerous times, including sleep and athletes and sleep science. Athletes should already have good sleep hygiene habits in place, meaning this should be a relatively easy box to tick. Also, the first night in a new sleeping environment is often restless, negatively impacting sleep. For big competitions, it might be better to arrive a few days early to reduce the impact.

Caffeine

Some good news in this area comes from caffeine. In athletes who were acutely sleep deprived, both low (1mg/kg) and moderate (5mg/kg) doses of caffeine lessened the loss of skilled performance and physical performance. Caffeine can also enhance mood in sleep-deprived athletes, which in turn may affect motivation. This means that we want to consider using caffeine on competition day, not just for its positive effects on sleep loss but also for its other ergogenic properties. I’ve written extensively about caffeine including its effect on performance and how it does so as well as a journal review on the subject.

To summarize, caffeine enhances performance through a variety of mechanisms. For most people, 3-6mg/kg of body weight of caffeine (for example, 210mg-420mg of caffeine for a 70kg male) consumed roughly one hour before competition is a good starting point. There is significant individual variation for each person’s optimal caffeine strategy, however. To determine what’s best for an athlete, use caffeine in training and lower level competitions and experiment with the dose and timing until you find a strategy that works.

Testosterone

Next, consider priming the athlete’s anabolic hormones, especially testosterone. While many of us typically think of testosterone’s large role in muscle hypertrophy, it’s also acutely linked to motivation. A 2013 study found that there was a strong link between pre-workout testosterone levels and the workloads voluntarily selected by the athletes in their next training session. The athletes with high testosterone levels worked harder, indicating they were more motivated. Increased testosterone levels also increased the chances of a rugby team winning a match.

While optimizing testosterone levels tends to occur in a chronic, long-term setting, there are some things we can do during the pre-competition window to further enhance it. For example, use short video clips. A 2012 study showed different types of videos to a group of male athletes before a squat-based training session. After watching aggressive, motivational, and erotic videos, the athletes’ testosterone levels increased, correlating with an enhanced 3RM in the next squat session. Using aggressive and motivational videos represents a potential method to explore. Before my competitions, I listened to a Vince Lombardi speech, which motivates me even now.

Step 2. Prime Performance With Pre-Performance

Testosterone levels tend to drop during the afternoon and into the evening under normal circadian conditions. The bad news is that most competitions take place during this time. So, what can we do? It turns out that resistance training raises testosterone levels acutely, and levels remain elevated for hours. Could this positively impact performance?

A 2013 study put this to the test. A group of researchers put 14 well-trained throwers, both male and female, through a morning resistance training session to see what effect it would have on an evening power test. The session included 4 sets of 6 reps on the power clean at 35% 1RM, followed by 2 sets of 6 reps of the back squat, one set at 50% 1RM and the other at 85%, all of which counted as a warm-up. Following this, the athletes underwent a protocol of back squats to fatigue and sets of 4 reps on the power clean exercise, with a focus on moving the bar at high speed.

Four to six hours later, the throwers tested their backward overhead shot throws and vertical jumps. Compared to the control group, which did not exercise in the morning, the athletes threw the shot significantly further after their morning resistance training session. This concept was also tested in elite rugby union players with a morning session of 3RM bench presses and squats, which enhanced power and speed performance tests.

Of course, undertaking a morning resistance training bout is not always practical as it requires access to a weight room nor is it necessarily palatable to athletes and coaches, who may well be concerned about excessive fatigue pre-competition. A 2016 study examined the impact of different morning exercise regimes on subsequent afternoon performance. The different interventions were: control with no training; weights with 5 x 10 reps on the bench press at 75% 1RM and 90 seconds recovery; cycling with 6-second maximum sprints followed by 54 seconds recovery, and running 6 x 40m sprints with a full 180-degree turn halfway and 20-second recoveries after each sprint.

The sprinting trial enhanced subsequent sprint and vertical jump performance to the greatest extent and had the greatest effect on testosterone. The bench press protocol had similar but smaller results while the cycling protocol only enhanced vertical jump performance. The good news is that in team sport athletes at least, a morning exercise bout of sprinting can enhance later performance without needing access to a weight room.

Step 3. Warm Up Properly

While we all think we know how to warm up, research has consistently found that warm-ups need to have periods of high-intensity exercise to enhance subsequent performance. This concept was tested in Olympic level standard bob-skeleton athletes in a study published in 2013. The athletes did their normal warm-up or a more intense version of their warm-up with more emphasis on sprint drills, sprints, and shorter rest periods. The more intense trials enhanced the athletes’ performance during testing. These athletes won the last three Winter Olympic titles in the women’s events, which shows how important research like this can be.

Intensity can also enhance endurance performance. Another 2013 study recruited 11 well-trained middle distance runners and had them undertake an 800m time trial following two different warm-up protocols. In the first, the runners undertook 6 x 50m strides. In the second, they undertook 2 x 50m strides and a single 200m high-intensity run. Following the 200m sprint, the athletes were approximately 1% faster than the 800m time trial, representing an important marginal gain.

Step 4. Protect What You’ve Got

Once an athlete has warmed up, the key is to maintain these improvements while waiting for the competition to start. The majority of research in this area focuses on maintaining the increased temperature that results from the warm-up. This is important. Research suggests that one can lose two degrees Celsius of heat after 20 minutes of passive rest following the warm-up, which is enough to harm competition performance significantly.

So what can we do to keep what we’ve got? Over the past decade, a lot of research has looked into passive heat maintenance and its effectiveness at maintaining body temperature. If we go back to the bob-skeleton study, the most effective strategy was to have an intense warm-up followed by wearing a jacket lined with a survival blanket (the foil-looking blankets). This approach is also effective for team sport athletes.

The key take home is that, just because you feel warm after the warm-up, does not mean you’ll still be warm when you compete. It’s far easier to keep the heat you have than try to warm yourself up again. After the warm-up is complete, put on clothing that will maintain your body heat.

Keep in mind that in some environments, it’s important that you’re not too hot, especially in prolonged endurance races.

When I competed in bobsleigh (bobsled), my heat maintenance strategy was very different from my strategy when competing in track and field. Even while I was still sprinting, however, it was rare that I was too hot. Most races were in the evening when it’s cooler and, as a result, I tended to overdress for the call room. Usually that meant three t-shirts and tracksuit top along with Lycra tights and jogging bottoms over my race kit. My goal was to continue to sweat throughout.

Step 5. Use PAP

Post-activation potentiation (PAP) acutely enhances a muscle group’s performance following contraction. Most commonly, this is achieved by heavy weight training. It’s perhaps best known from the myth that Ben Johnson warmed up for a World Record 100m run with sets of maximal squats just before his race.

The key to properly harnessing PAP’s performance-enhancing capabilities is ensuring there is enough time for the muscle groups to recover from the activating exercise and not to lose that effect by having too much time pass. In a 2008 study conducted with professional rugby players, researchers lead by Liam Kilduff tested the effect of different recovery periods following a PAP protocol on subsequent countermovement jump height and power. The PAP protocol was 3 x 3 back squats at 87% 1RM.

Unsurprisingly, after a 15-second recovery, vertical jump performance decreased and then recovered significantly by the 8-minute mark. At this point, the players’ vertical jump increased by almost 5%. This improvement wasn’t as prevalent at the 4- and 12-minute marks and almost entirely disappeared by the 16-minute mark, suggesting that the effects of PAP are short-lived. Similar results were reported in elite swimmers.

These findings, however, are likely specific to the subjects and protocols, as other studies have reported different optimal time frames. For example, Gilbert and colleagues used 5 x 1 at 100% 1RM back squats and found that it took 15 minutes before the rate of force development (RFD) was enhanced. Until the 15-minute mark was reached, RFD was actually harmed. Conversely, Gullich and Schmidtbleicher used an isometric leg press as a PAP stimulus, finding that RFD was enhanced after 3 minutes.

Just how practical is all of this? We run into the same problems seen with morning priming sessions—it can be impractical to carry out heavy back squats very close to a race, especially 8 minutes before the race. And I’ve never been in a call room that had a squat rack. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be a heavy resistance exercise. A plyometric stimulus (3 x 10 alternate leg bounds) was effective compared to no PAP stimulus after 4 minutes, although this effect was lost by the 8-minute point.

The effects of PAP can be transient and difficult to judge correctly, which means they can negatively impact performance. Many methods are also impractical. Anecdotally, however, I know a lot of sprinters who do some explosive jumping activity in the call room. I also know that many bobsleigh athletes use band-resisted vertical jumps before competition. Whether these exercises have any physiological effect, or whether it’s psychological, is open to speculation. There is perhaps enough research to suggest trying out some form of plyometrics during training to see if it affects sprint performance before attempting it during competition.

The Role of the Coach

Many of the recommendations I’ve made in this article address the athletes because after all, they are the ones who have to go out and perform. However, the behavior of the coach and the setting of the environment in which athletes find themselves can also impact competition performance.

Returning briefly to testosterone, you’ll recall that watching motivational video clips can increase testosterone and hence performance. The environment in which an athlete views these clips can also impact the testosterone response. If positive coach feedback follows the clips, the hormonal response is more favorable than when the coach gives negative feedback (or when athletes motivate themselves).

This is also true for post-game coach feedback, which can set the hormonal scene for subsequent competition performance. Again, positive feedback enhances testosterone to a far greater extent than negative feedback as does watching post-match videos with friends as opposed to strangers. I suggest the athletes feel less threatened in these situations.

Unanswered Questions

While the advantages of pre-competition priming, heat maintenance, and PAP are well established and replicated, some unanswered questions remain. For individual, short-duration sport athletes whose competition is often continuous, the effects are clear and obvious—a loss of heat in the period between warm-up and competition can harm physical and hence competition performance. The steps outlined in this article will doubtlessly be beneficial.

When it comes to intermittent team sport activities, however, or more prolonged activities, the impact is less clear. Although elite team sport players may exhibit reduced workloads in the first 10 minutes of each half of a match, it isn’t clear what effect offsetting this reduction would have. For example, if priming and heat maintenance enhances player performance in the first 10 minutes of the match, what is the subsequent cost? Does the player use more energy and fatigue quicker, and does this reduce total distance covered later in the match? Or do priming and heat maintenance enhance match performance in the first 10 minutes without any subsequent loss of performance?

We just don’t know, but it’s important to consider. We don’t necessarily want to put a lot of effort into enhancing performance early in the match if it harms performance later in the match. If subsequent performance reduction does occur, coaches could plan for it. They might select the three players who they plan on substituting within the match and prime them pre-match, so their subsequent workload is higher, allowing them to “leave more on the pitch.”

Pulling This All Together

The key takeaway from all of this research is that we can enhance our performance on competition day by making small changes. It’s also important to be highly pragmatic in these circumstances. For example, if an athlete gets stressed out because they are unable to find facilities to do their morning priming session, the overall effect is negative. That said, we can make some suggestions for competition day that may well enhance performance:

1. About 6 hours before the competition, consider undertaking some form of priming exercise. For throwers and team sport, some heavy resistance training may be appropriate if facilities are available. For sprinters and runners, a warm-up that includes some form of intense exercise should work. Be sure to practice this outside of the big competitions before you use it.
2. Roughly 2-3 hours before competition, have the athletes watch a motivational video. If they load this on a portable device like a smartphone, it can be watched immediately before entering the call room.
3. If the athlete hasn’t slept well (and even if they have), consider using caffeine. For most people, a dose of caffeine 60 minutes before the competition starts is ideal, although there will be considerable individual variation. For prolonged events, take the caffeine dose closer to or during the competition.
4. Make sure your warm-up follows a progressive intensity model, and include some very high-intensity efforts at the end.
5. Use passive heat maintenance techniques to maintain muscle temperature between the end of the warm-up and the start of the competition.
6. Consider utilizing PAP as a sharpener very close (~10 minutes) to competition. For athletes in a call room, this may be a series of vertical jumps. Don’t do this too close to the race, and experiment in training first.

By heeding this advice, athletes hopefully will be able to unlock the final 1-2% of their performance that’s often left on the table following an inadequate pre-race preparation. As always, experiment, find out what works for you, and then unleash it on the world.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF