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If you’re an athlete reading this and have been involved in a serious training program for a length of time, it is likely that you have suffered a hamstring injury. Similarly, if you’re a coach involved in a speed-power sport, it is likely that you have had many athletes suffer a hamstring injury. Hamstrings are a sprinters “bogey” muscle – the one that seems to get injured the most. During my career as a sprinter, I suffered some bad hamstring injuries. In 2008, I tore it quite badly in February, and didn’t run again until April, missing a total of 7 weeks of running, which isn’t ideal in an Olympic year. The injury only settled down following a corticosteroid injection into the area, which made running tolerable, if not pain-free. I managed seven weeks of sprint training before my season opener, in which I promptly re-tore the same hamstring. This was problematic, as it was only five weeks until the National Olympic trials, and I still had to run the qualifying time of 10.21 seconds. Fortunately, I had a world-class physiotherapist who worked with me twice a day, along with a brilliant team of support staff. I made the team – just. I remember standing on the start line for my comeback race, knowing that I had to run to try and get the qualifying time but also being aware that my hamstring was really, really sore!

What are hamstrings?

We should probably begin by taking a look at what the hamstrings are. The hamstrings are the muscle group that runs down the back of your thigh. The hamstring muscle group is comprised of three actual muscles; biceps femoris (that has a long head and a short head), semimembranosus, and semitendinosus. The muscles group is bi-articular, which means that it works on two different joints; the hip and the knee. Specifically, the hamstrings work to extend the hip, and also flex the knee. This makes them important in sprinting because they control the lower leg movement throughout most of the stride cycle, and also assist the gluteal muscles in creating a powerful hip extension. The hamstring muscles also have a few other functions. They act as a secondary knee stabiliser and also play a role in controlling rotation of the whole leg (Koulouris et al. 2007). There is some evidence to show that the hamstrings also act as a shock absorber during foot contact in sprinting (Malliaropoulas et al 2012).

Like all muscles, the hamstrings can work both eccentrically and concentrically. Concentric muscle action is where the muscle shortens whilst it contracts, and an eccentric action is where the muscle lengthens whilst increasing tension. Eccentric actions occur with both a larger force and higher velocity than concentric actions, and so are more likely to cause injury.

During the sprint cycle, as the thigh reaches its maximum flexion angle in front of the body, the lower leg begins to escape forwards. This is crucial, as it allows the athlete to cover greater distance per stride, increasing their stride length. Whilst this lower leg is moving forwards, however, the hamstrings are working hard to control the movement. The hamstrings first slow the lower leg as it moves forward, bringing it to a stop. They do this eccentrically, because the hamstrings are lengthening throughout this movement. Once the lower leg has stopped moving forwards, it is then rapidly accelerated towards the ground. This is achieved mostly through hip extension, which requires the hamstrings to concentrically contract. The more powerful this movement, the shorter the ground contact time, which plays a role in improving stride frequency. Once the foot makes contact with the floor, the hamstrings continue to work in combination with the gluteal muscles, actively pulling the body over the foot (Mann 2011). These actions demonstrate the major contributions of the hamstring muscles during the sprint cycle.

Why do we injure our hamstrings?

Recalling what I have just mentioned, we can explore why hamstring injuries occur. Firstly, the muscles are bi-articular, and so work on two different joints. This increases the amount of movement that the muscles undergo, increasing the injury risk. Secondly, they undergo an eccentric action, which in sprinting occurs at high force. Muscles tear when they cannot handle the force that is being placed upon them. If there is an underlying issue within the hamstring, it is more likely to get injured at this point – and this is what the studies show. In a review article by Petersen & Holmich (2005), they found that most hamstring injuries occur during either eccentric contraction (particularly during the later part of this contraction) or just before foot contact. Malliaropoulas et al. (2012) add that the largest musclo-tendonous stretch occurs in the hamstrings just before ground contact time and identify this as the most likely point of injury.

As I alluded to earlier, hamstring injuries are very common in sports that require running and kicking. In professional soccer, hamstring injuries account for roughly one in five of all injuries (Petersen & Holmich 2005). In high-level sprinters, this rate is higher; in a group of national level sprinters from Hong Kong, hamstring injuries accounted for 50% of all injuries (Yeung et al. 2009). The IAAF reports that 48% of all injuries within the 2011 World Athletics Championships were hamstring injuries (Alonso et al. 2012). Even more concerning is the re-injury rate for hamstrings, which in professional soccer is up to 30%, and in sprinters is 38%. What this essentially means is that if you injure your hamstring once, you are at an increased risk of injuring it again. We all know someone who has persistent hamstring injuries – hopefully that is not you! In terms of hamstring injury rate, Yeung et al. (2009) found in their sprinter subjects that hamstring injuries occurred roughly 0.87 times per 1000 training and competition hours. This means that a sprinter training two hours a day, five times per week, will likely have a hamstring injury once every two years. The rate in sprinters is much higher than that in other sports. Black et al. (2006) reported that in professional rugby union in the UK, the injury rate was 0.27 injuries per 1000 training hours, and in professional American Footballers, the rate is 0.77 per 1000 training hours (Elliot et al. 2011). For professional soccer players, the average training and game time missed per injury is 18 days (Woods et al. 2004) and 17 days for professional rugby players (Black et al. 2006). This is likely to be higher for sprinters because the loads placed on the hamstring are greater, and so longer rehabilitation time is likely to be required, although I can’t find any data to support this.

Most hamstring injuries occur in the biceps femoris, which is the most lateral of the hamstrings, situated towards the outside of the thigh. One of the mechanisms proposed for this increased injury rate is that the bicep femoris has a shorter moment arm in knee extension and so the musclo-tendonous stretch is significantly greater within that muscle (Malliaropoulas et al. 2005).

With hamstring injuries, there are different severities that can occur. A grade I tear is one where only a few fibres are torn or injured, accompanied with minor swelling and discomfort (Petersen & Holmich 2005). Range of motion will normally return within 24 hours although there may still be some pain on contraction (Pollock et al. 2014). These injuries are the most common, and see a quick return to sport, often in around 18 days (Lee et al. 2011).

Slightly more severe is a grade II hamstring injury, in which there is greater damage to the muscle and/or tendon (usually between 10-50% of muscle fibres). There tends to be a significant loss of strength associated with this type of injury, and range of motion will be impaired for longer than 24 hours. Return to sport with these injuries is often greater than 30 days. Grade III injuries are those in which greater than 50% of fibres are torn, and a grade 4 injury is one in which the muscle is completely torn – this tear can often be felt by hand and may need surgical repair.

Risk factors associated with a hamstring injury

There are many risk factors associated with a hamstring injury, including:

1. Imbalance of Muscular Strength – Orchard et al. (1997) found that if the quadriceps were much stronger than the hamstrings, this increased the risk of a hamstring injury. They found that a ratio of below 0.6 for hamstring:quadracep strength increased the risk of injury. This ratio was mirrored in the Yeung et al. (2009) study on sprinters; the researchers found that if the ratio was below 0.6, then hamstring injury was seventeen times more likely to occur.
2. Muscle Fatigue – Woods et al. (2004) found that significantly more hamstring injuries occur towards the end of a game, indicating that muscle fatigue plays a role in hamstring injury. Pinniger at al. (2000) demonstrated that repeated sprint bouts reduced hamstring function, meaning that the fatigued hamstring muscles could absorb less energy before reaching the level of stretch that caused injury.
3. Hamstring tightness – Harting et al. (1996) found that hamstring flexibility reduced the risk of injury in a group of military recruits. This finding is a little controversial, as there are also a some studies that illustrate that lack of hamstring flexibility does not increase the risk of injury.
4. Insufficient warm-up
5. Previous Injury – Previous injury both within the hamstring muscles and surrounding muscles and structures increases the chance of injury. Koulouris et al. (2007) found that following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery, the risk of a hamstring injury was significantly elevated. This is because the hamstrings play a role in stabilising the knee alongside the ACL – and if the ACL cannot perform this function, the hamstrings are placed under additional strain and load.
6. Insufficient Recovery Period – Return from the previous injury before complete recovery
7. Inadequate strength in hamstrings – Yeung et al. (2009) found that hamstring injuries were more likely to occur early in the season, when hamstring conditioning was not as high. In their study, 60% of hamstring injuries occurred within the first 100 hours of a training program.

Hamstring Injury Recovery

If we know that we are likely to injure our hamstrings once every two years (or even more if we are training with increased frequency or placing our hamstrings under increased load) then it is a good idea to know what to do when injury strikes. In their 2005 review article, Petersen & Holmich mention that they are very few randomised control studies (RCTs) in the area of hamstring injury rehabilitation. This is problematic, as RCTs are the gold standard of trials. Nevertheless, there are some studies examining hamstring rehabilitation best practice, and Petersen & Holmich proposed some ideas within their article.

In the acute phase of injury (depending on the severity, this can last up to seven days), they recommended utilising Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation (RICE). This follows the typical recommendations that I came across in my career. The use of ice in soft tissue injury management has come under close scrutiny as of late. Reviews by Collins (2008) and Hubbard & Denegar (2004) indicate that there is insufficient evidence to suggest that the use of ice improves clinical outcome in soft tissue injury management – although it may reduce pain. Absence of evidence is not evidence of no effect, however, and many of the best soft tissue injury management programmes in the world do utilise ice during acute injury management. Similarly, the authors recommend the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) during this phrase, but again they acknowledge the controversy regarding this: Recent research has indicated that delaying the use of NSAIDs until two to four days post injury may be better, as it doesn’t interfere with the early repair processes (Paoloni et al. 2009). Finally, the authors recommend early movement within pain-free range of motion, in order to decrease adhesions within the connective tissue.

During the sub-acute phase of injury (3-13 days, depending on the severity; this phase begins when inflammation has stopped), it is recommended to start pain free concentric strength exercises. Again, it is key to stay within an achievable range of motion and to ensure that the exercises are pain-free. These exercises will both prevent muscle atrophy, and also promote healing. During this phase, non-hamstring loaded training can begin, such as stationary bike sessions, swimming, and upper body circuits (provided they are pain-free!).

The next phase of rehabilitation is focused on muscle remodelling. In this phase, the injured hamstring should start to be stretched, which will reduce any loss of flexibility that may have occurred. It will also reduce muscle adhesion and scar tissue formation. In a 2004 study, Malliaropoulas et al. divided subjects with hamstring injuries into two groups. Group one conducted one stretching session per day, which consisted of four sets of 30-second hamstring stretches. Group two conducted four stretching sessions per day. The outcome was that the second group regained their range of motion in the injured leg much faster and also had a shorter overall rehabilitation period. During this phase, eccentric hamstring strengthening can also begin. Following this phase, the next goal is to return to full training. This should be comprised of a progressive increase in hamstring strength and flexibility exercises. Following a successful return to training, the athlete should maintain some rehabilitation exercises in the runup to return to competition. Competition is the final big test, as it represents an increase in intensity above that which occurs in training. Re-injury is a large risk in the return to the competition phase, so measures should be put in place to ensure that the hamstring is fully healed, and able to handle the increased demands placed upon it. During my time with British Athletes, I would be assessed by our doctor every 3 days, with an ultrasound scan to monitor how well the muscle was recovering. Following my early competitions, a followup with the doctor would take place, to ensure that no further injury had occurred.

Hamstring Injury Prevention

Now that we have looked at the best way to rehabilitate ourselves from a hamstring injury it is probably a good idea to look at how we can attempt to reduce the risk of hamstring injuries occurring in both our training and competition.

As I mentioned earlier, the role that hamstring flexibility plays within hamstring injuries is controversial. Harting et al. (1996) split military recruits into two groups. Group one conducted hamstring stretches three times per day for a period of 13 weeks. Group two didn’t do any hamstring stretching. Group one significantly increased their hamstring flexibility during the 13-week training period, and also had less hamstring injuries than the group that didn’t do any hamstring stretching.

The next thing to consider is strength training for the hamstrings. Askling et al. (2002) conducted a study in Swedish soccer players during their pre-season training. One group took part in a hamstring-strengthening programme, and one group didn’t. The hamstring-strengthening group had significant improvements compared to the group that didn’t do the exercises in both hamstring strength (unsurprisingly) and maximum running speed. The hamstring-strengthening group were also significantly less likely to suffer a hamstring injury. These hamstring strengthening exercises should also utilise eccentric movements. Mjolsnes et al. (2004) found that the addition of these types of exercise significantly increased the eccentric torque in the hamstring muscles. Whilst they didn’t directly measure injury prevalence post-training, they proposed that this would reduce the hamstring injury risk as athletes could tolerate the eccentric loading much better. Malliaropoulas et al. (2012) stated that eccentric hamstring exercises were useful as an injury prevention tool as they increased the load that the hamstring could tolerate before it failed as well as increasing the flexibility of the hamstring muscles. When designing a hamstring-strengthening programme, the authors recommended that exercises work both hip extension and knee extension, thus targeting both aspects of hamstring movement. They also recommended using both uni- and bilateral exercises in order to prevent muscle strength asymmetry. Finally, it was proposed that these strengthening exercises should occur at the end of a training session, in order to limit hamstring fatigue, which could increase injury risk if sprinting, were to follow. A final point regarding specific hamstring strengthening exercises is that they should provide a more favourable hamstring:quadricep strength ratio, further reducing the injury risk. Examples of hamstring specific exercise included single leg deadlifts, sliding leg curls, and Nordic hamstrings.

Finally, care should be taken to ensure that hamstring fatigue is well managed in the athlete. As mentioned earlier, a significant risk factor for hamstring injury is fatigue. Steps should be taken to reduce this fatigue; adequate training loads and recovery, soft tissue therapy, and placement of hamstring dominant exercises toward the end of the training session and training week to name a few.

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

References

Alonso et al. (2012) Determination of future prevention strategies in elite track and field: analysis of Daegu 2011 IAAF Championships illness and injury surveillance. Br J Sports Med 46 505 – 514

Askling et al. (2002) Self reported hamstring injuries in student dancers. Scand J Med Sci Sports 12 230 – 235

Brooks et al. (2006) Incidence, risk, and prevention of hamstring muscle injuries in professional rugby union. Am J Sports Med 34 1297 – 1306

Collins (2008) Is ice right? Does cryotherapy improve outcome for acute soft tissue injury? Emerg Med J 25 65 – 68

Elliot et al. (2011) Hamstring muscle strains in professional football players: a 10-year review. Am J Sports Med 39 843 – 850

Harting et al. (1996) Increasing hamstring flexibility decreases lower extremity overuse in military basic trainees. Am J Sports Med 24 137 – 143

Hubbard & Denegar (2004) Does cryotherapy improve outcomes with soft tissue injury? J Athl Train 39(3) 278 – 279

Koulouris et al. (2007) Magnetic resonance imaging parameters for assessing risk of recurrent hamstring injuries in elite athletes. Am J Sports Med 35 1500 – 1506

Lee et al. (2011) Our experiences with actovegin: is it cutting edge? Int J Sports Med 32 237 – 241

Malliaropoulas et al. (2004) The role of stretching in rehabilitation of hamstring injuries: 80 athletes follow up. Med Sci Sports Exerc 36 756 – 759

Malliaropoulas et al. (2012) Hamstring exercises for track and field athletes: injury and exercise biomechanics, and possible implications for exercise selection and primary prevention. Br J Sports Med 46 846 – 851

Mann (2011) The mechanics of sprinting and hurdling. Self-published.

Mjolsnes et al. (2004) a 10-week randomised trial comparing eccentric vs. concentric hamstring strength training in well-trained soccer players. Scand J Med Sci Sports 14 311 – 317

Paoloni et al. (2009) Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in sports medicine: guidelines for practical but sensible use. Br J Sports Med 43 863 – 865

Petersen & Holmich (2005) Evidence based prevention of hamstring injuries in sport. Br J Sports Med 39 319 – 323

Pinniger et al. (2000) Does fatigue induced by repeated dynamic efforts affect hamstring muscle function? Med & Sci in Sports Exerc 32(3) 647 – 653

Pollock et al. (2014) British athletics muscle injury classification: a new grading system. Br J Sports Med 48 1347 – 1351

Woods et al. (2004) The football association medical research programme: an audit of injuries in professional football: analysis of hamstring injuries. Br J Sports Med 38 36 – 41

Yeung et al. (2009) A prospective cohort study of hamstring injuries in competitive sprinters: pre-season muscle imbalance as a possible factor. Br J Sports Med 43 589 – 594

 

It takes a deliberate, intentional strategy to continually impact and guide young people in today’s world. The amount and extent of influence on our young boys and girls occurring outside of home, school, or practice is greater than it’s ever been. Perhaps it’s contrary to common thought to say that making a positive presence felt as regularly as the often-negative influences does not necessarily mean proliferating “face-to-face” interaction. Instead, remote relationship-building relies on maximizing genuine interactions instead of forcing them.

If you search for “social media” on Google Images, you’ll likely find avatars representing the likes of Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Understandably, not every coach will be comfortable utilizing and interacting on each of these platforms. If I may dramatize and compare: An effective principal in an English-speaking community wouldn’t ask the school’s French teacher to teach using only Mandarin and expect classroom success. Without supporting and equipping the teacher with the tools necessary to learn Mandarin and, further, use that Mandarin to teach French classes, she’s failed the teacher and her students.

This reminds me of a parable Gary Schofield often shares in which a coach from the States receives a call from a high-level German soccer team gauging his interest in working with the players. The coach accepts and then reflects on what he should do first to prepare for the position. The coach shouldn’t scroll through the roster or coaching staff to familiarize himself with their faces; he shouldn’t even concern himself yet with the training required for high-level soccer players. The first thing that he should do is learn to speak German!

Getting Started with Social Media

A coach looking to capitalize on the times and use what I would argue is the most underrated resource at a performance coach’s disposal should first learn the “language” of social media. If you wanted to learn Russian, you wouldn’t just pick up a Verkhoshansky book and figure it out. One of my old teachers called that reverse osmosis. I still haven’t figured out what that meant but I know it doesn’t work.

In actuality, to learn Russian you’d first learn letters, then how to say “hi” and “bye” or “please” and “thank you” before you got to the serious stuff. Similarly, social media usage should follow suit; to immediately embrace these platforms in their entirety would miss the greatest features and applications of the resource. Consequently, not knowing how to appropriately use a certain platform could lead to misuse, confusion, and mishaps comparable to using a language you don’t yet understand.

Chances are that you’re already using a form of social media, whether in training or communication. Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are just a few examples of the seemingly endless social media platforms out there. Steven Wildman and Jonathan Obar defined social media as computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. By this definition, performance coaches have been on social media sites for decades.

Coaches started sharing training videos, performance updates, career-related concerns, and subjective questions for each other back in 2003 on the Charlie Francis forums. In the time the site’s been active, we’ve seen media-sharing services such as YouTube, Google+, and Dartfish become staples of a strength and conditioning coach’s daily continuing education. Every week, staffs across the country meet for professional development, outsourcing off-campus experts via teleconferencing technologies such as Facetime, Skype, and Google Hangouts.

All of the common examples I’ve mentioned are tremendous methods for exchanging content, sharing ideas, and developing intra- and inter-professional networks in a space where coaches are comfortable. However, if we want to best capitalize on the positives of social media, coaches should find their space where athletes are comfortable and present. I respectfully disagree with the coaches that dismiss social media, saying “it’s not for me.” Twitter, for instance, was created largely as a platform for sharing what “is for you” and presents an opportunity to do so.

To best capitalize on social media’s influence, coaches should use the platforms that athletes use, says @John_Garrish. Share on X

I propose three primary categories of social media sharing and interaction: community (campus) interaction, professional (network) interaction, and personal (friends and family) interaction. These categories are all defined by their intended audience; however, unless the user chooses to add an additional step, posts are shared to all of these “audiences”—and often beyond them. To some, this is a concern; there are no closed doors in social networking.

Social media is the constant microscope that the responsible mentor sees as a “show me” opportunity, while the selfish attention-seeker sees it as a “look at me” opportunity. If we’re hesitant to enter the next generation’s “space” in part because we know that it’s where they dwell, we should also understand that they have a better pulse for these outlets and the intentional sincerity of its users. They’ll figure you out. As a good teacher knows, students will see right through you and easily identify what’s meaningful to you. Social media is no different.

Students, Parents, and On-Campus Interaction

There’s an unfortunate misconception on our campus that the “No Left Turn” sign just outside of the school’s gate is unmonitored by police and therefore unlikely to be ticketed. Though sometimes true, there’s obviously a reason our campus security and police department have placed the sign there. Whether it be for traffic regulation or student safety, it’s an order we should follow.

As educators, it’s our responsibility to teach our students to do the right thing and uphold their integrity even in the “smallest” moments. (Disclaimer: There’s no such thing as a “small” moment.) If, as their coach, I demand they honor the sign but then the students watch as I leave campus and make that left turn, it would reflect very poorly on my integrity and leadership. However, if each and every time a student sees me leaving campus I follow the sign and turn right, that student is more likely to follow my example because they see it really matters to me. This is an example of American psychologist Albert Bandura’s theory of observational learning and modeling.

I found this definition of the concept from Steve Wheeler, associate professor of psychology at Plymouth Institute of Education, to be especially relevant: 

In essence, he (Bandura) believed that learning could not be fully explained simply through reinforcement, but that the presence of others was also an influence. He noticed that the consequences of an observed behavior often determined whether or not children adopted the behavior themselves.

“Presence of others” resonates most. Social media, like any other social environment, will without a doubt have its share of members present and an immeasurable amount of “observed behavior.” We can either hope that those present, along with their observable behavior, are positive influences or we can step in and take this experience on with our students. Like the off-campus right-hand turn, a student’s observation of a responsible coach’s social media usage will not only tell them more about the coach, it’ll provide a model of appropriate behavior to follow.

A coach using #SocialMedia responsibly provides a model of appropriate behavior for students, says @John_Garrish. Share on X

As adults in a position of authority, I believe the least responsible thing that we can do is limit or revoke a student’s social media privileges because of the “negatives” that might come from it. Those “negatives” are just the lowest hanging fruit. Words, both spoken and written, have been starting wars and ruining lives for centuries. The perpetual stage, immortal footprint, and boundless audience are what separate the voice of the digital age from that of any other era. The unceasing imprint of our words, immortalized through retweets and screenshots, leaves no room for error if and when we decide to use our “voice.”

Digital networking isn’t just the interaction of the future, it’s the hub of interaction for the present. Pre-adolescent kids say “the darndest things” because they’ve yet to learn what’s appropriate and necessary. If we want to teach an elementary-aged child what is and isn’t appropriate, we wouldn’t just tape their mouths shut to avoid the negative—we’d teach them how to communicate, which words to use, what should be said, and, of course, what shouldn’t. Furthermore, we’d teach them appropriate word usage through our own diction as Bandura’s theory suggests is more influential.

Learning to use language productively is a must-have in a young person’s development and educational experience because we understand that effective verbal communication is a prerequisite for just about every career. This may be an unpopular opinion, but effective social media interaction is set to be every bit as necessary as its audible counterpart in an individual’s career prospectus.

Foreign language teachers and teachers of English as a second language spend years developing their curriculum; years, frankly, that performance coaches don’t have to teach this digital “language.” At the beginning and end of the day, we have programs to write and young men and women to lead. Any formalized teaching beyond simply modeling behavior is an added benefit for the students and is encouraged, but not a necessity. It takes a village, so to speak, to raise (teach) a child. Coaches, teachers, and mentors stress proper social media usage on a daily basis simply by exemplifying proper social media usage.

Perhaps the best thing about social media for the responsible model is that all interactions are made visible. You can make a lasting impression on a young person via social media without ever making direct contact with them. If you’re a coach that commits to professional development, your young athletes will see and value your commitment to making yourself, and them, better. If you show your love for your significant other and family, it can provide an example of what a loving and healthy relationship looks like. Lastly, social media provides an opportunity (for better or worse) for coaches to share what they do in their free time.

As mentioned above, young people can see right through a façade and, sadly, too often find adults uninterested in them when the workday ends. It can’t be expressed strongly enough that the point is not to simply increase direct contact. A coach who visits other facilities, attends conferences, and maintains a socio-professional profile proves without direct contact that they care about their job and, more importantly, their students. As with anything, all things must be done in moderation. There comes a point where our over-willingness to share yields diminishing returns and dilutes the impact of our posts.

Professional Interaction with Other Coaches and Staff

For the sake of this article, when referring to “professional” interaction, I mean the profession as a community rather than professionalism as an action. Every post, comment, like, repost, retweet, message, picture, and video should reflect a constant, non-negotiable state of professionalism. Anything less and the coach should consider stepping away from social media entirely.

We’re lucky to call a profession home where people commit not just to themselves and their own, but to the profession as a whole. It’s the responsibility of the individual to give back to the profession and the responsibility of the profession to look out for the individual. In a conversation I had with Coach Brett Bartholomew, he suggested that not only is our social media presence about much more than ourselves, but that the greatest way for us to serve the profession, specifically through social media, is to “fill a gap” of need. With so much bad information out there, the onus is on strength and conditioning coaches to overcome that bad information with good information of their own: “fighting a winning battle” for the profession, as Brett B would say.

Various ways of giving back to the field include sharing content, promoting others, and participating in dialogue and debate. Social media provides an opportunity to both commend and criticize if/when the time and colleague calls for it. In moderation, you can rarely go wrong in commending another coach. With criticism, however, we should proceed with caution.

There’s a big difference between constructive criticism and destructive criticism. Constructive criticism is intended to uplift another professional and their athletes by providing insight and feedback that relates to a previous post. Destructive criticism is intended to discredit another professional and their post by referring directly or indirectly to a “better” way of doing things.

Now, if a coach shares a great deal of content, they should understand that they’re setting themselves up for comments and messages from coaches that don’t agree. When positive, this is a good thing and should be welcomed; if you’re not posting to create dialogue and help make your athletes and the profession better, why are you posting? However, when destructive or uninvited criticism does ensue, showing restraint and resisting the urge to reciprocate with destructive dialogue is then the responsibility of the original poster.

Personal Interaction with Athletes

Personal interaction refers to any activity regarding our personal lives outside of the workplace. This type of interaction typically involves friends and family members sharing personal hobbies and interests. Please note that personal life and private life are two very different things. My rule of thumb is if I wouldn’t use this moment as a teaching point during a post-lift chat with my students, I shouldn’t share it to social media.

Sharing positive moments in our own lives does nothing to trivialize our status as a leader and mentor for our students if we use the opportunity appropriately. I wouldn’t say there’s anything wrong with enjoying an alcoholic beverage with your friends in your alone time, but remember that alone time no longer exists when we’ve shared something online. If you were drinking with a buddy at a tailgate and an athlete and their family walked up to say hello, would you continue drinking or would you put the drink to the side for the duration of the conversation? Would you start a conversation with a student on campus by saying: “So, I was drinking a beer with my buddy”?

Probably not. However, there’s nothing at all wrong with starting a story with: “So, I was at dinner with my family.” Similarly, there’s no shame in sharing a picture of you and your spouse at your favorite restaurant. In fact, if there’s one thing that I’d encourage, it’s that. Young men and women need to see an example of what it means to be a productive member of a family and society in a space that’s saturated with unfortunate counterinfluences.

Connecting in Modern Times

Like the hallways of old, social media has become the hub of our students’ social environment. The expert mentor maintains a measured distance from the athlete’s social scene while still perpetuating his impact outside of the weight room. Through the unique dynamic of social networking, coaches should lead by example from within, in accordance with Bandura’s theory of observational learning, not from beyond or through evasion or deprivation strategies.

#SocialMedia is one of the greatest tools at a performance coach’s disposal, says @John_Garrish. Share on X

Social media presents a tremendous opportunity to build and expand the brand of your program on campus and beyond through interaction with students, parents, and administration. Additionally, it becomes the universal, and international, canvas for us to present our own personal brand. Networking profiles have become today’s living, breathing résumés, with an everyday opportunity to express who you are and what matters to you.

If you fail to use social media and its wide-ranging platforms for personal growth, performance enhancement, digital networking, continued education, and professional development, you miss out on one of the greatest tools at a performance coach’s disposal.

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

 

I thought I knew all of the butt exercises. I bought the books and tried the exercises. But, what I found interesting is that sometimes athletes wouldn’t feel it in the butt. I couldn’t figure that out for the life of me. It is a butt exercise, but they don’t feel it in the right place. In my quest for this Holy Grail in training for speed, I started to learn about compensation patterns or the body using alternative muscles because the one that is supposed to do the work is not. So, if the glute does not extend the hip when it is supposed to, the hamstring or the spinal erectors will do its job. Why does this happen? It could be lots of reasons, ranging from stress, injury, inflammation, lack of opposing muscle inhibiting the drive of the opposite muscle or even lack of neural drive. In reality, no one knows.

But being the questing knight that I am, I needed to learn all I could. Dan Fichter and I were on a similar path. We both realized that this scenario existed but needed to learn how to fix it. Dan found a Cape Town, South African “Physio” who seemed to have a solution to our problem. Dan decided to fly out London, England to see what Douglas Heel had to say about our situation. I get a phone call from Dan from London. He is blown away by Douglas’ presentation. Through some negotiations, we convince Douglas to come to Chicago to present on his work. On a warm June day in Prairie Medical offices, Douglas rocked our world. What Douglas says takes the glute question back a couple of steps. He is concerned with hip flexion. He wants to know what muscle causes hip flexion. It can be the psoas, quad, calf or opposite arm. Hence, he shows us a chain of compensation patterns. Ideally, the psoas is the hip flexor if it doesn’t do its job, the quad or calf or opposite arm will do the job. And, if the psoas is not doing its job, reciprocally, the glute usually won’t be doing its job in hip extension. Again, it could be a variety of muscles to extend the hip as well—hamstrings, calves, quads, erectors or arms. What Douglas shows is how to disrupt the current recruitment and reset it to the proper recruitment pattern.

What we learned was how to determine what was an athlete’s main driver. And what was interesting was that when someone had a compensation pattern in their movement you could see it. So an athlete who was an arm driver would have an over-exaggeration in their arm swing, in their sprint or their timing. They would be off in their vertical jump where the arms were moving before their legs, therefore losing power and height on their jump. So, when a coach is telling their athlete to lift their knees higher, it may be impossible. The psoas is responsible for bringing the knee above a right angle between torso and thigh, and their psoas may not be the main mover. If a quad is the main mover, the quad can only get the knee so high because the psoas is not there to finish the movement. If an athlete is an arm driver, the knee can only go so high because the arms are synchronized. The arm can only go so high before the other arm is going to come through (this is why I am not a big fan of bounding, the timing is very different from sprinting). From the extension viewpoint, an arched back at toe-off is an athlete who is extending through spinal erectors.

When we learned to break up the pattern, we had athletes who felt completely different when they got up to move around. The immediate impact was on flexibility. Some people improved by as much as 30 percent in their hamstring range of motion. The reason being for this is when the brain senses that the body is in line, and the proper muscles are doing their respective job, it will let the other muscles go. If the glute is doing its job as a hip extender, the hamstring can relax and will lengthen. It reminds me of a coach who saw other teams being very flexible and tried to make flexibility a priority on his team and spent a fair amount of time stretching daily. His athletes’ bodies may not have been recruiting their muscles optimally, and they were tightening neurologically. The extra stretching may have been causing more damage than helping.

When the athlete tries out the new recruitment pattern, they feel light and springy. It is always fun to watch older ex-athletes go out and run and feel like they are young again. It is even better when competing athletes go and run or jump. A completely different athlete emerges. Timing patterns are back to normal, and they feel fast. And in most cases they are. We have set up timers and had athletes run a few flies. Douglas activated them, and they ran PR’s. We even tried it at an Indoor conference meet and the runner ran one of the fastest 800m runs in the state. A PR by 3 seconds. When they jump, they feel like they are flying. In some cases, we have measured a 2 inch increase in their vertical, on a pad. Why does this work? It works because the brain recognizes the correct pattern and will give power to the proper muscles. Don’t agree with that statement? Drop a weight on your toe and see how much power your brain will give your leg of the smashed toe. Think it is carnival tricks. Most people think that until they feel the difference after they go through an “activation”. Some people will discount it but have never experienced it.

How does this carry over to best glute exercises? To get the most out of your biggest muscle, it needs to be firing on all cylinders. And this is the “trick” to get it to go. When your brain learns that it can use all of the muscle, it will. This brings me to my first two exercises. Both of these go along with the activation stuff. The first movement is what we call a butt bungee. There is an actual butt bungee for sale on Douglas’ site. I usually have some, but they seem to grow legs when we take them to track meets. So, we take a big jump stretch rubber band and anchor it to something, like a pole and put the band around your waist. This is the important part; when you walk away from the pole and the slack tightens, you should feel your glutes tighten slightly. If you feel it in a different muscle, quads, etc., slightly move the band to a position where you feel the butt tighten. The glutes are now the driver. With feet square, reach your butt back as far as you can. You can bend knees slightly, but don’t squat. From the side, you should look like you are in a piked position. From here, drive your hips forward. You have now completed a hip thrust. The glutes should have been the main driver. This is mostly what it does. Complete about 10 of them and step out of the band. The athlete should feel like he is walking effortlessly. The glutes are now the driver. For naysayers, we have tried to have people complete the exercise when their glutes are deactivated and have found they don’t have the same feeling when they walk out of the band and their body moves differently as well. The exercise is for feel not how much you can do. We will get to power later. This is just the beginning of this glute thrust. We mix in breathing, voice and vision to see how to get the most out of the thrust. We got Stanford Women’s basketball guard Toni Kokenis to learn to use her voice with her glutes, and it changed her game. She held the streak for free throw percentage in NCAA most of the season a couple of years ago.

Single Leg Stand

We also do a single leg stand. With the butt bungee on the waist, the athlete will stand on one leg and hold their knee above parallel and hold it for 10-15 seconds. Now we are working the glute of the leg on the ground, which is when you really need it and the psoas of the opposite leg. We are teaching them to work together. An advanced exercise is to do this on the exxentrix kbox. We use the smallest plate possible and work the swing leg thigh from parallel and up- pure psoas. The funny thing is that everyone complains about the burn in the glute of the leg on the ground. (I think this is one of the missing links in training sprinters, the timing of the exercises). There is some cool stuff about the psoas and sprinting. A TV show in Japan did a program comparing Asafa Powell and their national champ to see the difference between the two. Japanese sprinter was much stronger in his traditional lifts. They did a cross-sectional MRI to see muscle differences. The Japanese sprinter had bigger muscles except for the psoas. Powell’s was twice the size. Maybe that is why fast athletes look like they have tennis balls for abs. It is not the size of the rectus but the size of the psoas pushing out the rectus. By the way, Douglas will be in Chicago Feb 7-8 for a Level 1 seminar and a Level 2 the following weekend. To read about the experience, read Tony Holler’s article “You Only Know What You Know”.

You can contact me for info, [email protected].

Bungee Exercises

So, that is my basis for my glute development. From there, we go on to other exercises. We start with a bungee on all exercises until they can feel the glute kick, and we wean them off the bungee. I do usually start with the Bret Contreras hip extension. I think that is a great exercise for general development. But, I have not seen a correlation between sprinting and strength in that exercise for faster runners. I have seen a correlation for athletes who are not fast and are weak in the exercise. Their improvement in sprinting coincides with strengthening in the exercise, to a certain point. I try to get people to 500lbs on my contraption. It is not a pure bar push like Bret does. Mine is a home-made machine/rig using straps from Iron mind. I connect the strap between two bars on my Hammer-strength machine and wedge their body under the strap and Glute Bridge up. His books are worth buying. (I know I keep recommending them. I have no stake in the purchase of them. I emailed him once, and that is the extent of my connection.)

The one from his book that there is a connection between fast sprinters and strength in the movement is a 45-degree hyperextension. The trick to teaching the movement is to think that it is a hip thrust and push your hips into the pad to extend the torso. If you feel back, you have extended too far. My best cue is to think of moving your belly button off the pad, so the extension comes from a much lower point. This is the same for the regular parallel position which I also like. We have variations on this as well, straight legs, bent legs, single leg, toes out and toes in for some adductor Magnus. Once you get it, start adding weight. Frans Bosch thought that a powerful athlete should be able to do 2 ½ times his body weight with a single leg. All of my 10.5-10.8 guys could do a ton of weight on these exercises.

Single Leg Squat

Another staple is the single leg squat. If you read my article, My Love Affair with the Single Leg Squat, you understand why it is in this list. Again, depth isn’t the issue; it is about where you feel it the most in the glute. I have found that the cue of someone pulling the shin forward and hips back tends to get the most out of the glute. I like to hang the weight rather than hold on, so we don’t teach the body to drive from hands but through the glute. We do isometrics, iso and explode, fast, heavy and concentrically from the floor. For block work, sink into a squat and then tilt the torso forward for some extreme stuff. Of course, the kbox is incredible when it comes to a single leg split squat.

Step Up

I am also a step up fan. But I like the version from the Scandinavian sprint coach which I saw floating around. It is a mix of a hip thrust and step up. I have a Jumper Plus from www.docssports.net. I have added height to the back end. I have a box under the harness. We push butt back and jack-knife into the step up. We do it with bands, weight and into jumps.

Kickbacks

Kickbacks are also a staple. I got this idea from the U of I coach’s poster that I mentioned in my previous article. He did it on an old Universal machine with the athlete’s shoulder against the dip bar. I use my Shuttle MVP. Kneel down on the sled and kick into the pad. The athlete will launch their body forward, and when they land again, they kick again. Want a great butt workout that will help your sprint, this is it. You can weight this down big time on the Shuttle MVP as well. Talk about developing vertical forces when sprinting. That is the answer. Want to work on ground reaction force and time; here it is in a completely controlled environment. For different force, we will also do this standing up and shoulder harnesses on with the hammer strength deadlift machine with light and heavy weight. Now, the athlete can add bringing the knee through and get up on their toe. And of course, my favorite, the kbox. As a side note, I do measure all of our lifts with my micromuscle lab. I have found, when you measure it, they go harder. Unfortunately, my encoder broke last week, and Ergotest has not responded to my emails for help. I am hoping Carl Valle can help me find a new machine.

Living in Chicago, we have to make the most of our time running outside. Some years, there are not many good days to perform great sprint workouts, which in my opinion, is why Southern/Texas schools have faster times. They get many more good training days. It may be May, but May can sometimes be 40 degrees with winter coats or 30 mile an hour winds that swirl. There is a reason they call it the Windy City and no to the people in New York; we don’t need to hold hands to cross the street (someone asked me that once). Even now, as I am typing in November, it is snowing and will be 14 degrees tonight. We need to make the most out of our indoor time. Instead of weighing your body down with huge weights and feeling beat up for the next three days, try these exercises and feel great, like you can fly.

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

 

Coaches always talk about setting goals, but usually put the onus on the athletes instead of themselves. Coaches have just as much room for improvement as their athletes, and should set goals appropriately. I am currently in my 26th season of coaching, and 14th at Lake Forest High School in Illinois. One of the greatest lessons I have learned in those 26 seasons is to always be setting goals as a coach and reevaluating how to best serve my athletes.

Here are 18 resolutions for high school track & field coaches to get 2018 started on the right foot. If you have any suggestions for resolutions I left out, please write them in the comments. I love learning from other coaches.

1. Be Married to the Vision, Not the Plan

The only constant in track & field is change. I laugh when coaches or parents ask me what a “typical” day in our program looks like. There are so many variables in place, especially early in the season, that there almost is no such thing as a “typical” day. Before spring break, some days we practice at 3:30 p.m. and some days we practice at 5:30 p.m. It depends on what sort of practice space we get.

The only constant in track & field is change. Share on X

Some days all we have is the wrestling room. Some days we get one-third of the linoleum-floored fieldhouse, some days two-thirds, and on some wonderful days we get the whole fieldhouse to ourselves. Some days we get no space at all. We are not allowed to run in the hallways. The pool is always taken up by the water polo teams. The weight room is generally cluttered until 5:00 p.m. We have to share all our practice space with the girls team. I have two part-time assistant coaches on staff who can only come a few days a week, so we have to adjust practice plans based on their availability. The point is that there are many variables that dictate how our practice is run before we even account for the weather.

We write out a progression of what we want to do each year. For example, we need to do certain plyometrics before others, need to do two-point starts before getting into blocks, need to work certain drills to introduce certain skills, etc. But imagine if we were married to the plan instead of the vision. A coach who is married to the plan probably sends his athletes out on a windy 30° day to do a split-400 workout instead of either adapting the workout or holding it off for a better day. Being married to the vision means you know where you want to be, but are flexible with the plan. Many roads lead to Rome.

2. Keep a Cache of Resources

One of the best new trends I started for our program last year was creating a Google Doc with what I consider to be essential sprint training articles. I try to add an article a month to this list, and encourage my coaching colleagues to help me find other articles to add. If you know of a great training article that is not on my doc, please add it!

Going to coaching clinics is a great way to build your resources. In the past few years, I have attended four Track-Football Consortiums, the USATF Level 2 Clinic, the ITCCCA Clinic, the WISTCA Clinic, the Bureau Valley Track & Field Clinic, and the Glazier Track & Field Clinic. Keep all the notes you get from these clinics, get the email addresses of the speakers you liked, network with other coaches, and do as much as you can to learn from other coaches.

Twitter is great at keeping you up to date with the latest research and articles. My favorite follows are @SimpliFaster, @pntrack, @JustFlySports, @GiffUsStrength, @trainwithPUSH, @DerekMHansen, @BBAPerformance, @SandCResearch, @KenClarkSpeed, @HFJumps, and @TrckFootball. If you know of other great resources, please let me know!

3. Have a Mentor, and Pay It Forward

In his autobiography, Knight: My Story, Bob Knight tells a great story about former Cal basketball coach, Pete Newell. Knight played for some amazing Ohio State teams from 1959-62, with teammates like John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas, and Larry Siegfried. Ohio State’s coach, Fred Taylor, was very impressed with the defense displayed by Cal in their run to the 1959 NCAA Championship. In the summer of 1959, Taylor spent a week with Newell at the Concordia Clinic in Moorhead, MN, learning their defensive properties. Taylor then sent his assistant, Jack Graf, to California over the holiday break to ask Newell more questions.

As fate would have it, Cal and Ohio State played for the 1960 NCAA title. Ohio State won, thanks largely in part to the knowledge Taylor and his assistant gained in the time spent with Newell. Knight writes in his book, “I remember thinking that one reason this was happening for us was that the coach of the other team shared what he knew with our coach… He shared his knowledge and it came back to cost him in the most important game of the season, the national championship… What he represented to me in this case was the responsibility a teacher has to share with others whatever he has come up with that he found to be of some benefit.”¹

If you know something valuable, share it. Do not keep knowledge to yourself. Share on X

Speak at clinics if you have something valuable to share. Do not keep any knowledge to yourself. One of the reasons track & field is such a great sport is because nobody actively roots against each other. Track coaches do not lie awake at night trying to figure out how to slow the other team down. They lie awake trying to figure out how to speed their own team up. We want our athletes to be faster than the other team’s athletes, of course, but a rising tide lifts all boats.

If I have a question, there are a bunch of fellow coaches I can ask for input. One is Tony Holler, whose program I discovered in 2015 and adopted in 2016. Another is my college coach, Chip Schneider, who led my alma mater UW-Eau Claire to the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championship titles in 2015 and 2016. Barely a week goes by that I do not discuss track with Brad Fortney, a former athlete of mine who is now the head girls track & field coach at Kenosha Bradford High School in Wisconsin. No doubt, we are all better because of our collaboration.

 

4. Try a New Program

Changing philosophies or implementing a new program can seem like a big leap. Coaches will use the old “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” logic to justify keeping the same program they have run since 1994. The worst reason to do something is because that is the way you have always done it. Obviously, there should be some stability in your program, but many coaches are afraid to change anything at all.

In 2016, I switched philosophies completely from a volume-based approach to a speed-based approach. The results were amazing, and I am upset I did not make the switch earlier. Nearly a year of research led me to believe the switch was appropriate for my program. This is also the reason that Resolutions No. 2 and 3 in this article are important. You need resources and mentors to help you with the training, whether new or old.

5. Keep Records

Every team keeps school records. I envy the programs that also have accurate top ten lists or even top 25 lists for all the events in their school history. But outside of competition, we should still be keeping records.

The Freelap timing system we purchased in 2016 helped our record-keeping processes tremendously. If we timed something at practice, we catalogued it and shared it online in a Google Doc. Time those 10 meter flys, 40 yard dashes, split 400 workouts, mile repeats, etc. Rank and publish them. Make lifting sheets for athletes to chart their progress in the weight room. Last year we bought two Beast velocity trackers to get more feedback in the weight room.

Charting practice plans, progressions, and adjustments should be a priority as well. When you have data, you can track what worked well and what did not. If your athletes consistently peak early, go back to your records and figure out why. Data keeps the guesswork out of coaching.

 

6. Promote Your Team

You know how you can instantly become a better coach? Get better athletes. All of you have at least a few athletes walking your halls who would be tremendous at track & field, but instead go home at 3:00 p.m. every day in the spring. Some have never even considered our sport.

Talk to your current athletes and see if they know of any athletic kids who might want to join. Go to the football, basketball, soccer, and volleyball games, where sprinting and jumping talents are easy to see. Track & field is a wonderful sport where natural talent is all around us. Not every sport has this luxury. I have also coached swimming the past five years, and we have never had somebody just decide to try swimming as a sophomore in high school and end up qualifying for the state meet. But in those same five years, we have had 11 athletes just decide to join the track & field team sophomore or later and qualify for State. Three of those athletes qualified for State in their first year in the sport!

At Lake Forest, my track team competes with baseball, lacrosse, volleyball, tennis, water polo, and dozens of club sports for spring athletes. Yet we still get 120 kids out for the boys track & field team at a school of about 1,650. Where other sports are losing athletes every year, we are gaining them. The class of 2016 had seven athletes out as freshmen and 42 out as seniors. That’s a growth of 600%. Eight of those 42 athletes qualified for the IHSA State Track & Field Championships during their high school careers, but only one of those eight ran track as a freshman!

There are many ways to promote your program throughout the school and get more athletes. Share on X

How do we get athletes out? By promoting, recruiting, and attracting. Anybody who has seen my Twitter feed knows one of my hobbies is making posters that show the importance of track & field, especially in relation to football. As soon as the students at Lake Forest get back from winter break, they will see dozens of posters highlighting our program. Image 1 in this article shows a great poster made by Dustin Hausherr of Downers Grove South. He learned how to make those posters in just a few days.

Another way to recruit athletes is to let them know individually that you are interested in having them on your team. A personal message to a kid is powerful. I do not “poach” athletes from other teams, but I do send an email to all the fall athletes who do not sign up for a spring sport. Promote your program and ask those talented kids to come out for track. It’s always a “no” if you don’t ask.

7. Listen to Your Athletes

“My way or the highway” programs are generally unsuccessful in high school track & field. As coaches, we need to take advice from our athletes. Coach Norman Dale of Hoosiers famously said, “My practices aren’t designed for your enjoyment.” Well, not everything we do in practice should be fun, but I live by the notion that it is entirely possible to have a program that is functional and fun.

Your seniors and leaders can cue you into the pulse of the team. Maybe the team needs a break, or they really loved the last workout, or they feel one drill helped more than another. You will never know unless you ask them. Obviously, you should not bend your will completely to the wishes of the team, but do not view your program as a dictatorship. Instead, view it as a collaborative effort. John Wooden once said, “It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.”

The next several resolutions will relate to listening to your athletes.

8. Update Your Schedule

Perhaps the most important task of updating your schedule is to ditch the bad meets. If the meet is poorly run or the facilities are terrible, get rid of the meet and look for something else. Why would you keep going back to a meet nobody likes? Tradition? Chances are there are plenty of better meets in your area that would love to have your team.

Developing a philosophy for your meet schedule is important as well. Some coaches look for the hardest schedule possible. Others want an easier schedule to help their athletes succeed. Some coaches value facilities over competition, especially indoors. Other coaches focus on the format of the meet.

I make no secret of the fact that I love relay meets. In the past few years, we have gone to the Mustang Relays, Bulldog Relays, Wildcat Relays, Cougar Relays, Spartan Relays, Prospect Relays, and Madison West Relays. Outdoors, every year we go to four or five dual meets (required by our conference), the Lake County Championships, North Suburban Conference Championships, and Sectional Championships, all which have the same traditional meet format. We also host an invitational with the standard events. So, for our other invitationals, I like to change up the format.

In 2016, we started going to the Cougar Relays at Vernon Hills, and it quickly became everybody’s favorite meet. Instead of a 4x800m relay or 3200m run, they have a distance medley relay (1200-400-800-1600), and instead of a 200m dash, they have a sprint medley relay (200-200-400-800). They allow you to run a JV team in each relay, and they score those relays as varsity events. Athletes are not allowed to run JV in one relay and varsity in another. That adds a bit of strategy, which makes coming up with a lineup more fun (believe it or not, I love making lineups). Add in the fact that it is a coed meet—a rarity in Illinois—and you can see why most of my athletes look forward to it.

Destination meets are another great idea for a day trip or even an overnight trip. This is a great idea especially during the indoor season or early outdoor season. Most areas have a limited number of quality indoor tracks, so a long trip to a great facility makes a lot of sense. Here in the Midwest, traveling south for warmer climates in early April could mean running in 60° weather instead of 40° weather.² If you have a great relay team, consider making a big trip to the Penn Relays. I highly doubt any of your athletes will forget the experience.

 

9. Get Cool Apparel

I find this to be so important that I wrote a whole article about it. Bottom line: look good, feel good, play good.³ But beyond all that, apparel can help market your team. Every high school team should have an apparel page at the beginning of the season for the athletes to order team gear. You can even tie it into a fundraiser, which leads me to the next resolution.

10. Fundraise, Fundraise, Fundraise

Track & field is one of the most expensive high school sports. Even if you are fortunate enough to have your athletic department cover the cost of the facilities, hurdles, high jump pads, pole vault pads, starting blocks, transportation, and the other necessities, you still need plenty of other items to run a successful program. We spend our fundraising money on essentials like uniforms, tape measures, batons, shots and discs, and “luxury” items like mini-hurdles, mini-bands, sleds, tents, Freelap timing systems, velocity trackers, rollout runways, food for the athletes at long meets, and a dozen other things.

There are plenty of ways to fundraise. Car washes, golf outings, spaghetti dinners, runathons, potlucks, auctions, raffles, donations, or just straight-up salesmanship. If your inbox is anything like mine, you get offers for fundraising ideas on at least a weekly basis. Many businesses are more than willing to host a fundraising night for your team. Chipotle, Panera, Applebees, and dozens of other companies, as well as local businesses, are very happy to partner with you to achieve your fundraising goals. Those fundraising nights are great because they double as a team activity and do not require any startup cost from your program.

Ask other teams in your school and your area what they do for fundraisers. Odds are you will find out about great fundraising opportunities you had never even considered before.

11. Schedule Alternate Activities

What stands out about your program? What do you do that is unique or memorable? Hopefully there’s something, otherwise you’re going to have a problem retaining athletes and getting new athletes out. If every day is a boring repeat of the day before, what do your athletes look forward to?

In my life, I have coached cross country, swimming, and track & field, and in my 26 seasons I have seen dodgeball tournaments, T-shirt relays, team bike rides, pool aerobics, flexing contests, scavenger hunts, watermelon seed spitting contests, sibling relays, trivia contests, Slip ’N Slide relays, team pentathlons, dancing contests, movie days, skits, rap battles, banana relays, etc. All during regular practice time.

We play basketball the Friday before spring break every year at Lake Forest. I reserve the game gym and everything. Barely anybody is there because they are all on vacation. One program I coached for had the varsity cross country athletes run the Homecoming football back from the opposing team’s school on game day. They timed it out to jog the ball into the pep rally on Friday afternoon. I have always had an idea to finish a cross country meet in a football stadium on Friday night during the varsity football warm-ups. Try telling me your athletes wouldn’t love that!

12. Bring Alternates to State

The first State Championship I attended was the 1996 Wisconsin State Track & Field Championships in La Crosse, WI. I always had the desire to be a great athlete (my ability would take a few years to catch up with that desire), but tasting that State Championship as a spectator left no doubt what my goal was for the rest of my high school career: I wanted to compete at State. I never missed attending another State Championship again in my three sports, going to three more as a spectator and one as an alternate before finally qualifying for two as a competitor.

Bring as many alternates to State Championships as your budget and athletic department will allow. Share on X

There is an aura about every State Championship site; something that athletes needs to see and experience. When you do have athletes qualify for State, bring as many alternates as your budget and athletic department will allow. The seniors will see it as a reward for their services, and the underclassmen will see it as a goal for the future. I cannot emphasize this enough. Never have I had an underclassman travel to State as an alternate who was not motivated to get back there the next year. In Illinois, the alternates can even participate in the Friday night open track meet, one of my favorite meets of the year.

The open meet at State is AWESOME. pic.twitter.com/DbKhueUVsr

— LFHS Track & Field (@LFHStrack) May 27, 2017

Video 1: Friday night’s open track meet between days of the IHSA State Championships is basically one big celebration of our sport. There are sprint events, distance events, and even a steeplechase.

13. Understand the Value of 1%

Some coaches have a thick packet of rules they expect their athletes to follow. Other than general rules about showing up on time, respecting the equipment, etc., my team basically has two main rules:

1. When the coach talks, you listen.
2. No matter what the intensity is at, quality is always 100%.

For every drill, every skill, every repeat, and every step we take, the quality is at 100%. Even if our intensity is at 70%. Imagine if you did everything at 99% quality. That still sounds pretty good, right? Well, what if we lose 1% on our times at the end of the year?

Last year in Illinois, the AAA State Championships qualifying times in the 4x100m Relay and 4x200m Relay were 42.66 and 1:29.30, respectively. My teams ran 42.65 and 1:29.17 at Sectionals to barely make it. What if we had done everything at 99% quality all year? That 1% might not seem like a big difference, but if my relay teams had run 1% slower, they would have clocked 43.08 and 1:30.06, and watched State from home.

A 1% improvement in any aspect of training might not make a 1% difference in time, but those little differences add up. Understanding the value of 1% means finishing through the line on every repeat, focusing on every handoff or run-through, lacing your spikes up tightly even for practice, getting to bed earlier at night, choosing Raisin Bran instead of Fruit Loops for breakfast, and 100 other things the athletes have control over every day. Coaches must set these expectations!

14. Understand Minimum Effective Dose

You may think this resolution clashes with my previous resolution about understanding the value of 1%. However, when talking about minimum effective dose, I mean volume, not quality. If you can get the same physiological response from six reps as you can from eight, why would you do eight? Professional sprint coach Håkan Andersson suggests, “Train as much as necessary, but not as much as possible.”⁴ I love that quote. It is better to be 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained.

Joel Smith, whose website Just Fly Sports should be required viewing for coaches of all anaerobic sports, writes about understanding the minimum effective dose of lifting as one of the seven essential paradigm shifts in his coaching life. If you leave a few reps in the tank, you will not struggle with poor form and are ready to come back for more the next day. He writes that grinding teaches athletes to implode, rather than explode.⁵ Far too many coaches believe nothing is accomplished until everyone is exhausted. Those coaches are usually great at getting athletes exhausted, and not as great at getting them faster. For those coaches, I recommend they read Resolution No. 4 and try a new program.

Understanding minimum effective dose is especially important for sprinters and jumpers. Distance runners have to go to the well every once in a while. They are told to “get comfortable being uncomfortable,” which is great advice for aerobic events. You do not need to cajole most state-quality distance runners to work hard, though. Part of their talent is their capacity and love for hard work. Pulling the reins on these thoroughbreds can be just as effective as bringing out the whip. How many of you coaches out there know a distance stud who just has to hammer, even on a recovery run?

For those distance runners who think a constant grind is the only path to success, I recommend they read up on Hicham El Guerrouj. The greatest miler in history tripped with a lap to go in the 1996 Olympic 1500m final, then suffered a shocking loss after being outkicked as the heavy favorite in the 2000 Olympic 1500m final. He admitted to overtraining coming into the 2000 Olympics, running 10,000 meters’ worth of repeats when in years past he had only run 8,000 meters. Instead of making him stronger, the cumulative result of the extra meters was that it made him tired.⁶ He learned his lesson, scaled back his training, and won both the 1500m and 5000m finals at the 2004 Olympics. Sometimes, less is more, even for distance runners.

15. Do a Quote of the Day

You have probably noticed several quotes already in this article. We end every team meeting with a motivational quote. This can take 10 seconds or 10 minutes. Sometimes the quote is relevant to the day’s workout; sometimes it is just a general quote. We do quotes from athletes (Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Carl Lewis, etc.), coaches (John Wooden, Vince Lombardi, Dean Smith, etc.), and non-sports figures (Martin Luther King Jr., Zig Ziglar, Mister Rogers, etc.). Last year we even brought in our wrestling coach, Matt “Sunshine” Fiordirosa, to give a speech on toughness. Sunshine was 14-1 in his professional MMA career, so he had everybody’s attention.

About five years ago, I happened to do two Larry Bird quotes in the same week. The joke then became that every quote was from Larry Bird, so I play it up. Now when I do a Larry Bird quote, I wear my Larry Bird jersey under a zip-off hoodie and reveal the jersey right before I do the quote. Athletes remember that stuff a lot more than they remember what their splits were on a 6 x 200m workout.

16. Connect the Program

How many of your throwers are friends with your distance runners? How many of your seniors can name the best freshmen on the team? How many of your sprinters can tell you the best mile time on the team? Track & field is a wonderfully inclusive sport, accepting athletes of all talents and abilities, but event groups can become like cliques.

Find ways for the groups to intermingle. Some programs I know adopt the “Big-Little” strategy of college Greek life where every upperclassman is assigned an underclassman to mentor. The “big” and the “little” are both responsible for knowing each other’s events, personal bests, goals, etc. Other programs I know have a captain for each event group, and that captain must report on a different event group’s accomplishments at a team meeting.

Don’t let track & field event groups become like cliques—find ways for the groups to intermingle. Share on X

Coaches need to get involved as well. Though I am primarily a sprint and hurdle coach, I do a lot of research on all the other events as well. In case we have a prolonged period of time without a certain assistant coach, I need to feel comfortable helping out that event group. Occasionally, we will have “stations” at practice where each event coach will have around 10-20 minutes to coach a group of athletes. This gives the athletes some exposure to all the coaches on staff, and gives the coaches a chance to check out all the athletes in the program to see if some have slipped through the cracks a bit in certain event areas.

17. Invite Alumni Back to Practice

Virtually every successful program I know has a great alumnus following. Bringing the alumni back to practice connects the present with the past. This strengthens the sense of team and makes the current athletes realize they compete for more than just themselves.

I love reconnecting with alumni. Austin McIlvaine, who still holds our school record in the 4x100m Relay from 2014, sent me a video on Snapchat last year when he was back in Lake Forest for summer break. The Snapchat included the text “GLORY DAYS.” What was in the video? Was it his medals? A workout sheet listing the old season plan?

Nope.

The video was of him stepping out his mark for a 4x100m relay exchange. That was a memory from high school track he cherished. Athletes might not remember the workouts they ran, all the medals they won, or even what their personal records were. But there will be memories they cherish created by moments in your program. Sharing those moments is a great way to connect the past to the present, and maybe help your current athletes realize all the little aspects of the sport they will miss when it is over.

 

18. Have Fun

Coaching is fun. Track & field is fun. Never forget that.

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

 

References

1. Knight, B & Hammel, B. (2002). Knight: My Story. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
2. Why Do Birds Fly South?
3. Look Good, Feel Good, Play Good
4. Andersson, H. World Speed Summit IV: The Pete Karlsson Sprint Study.
5. 7 Essential Paradigm Shifts In My Coaching Life
6. Olympic Games 2004

Strength and conditioning is unique in many ways. The most important aspect of working with an athlete is teaching proper habits to set them up for success as the player and the person they are destined to become. This is a reality in all team settings–where we must learn to crawl before we walk.

Likewise, as we learn to manage individuals in a large group setting, we must fully grasp the dynamics of individual mindsets while merging beliefs, needs, and desires into the desired outcomes for our organization. A great coach and a great program will focus on more than developing just the athlete. A book by Jeff Duke, 3D Coaching, focuses on these three dimensions: strategies of the game, coaching the mind, and transforming the heart.

At the collegiate level, we typically have two hours a day with each athlete. Our goal is to educate them with necessary life tools and decision-making skills that will serve as a guide when they are outside the realm of their coaches’ watchful eyes, hoping we have prepared them for the infamous twenty-two hours the coaches are not present.

A good coach and strength program will not accept the blatant absence or skipped reps by individual kids, and every rep is coached up. A great coach and strength program run a well-oiled machine that is athlete-driven with a focus on large-scale details but where the minute details are always under the microscope.

The Culture of the Team or Organization

Do you ever wonder why Disney, Southwest Airlines, McDonald’s, and other major corporations experience unwavering amounts of success? It’s because they produce the same product at any given time or any location in the world with the same established daily expectations of its employees. The monikers “Mickey Mouse,” “Free Carry On,” and “Big Mac” are the same everywhere you go.

This is a cornerstone of solid culture. This is how we want our program to operate–meaning that when our athletes are not in our presence, their actions are the same as when they are in our presence (positive role models).

Below are four key elements of the necessary standards all strength coaches need to impart to their athletes.

1. Do the athletes care about the details? Some examples include arriving early, following all coaching cues, and taking the coaching seriously.
2. Do the athletes perform, or at least attempt, each exercise with the correct technique taught to them?
3. Do the athletes improve upon each aspect that is intended by the coaching staff? Examples are their mental and emotional state of mind and approaches to personal development (mental, physical, spiritual, athletics, academics, etc.).
4. Do the athletes learn life lessons that will prepare them for the other twenty-two hours in their day?

Culture is predicated on these variables, and we should emphasize them any time of the year in any location. Different sports might need different attributes and exercises to train. Culture is not determined by your philosophy but rather by an outsiders’ point of view.

Attention to Details

Outlining clear and concise definitions of on time and late, start behind the line and not on the line, and finish are the first steps in creating a culture. Emphasis on details signifies importance. Everything else tends to fall into place with clarity in the program.

Discipline sets the tone for our culture. Share on X

We start our program as soon as the clock hits the designated time. We start with a breakdown team clap which contributes to team building and, more importantly, signifies a definitive start to that session. Athletes know to move to their designated areas, focus up, and get ready to go. To start behind the designated line and finish through the designated line. We do not tolerate tardy or absent. We’ve established a consistent punishment that we’ve cleared with administration and coaching staffs and explained to the athletes before all sessions. This sets the tone for the culture.

Strategies

1. Put a big clock in a prominent area for everyone to see.
• This creates a set time for everyone to follow.
• If you don’t have a clock, use a countdown off your watch.
2. Establish a designated area to start.
• Warm-up lines: 5 lines of 6
• Cones/lines: Feet behind cone/line
3. The example that I use is also life-altering: Get-ups–perform with a 45lb bumper/plate for males and a 35lb bumper/plate for females. The athlete must hold the weight with both hands. The athlete lies down on the ground fully extended without letting the weight or hands touch the ground and then stands back up without letting weight or hands touch the ground.
• Every minute late equals 5 get-ups
• Missed session equals 300 get-ups

Take detailed attendance. Each day, record the time your athletes come in. This is critical because your athletes will always challenge you to show when they were there. An example is an athlete who makes the bad decision to skip class to make a lift they were supposed to perform at 6 am. For most athletes, the idea of sleeping in late and skipping class to make up a workout is very appealing. It helps to know what time they’re supposed to be in class so if they decide to skip, you can easily say “No, you’re supposed to be in class. We will make it up tomorrow with your punishment.”

Life happens and accommodating your athletes will improve their buy-in. When an athlete communicates with us that a conflict arises, we need to give them the benefit of the doubt. I always relate this to real-world scenarios. If you show up late or miss work and don’t communicate to your supervisor, you will most likely get fired.

It also shows maturity and respect when they communicate beforehand and ask for another opportunity to work out. Although it can be draining to create other workout times, it’s our job to be available. No one is going to thank us for coming in on a Saturday morning or staying an extra hour after working a 12-hour day, but it’s always worth it. These are the times when I’ve made the greatest connection to an athlete and have learned the most about them as an individual.

When an athlete does not communicate ahead of time about missing or being late, that is inexcusable. Like most young people, however, they will push the limit of acceptable behavior. If individuals in leadership roles do not take action, these athletes will abuse the system, and that will spread like wildfire. Documentation (C.Y.A.) is a must when providing proof (attendance) to resolve any issues at hand.

A Real Commitment to Technique

Technique is one of my main philosophical coaching points along with safety and relationships. Technique has many intricacies in terms of how each exercise is performed, but it has its foundational principles in the execution of each exercise. With that said, there are always concrete benchmarks during each movement that create validity or standards within coaching, ensuring that our athletes perform each movement safely and correctly.

Technique is the same when implementing life principles with our athletes. “Built for Life” is the philosophy of Coach Petersen, Washington Huskies Head Football Coach. Coach Petersen implements life lessons into each team meeting to build a foundation for success that is not just football related but aims to develop the overall individual. Life lessons can, and should be, imparted using the task of the day for the other 22 hours; our goal is to shape and develop our athletes with solid foundational principles to aid in their decision-making process for real-world situations

Implement lessons for success not only in sport but also life situations–the other 22 hours. Share on X

The first step is to establish a set list of acceptable cues for each exercise and their progressions and regressions. This creates a clear picture for your coaches to follow in terms of cueing. I have learned from great coaches in the field of strength and conditioning to be overprepared. “Preparing to fail, is failing to prepare.”–John Wooden.

Go one step further and create a hierarchy of the progressions and regressions. This mostly ties into safety, which is the most important variable to consider when attempting to correct, followed by performance.

The best coaches I’ve worked with can precisely pinpoint the lifting form for each athlete. They also can relate the task of the day to real-world situations. We might not always get the cue or message across to everyone. Our goal as a coach or teacher is to reach one of them.

Strategies

1. Keep a notepad in your pocket to write down cues; evaluate those cues’ effectiveness
2. Analyze and evaluate video content of each athlete working out
3. Implement a Built for Life protocol

Strategy: A Key Ingredient to Success

As a coach of details, I’ve implemented a concise list of policies that are important for establishing a successful culture and will transfer to real-world importance. Shoes should always be tied. Safety gives tied shoes a greater importance on my list of policies. Also look professional.

The next policy has stirred up some controversy with various teams. I’ve heard every excuse in the book on this one. Everyone on the team should wear team-issued clothes for the team they represent to signify a team concept at all times. I have a strong case for attire worn in the weight room. Watch any strength and conditioning video and observe the gear. If the team is allowed to wear what they want, it looks no different than a 24-hour fitness center with the benches occupied.

The last policy may seem trivial but has a lot of value when implemented correctly. Yawning. If an athlete is caught yawning in the weight room, they have to complete ten push-ups. It’s one of my most despised policies starting out. But eventually, it becomes the most revered policy, as athletes catch themselves in the classroom, car, and at home on the couch not wanting to yawn.

I don’t want a group of lackadaisical zombies in the weight room wiping sleep out of their eyes. The weight room is a work environment with high energy as athletes throw weight around working to get better. I want athletes to take this mentality into the real world. Individuals who rise before their alarm sounds will have a focus and a purpose to attack the day, and everything they do will lead to success.

Outside of wins and losses and reduced injuries, there must be something quantifiable upon which you strive to improve. In a team setting, I prefer to use 4-week training blocks. Periodization and class schedules aside, these allow for progressions to occur. And progression provides a life lesson about goals–attainable and realistic goals are implemented first before progressing to large-scale goals.

Documentation helps with accountability in the weight room and everyday life. Share on X

We must document as we progress in sets/reps and load. Likewise, we must document our life goals as we progress in our 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year plans. This helps with accountability in the weight room and everyday life as our athletes develop into young men and women.

Strategies

1. Progression
• Start easy and progress to more difficult exercises
• Attainable and realistic goals progress toward large-scale goals
• Don’t load too early, and focus on basics
2. Documentation
• Have athletes record all sets and reps
• Document goals and place in plain sight
3. Accountability

This model works for several reasons. It ties into what we’re asking of our athletes: building a culture of consistency, attention to detail, and perfect technique relative to what they’ve been taught. It allows athletes to increase their performance in a multitude of areas in academics, in athletics, and in life. The importance of exposing our athletes to new stimuli and allowing them to struggle is part of developing a winning culture along with preparing them for the real world.

Take the First Step to Winning

The constant mentorship that comes with 3D coaching will overprepare each athlete for the 22 hours spent outside of athletic facilities and academic buildings. The obvious goal is to win a championship, but the ultimate reward is when an athlete returns to campus with a happy family and a successful personal life. They let us know we are one of the main reasons they are successful in their endeavors today.

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

 

There is an elephant in the room, and some football evangelists are willing to back right up to it as long as they don’t have to acknowledge it. There are even staunch defenders of the game who want to ride that elephant all the way over the cliff.

Before anyone decides this article is yet another panicked and cherry-picking attack on football, you should know that simply isn’t the case. I played football from junior high into college, have coached at the high school level, and supported a staff for a Division I Power-5 football team. For the past 13 years, I have worked for athletes and teams of this sport as my central focus and chief passion. While I have participated in other sports—outdoor soccer, indoor soccer, basketball, hockey, and track and field—football is by far my favorite and has made the greatest impact on my life. It’s a terrific team sport that is in a dire position.

Football is dying, and there are proud football evangelists tightening the noose on their own sport.

While high school sports participation is now at an all-time high and showing continued, steady growth, football participation is shrinking. Football still led the pack of all high school sports in the 2016-2017 school year, but has lost some 25,503 participants since 2015-2016. The numbers show that schools are not dropping football programs; students are simply electing to participate in other sports. For schools that offer 11-man football, this decrease means that about two kids per school are electing not to come back out for football. These aren’t drastic decreases, but with the current issues surrounding the sport, it begs the question: What is driving students away from the game, and what can we do to stop it?

The Elephant in the Room…

Player safety in football has been a hot topic for the past several years. All levels of football have implemented rule changes to try to make the game safer. Thanks to the high-profile nature of the NFL, these changes have been publicized and widely debated. Since 2011, the NFL has instituted 22 rule changes aimed specifically at enhancing player safety. Also during that period, the NFL announced a donation of $30 million to the National Institute of Health (NIH) to research “serious medical conditions prominent in athletes.” The press release from the NIH in September 2012 listed the first medical condition they would investigate: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

CTE is a degenerative brain disease found in patients with a history of repetitive brain trauma. While military veterans have it, it is prominent in those who compete or have competed in athletics as well, and football appears at the top of this list. Thanks to the 2015 film, “Concussion,” starring Will Smith, the connection between football, concussions, and CTE has become a hot topic of discussion. This article will not focus on the controversy surrounding suppression of facts, money influencing research, or other back-door dealings and mischief. There is a central issue to discuss: Concussions in American football are indeed a problem and we, as members of the football and sport community, must do a better job representing our game and field.

CTE Findings: Facts, Fiction, and Fallout

There have been recent research findings showing a high prevalence of CTE among former football players of all levels. The survey findings, published in 2017, showed that 177 of 202 former players who had recently passed away and donated their brains for research had a CTE diagnosis. Of this sample, 111 players competed in the NFL, and 110 of them had received a CTE diagnosis. Those who played past the high school level were also diagnosed at a higher prevalence: college (48 of 53 had CTE), semi-professional (9 of 14 had CTE), and Canadian Football League (7 of 8 had CTE). The summary of findings was that CTE may correlate to prior participation in football.

Is it nail-in-the-coffin evidence? Not exactly. Objectively speaking, this study used a convenience sample. This means that researchers only examined the brains of men of an older age who agreed to participate in this study upon their death. Additionally, these older men may have had more confounding factors contributing to their CTE diagnosis, such as military service and other head injuries not related to football. While this study isn’t permanent proof, it certainly isn’t flattering for football. It also highlights the importance of understanding how the media presents research findings.

 

In an article appearing on FootballScoop, a popular site for football coaches to get insight on coaching changes and all-around football talk, content manager Doug Samuels proclaimed that a recent study proved that “playing HS football is just as safe as band, glee club, or choir.” In fact, this was the headline he chose when describing the findings of a study assessing the risk of developing neurodegeneration from playing high school football. Pro-football evangelists shared the headline and subsequent article from Mr. Samuels on Twitter and social media hundreds of times. But what did the study actually find?

The study examined medical records from a group of men from one town, in one county, in one state, who played high school football between 1946 and 1956. See where there might already be some issues in making an inference from football in small town America at the dawn of the Cold War to football played around the country in 2017? This comparison is like making a statement that driving in the front seat of a 1956 Chevy on a back-country gravel road without a seatbelt is no different than racing down the freeway during rush hour in a 2017 Camaro without a seatbelt while on your cell phone. It seriously lacks validity to make any inference from this study and apply it to football in 2017 and beyond. In fact, the very authors of the study urge caution in making any inference from this study in the complete study’s conclusion:

“These data should be interpreted in light of the many differences between today’s high school football players and those of the distant past. Although today’s players have better equipment, trainers and physicians who are more knowledgeable about concussions, and rules against spearing, they also tend to be larger and quicker than athletes in the prior era, increasing the force of impact. Moreover, although dramatically different from the marginally protective headgear of this earlier era, current helmets certainly do not eliminate concussions and may provide players with a false sense of protection. Although these results should be somewhat reassuring to high school players from 50 years ago, they should give no reassurance to today’s players.”

Pro-football evangelists who want to refute any science suggesting that the current way athletes play football may be dangerous conveniently ignore this section of the study, as well as the concept that football may be unnecessarily unsafe at times. Yet, at the same time, there are those from this same population willing to cherry-pick arguments despite the prevalence of evidence.

When we cherry-pick arguments, it confuses athletes and their perception of safety in the game, says @MdHCSCS. Share on X

Whether the research findings are more favorable to one side of the argument or another, there is an unknown fallout from cherry-picking arguments and click-baiting headlines. This discussion both directly and indirectly influences athletes and their perception of safety within the game. Within the last five years, I’ve witnessed firsthand the interaction of high school, collegiate, and professional football players and talk surrounding player safety, concussions, and CTE. There are high school students who legitimately believe that any head-to-head contact, at any speed or force, will result in a concussion. Teenagers are self-diagnosing themselves with concussions, and are genuinely afraid of returning to play following their self-assessment.

I’ve also witnessed players at the college level take pride in the deliberate destruction of their helmet in practice. Imagine a helmet that has incurred so many head-to-head collisions on its crown that it cracks within an eight-month span covering spring football, fall camp, and the first several weeks of the season. These players were of a high caliber at their position, and were adamant that concussions were only for the weak and timid.

Failure on the Front Line?

There is good news for the sport, as governing agencies within youth and high school football have adopted modernized techniques for blocking and tackling. USA Football’s campaign for Heads Up Football prioritizes a new approach to positioning the athlete to execute contact in the game or practice while almost completely removing the head from the trajectory of contact. Traditional cues for tackling specifically use the head, helmet, and face mask as a reference when blocking and tackling.

The old mindset was that the player needed to secure the tackle first and foremost, and protecting the neck was a secondary benefit from this technique. The modernized Heads Up protocol, as used by the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, emphasizes local positioning, leverage, and body contact similar to techniques used in rugby and Australian Rules Football. The theory behind the methodology is that taking the head out of the play will lead to reduced exposure to head impacts and thus, fewer concussions.

Many state high school organizations now mandate that football coaches must be Heads Up certified in order to coach. This process must occur in the weeks leading up to the pre-season camp period, and done in partnership with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). The NFHS also offers continuing education and certification on athlete safety, health, coaching, and administration.

Has the Heads Up program been effective in reducing injuries and concussion? Preliminary findings showed that the program was making great strides forward, but a more in-depth review showed that the overall rate of concussions in youth and high school football has not significantly changed. Does this mean football is doomed, regardless of the techniques? The issue at hand here more likely has to do with the fact that certification in Heads Up techniques does not necessarily result in strict enforcement of these traits.

 

As football coaches, we are responsible for the health and safety of our athletes, regardless of our own preconceived beliefs or opinions. In the past several years, I have witnessed firsthand tackling drills from peewee leagues up through the college level around the country. Not all coaches with certification requirements are universally accepting or enforcing the progressive techniques of Heads Up football. Instead, they continue to utilize more traditional tackling and blocking techniques that explicitly involve the helmet and face mask as a landmark reference. Coaches still heavily use cues like “get your eyes to the football” or “put your helmet in his chest,” even at the youngest levels of the game.

As football coaches, we are responsible for our athletes’ safety, regardless of our own opinions, says @MdHCSCS. Share on X

The issue here is clear: There are some football coaches failing their players and the sport as a whole, with their deliberate rejection of player safety and insistence that safety equates to weakness. This is the same type of coach who once believed that taking water breaks during practice made you weak, or that face masks, gloves, and forearm pads meant you were a lesser player who lacked toughness. These coaches are not in the majority, but enough of them exist and employ their beliefs to make them a threat to the longevity of football.

How Technology Transforms Player Safety

Along with improvements to the techniques of blocking and tackling, there are also advancements to the equipment that players use. Many helmet manufacturers have changed their designs in the past decade to produce lighter helmets that improve safety. One helmet company, VICIS of Seattle, Washington, has taken the traditional physics of football helmet design and turned it upside down, almost literally. VICIS reports that their ZERO1’s RFLX^TM layer is a “sophisticated construction of columns that bend and flex in response to linear and rotational impacts.”

They designed the ZERO1 ARCH^TM shell of the helmet to spread out forces from contact to the head over a broad area to help reduce the risk of injury to the head. This is similar in concept to the old junior-high science experiment of dropping an egg from a rooftop in a cushioned box: The central idea here is to distribute impact forces and absorb them more optimally. The traditional hard-shell design of helmets can act in the opposite way, localizing forces to the area of contact.

 

While VICIS offers a new generation of helmets, there are also independent studies on individual helmet model safety levels available for reference when buying helmets. Additionally, the NFL-backed Play Smart Play Safe initiative offers further resources for parents, athletes, and coaches on the safety rating of helmets available for purchase.

A helmet must fit properly as more movement of the helmet leads to a greater risk of #concussion, says @MdHCSCS. Share on X

Improvements in helmet technology go hand in hand with progress being made on the front lines of football: properly fitting equipment. The most advanced helmet technology’s limiting factor is undoubtedly how coaches, athletes, and parents ensure the proper fitting assignment of each helmet. While USA Football offers a guideline on how the helmet should fit, there is still a great margin for error due to the simple fact that not all heads have the exact same proportions. What is the danger of a helmet not fitting properly? It is simple: More movement of the helmet leads to a greater risk of concussion.

Existing fitting procedures involve taking one manual measurement of the circumference of the head just above the eyebrow and adjusting the padding and chinstrap accordingly to meet subjective fit and feel markers. This procedure is quick and manageable, and a realistic task for almost every coach to accommodate. The problem is that it neglects the fact that human skulls are three-dimensional entities where specific length, width, and height measurements can vary just enough to make a significant difference in fit and feel. Beyond fit and feel, there are safety implications, as recent research highlighted an increased risk of concussion severity due to poorly fitting helmets. As it turns out, fitting helmets should focus more on the shape of the head rather than simply fitting within an acceptable range of the one circumference measurement taken.

Three-dimensional modeling is a potential solution to maximizing helmet fit. Imaging procedures, such as the methodology developed by Falcon Pursuit of Portland, Oregon, take only a few seconds and provide a hyper-accurate 3-D map of the athlete’s head with millimeter precision. Finding the exact dimensions of the athlete’s head is critical information for the equipment manager or coach trying to find the best fit for the athlete. This also applies to the equipment manufacturers who want better insight into designing size ranges for various levels and positions of football players. While coaches must continue to work on blocking and tackling technique to help further protect athletes, providing them with better-fitting and more advanced helmet technology is also a step in the right direction.

Beyond helmet technology, there are companies such as Q30 Innovations taking the conversation around concussion prevention by the neck…literally. Their technology, called the Q-Collar, focuses on mildly increasing blood volume in the brains of athletes with an apparatus worn around the back of the neck. Initial research into the effectiveness of this method is promising, as exploratory research shows a potential positive effect of reducing brain slosh from contact sports resulting from the use of this neck-collar technology.

Further analysis also shows the technology potentially reduces white matter diffusion alteration when wearing this type of neck-collar technology during football. While initial research investigation shows potential for helping reduce the risk of brain injury, further research should continue to help the football community understand the size of the potential benefit, as well as identify any potential limitations in the application of the technology. 

Detection as the Best Defense

With concussions still present in the sport, the assessment, diagnosis, and subsequent treatment have all greatly improved in recent years. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, high school athletic programs that have a certified athletic trainer present incur fewer overall injuries. Additionally, these schools tend to be able to diagnose more concussions than schools that lack an athletic trainer. The reasoning centers on the fact that athletic trainers have much more training to detect and diagnose concussions. This highlights a critical element of the issue of concussions in football: the need for objective assessment of the incidence of head trauma by knowledgeable, certified individuals.

Football needs an objective assessment of head trauma incidence by knowledgeable certified trainers, says @MdHCSCS. Share on X

While football coaches are obliged to make a good-faith effort in the detection of concussion-like symptoms in their athletes, they are limited by the scope of their training and assessment, and lack of diagnosis capability. In some instances, football coaches face a real conflict of interest when it comes to concussion-like symptom identification, as any detection of these symptoms would necessitate the athlete’s removal from activities for further assessment. Some coaches see this as holding out their best players merely on the chance they have a concussion.

 

In recognition of the need at the high school level, Providence Sports Medicine, a branch of the regional Providence Health & Services hospital network, is teaming up with high schools across the Northwest. They help place certified athletic trainers at the schools, and the trainers are available for practices and home games, and many away games as well. One of the many services these athletic trainers offer is the ImPACT® concussion management protocol, as part of the Providence Primary Care Concussion Treatment Pathway. This pathway consists of a battery of tests that better assess brain function beyond simple memory and recognition exercises. Balance, memory, eye function, neuromuscular function, musculoskeletal symptoms, and the ImPACT® protocol are all part of their assessment process.

In addition to better detection of concussion-like symptoms, the pathway developed by Providence Sports Medicine helps give athletes access to more complete treatment options depending upon the severity of the injury. Rather than simply improving their ability to detect head trauma, Providence Sports Medicine can offer athletes more specific rehabilitation and treatment options based upon the type of concussion symptoms displayed. Beginning with a physician’s thorough evaluation, these symptom-based treatment recommendations are designed to meet the specific needs of the patient, rather than subject them to a “cookie-cutter” approach to rehab.

As soon as the physician finds the athlete is asymptomatic, the athletic trainer assists them in a modernized approach to return-to-activity protocols. More recent findings, as documented in the Berlin Consensus of 2017, show that there is insufficient evidence to continue complete rest in the days and weeks following a suspected concussion. After an initial rest period in the acute stage of the suspected injury (the first 24-48 hours), the latest evidence suggests that:

“…patients can be encouraged to become gradually and progressively more active while staying below their cognitive and physical symptom-exacerbation thresholds (ie, activity level should not bring on or worsen their symptoms). It is reasonable for athletes to avoid vigorous exertion while they are recovering. The exact amount and duration of rest is not yet well defined in the literature and requires further study.”

What is the aim of the pathway from Providence Sports Medicine? It is to identify more specific treatment pathways that match patient symptoms, identify those at risk who display lingering symptoms, improve the rehabilitation process for patients who become asymptomatic, and maximize the return-to-play process. This coordinated, individualized approach can help athletes who are ready to return to sport do so safely. The role of the ATC working with a well-designed medical team is critical to the success of the program and reduces the liability for the coaching staff.

Saving Football’s Future: Look Within the Sport

Early in this piece, I stated that this article is not an attack on football, but rather a call to action for helping preserve the game. As I mentioned, I played football from junior high through college, and have spent most of my professional career working within the sport. I, too, experienced diagnosed concussions, and like many players I also wonder how many concussions I experienced that went undiagnosed. But, like many things, as time passes we learn more and should focus our efforts on maximizing player safety by any means possible.

The sport itself is a terrific vessel for teaching life lessons, perhaps unlike any other sport. The issues hotly debated by the media have shown an uglier side of the game in the form of the willingly ignorant football evangelists refuting science, facts, and common sense. This is the worst approach imaginable to helping the game of football survive into the 21st century.

We should call out the portion of football coaches and fans who refute the facts and research surrounding head injuries to the point of bullying athletes, fellow coaches, and media outlets.

We need to call out the football coaches and fans who refute the facts surrounding head injuries, says @MdHCSCS. Share on X

These willfully ignorant bullies will destroy the game by disrespecting the very real and rational fears of past, present, and future players, their families, and the fans who express concerns over the status quo of football. Concussions, CTE, and head trauma have nothing to do with lacking “mental toughness,” not being disciplined, or being a “wimp.” As coaches of the game, we must grow a spine and halt these types of behaviors among our fellow coaches, athletes, and fans.

This past fall, I had the privilege of returning to the sidelines of my alma mater to coach defensive backs for Head Coach Aaron Hazel of La Salle Prep. Coach Hazel has seen the game change in his nearly 20 years of playing and coaching, including many positive steps in tackling and blocking techniques. “Since I took over the program four years ago, we’ve completely done away with live tackling at practice. That being said, we work on tackling every day by focusing on technique, angles, and leverage over the old mantra of ‘whatever it takes.’ We have found over this time utilizing the techniques taught through USA Football that our tackling has improved significantly now that our kids have a plan for almost every scenario they will see.”

The issue at hand is not that the tactics of football and the game are dangerous, but rather that different schools don’t uniformly enforce more progressive and safer techniques. In his years of experience with football at the high school and college level across the Pacific Northwest and West Coast, Coach Hazel has seen positive signs from many areas. “Talking with coaches in our region, most programs are implementing these techniques. Some are not going to the non-tackling depths that we are, but everyone I communicate with understands that we owe it to the game to continually adapt.”

The idea of adapting is not lost on football coaches either, but there are some coaches from the “old school” that just want to hold onto the game of football that they know. As Coach Hazel points out, “It is cyclical. Thirty years ago, everyone was running the wing-t, 20 years ago everyone was running the wishbone, 10 years ago everyone was single-back and nobody was running the wing-t. Now the wing-t is growing again; we played three wing-t teams this fall! In the late ‘90s when I played, all the talk was on neck injuries, now the focus is on head injuries. What we have to look forward to is that we made a lot of changes in how the game was taught and what rules needed to be added to reduce the risk of neck injuries. We are now doing the same for head injuries, and it is only going to make our game safer and better.”

La Salle Prep is also one of schools working with an athletic trainer from Providence Sports Medicine. While this service has greatly helped the school, Coach Hazel sees hope for even more progress with player safety, equipment, and the future of football. “Right now, the best equipment is extremely expensive and is not financially feasible for a lot of schools. We are very fortunate to have a handful of kids purchase their own top of the line helmets, reducing our costs, but other places are not as lucky. I would love to see the NFL subsidize the cost of top-end equipment so that youth and high school programs have the ability to put every kid in the best gear.”

A To-Do List for Every Football Program in America

Instead of simply crying wolf, there needs to be action taken to help preserve the game across all levels. These are first steps I believe each football coach and program should seriously consider in the coming offseason:

Implement and Enforce Better Blocking and Tackling Techniques 

The Heads Up football initiative is a terrific first step to help limit unnecessary head contact from blocking and tackling, but certification should become mandatory and oversight on tackling and blocking techniques should come from state high school associations. Additionally, state referee and official associations can offer feedback to high school associations, leagues, and individual teams regarding the quality of their tackling and blocking techniques, and whether they are within the rules. If there are teams incurring more illegal helmet-to-helmet hits or blindside blocks, this system would help hold coaches accountable for implementing safer techniques. Sharing game film of these incidences in widely used video systems such as Hudl will improve transparency in the detection and assessment of poor tackling and blocking techniques.

Invest in and Research Equipment Technology 

There are companies such as Falcon Pursuit, VICIS, and Q30 Innovations willing to produce cutting-edge technology when it comes to equipment and apparel in sport. The NFL, NCAA, and any entity that profits from the sport of football would be wise to invest in companies that can help preserve the longevity of football in an ethical, optimal, and sustainable manner. This has nothing to do with spending money to prevent the publication of research, or paying entities to skew or withhold information. Instead, this has everything to do with pursuing innovation and advancements in equipment and player safety.

The potential is there, as fine-tuning the helmet to best fit the shape of each athlete’s head, improving the materials of the helmet, and utilizing supplemental equipment like the Q-collar all show great promise in reducing the risk of severe head trauma. None of these will happen without continued investment and research in these areas. Implementing gear-exchange programs funded by the NFL and their major sponsors for youth, high school, and under-funded teams will help expand access to better equipment.

Embrace the Medical Community and Work Alongside Them 

This is going to be tough for some coaches to hear, but unless you are a medical doctor or a certified and licensed sports medicine practitioner, you are not qualified to diagnose and treat concussions or other injuries. Having certified athletic trainers present for both practices and competitions will help ensure that knowledgeable and certified individuals deal with any potential injuries—particularly head injuries. Having your starting running back, stud linebacker, or all-conference quarterback take a few minutes to make sure they are not putting themselves, or their teammates, in danger by playing with a head injury is a worthy investment of time. He won’t suffer from missing five minutes of everyday cone drills!

This is an opportunity for the broader football community to preserve our sport for the future, says @MdHCSCS. Share on X

Initiatives such as those from Providence Sports Medicine are growing in popularity, and should be taken up in conjunction with state athletic associations for youth and high school sports. Additionally, state athletic associations must increase educational opportunities for coaches by supplying specific guides for athlete health, wellness, safety, and performance. They can do this online, or in quarterly, regional seminars.

The Time Is Now

While not every team can accomplish all the elements to help improve player safety, the overall football community needs to step up and realize this is our opportunity to preserve our sport for the future. Doing nothing, protecting the status quo of football under the guise of being “tough,” and speaking out against player safety because of your fear of watering down the sport are all irresponsible and cowardly. If we want football to survive, the time to act is now.

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