Entries by darren.drake

Training Load Monitoring- are you doing it?

In recent years the Full time Academy programme at Gosling Tennis Academy has grown significantly.  APA now write the training programmes for up to 13 full-time junior Tennis players, who are all committed to being the best Tennis player they can be. In today’s blog I would like to give an example of a Training […]

Are you a good teacher?

As you may have read in previous posts I am really interested in how I can make my coaching as effective as possible so that I can help my athletes improve as fast as possible.   I recently had the privilege to sit on an advisory panel at a University that was considering the addition of […]

APA Staff member hits the big time

I just wanted to congratulate APA coach Martin Skinner on being part of a a milestone week in the history of APA.  Martin has been with APA during two separate spells since 2008 and had always set his sights on working with Professional athletes. He has worked hard to achieve this, and it gives all aspiring […]

Early Specialisation in Sport- Too much of a good thing?

First things first a very belated Happy New Year to Everyone!  I hope you are all set for a fantastic 2015! New Year’s Resolutions   I am going to resist the temptation to talk about goal setting and the statistics that show that 80% of people fail to stick to the resolutions they set for themselves […]

How to stop getting fat over Christmas!

Want to stay Lean over Christmas??   As you may know this time of year is when APA are busy helping some of our Professional Tennis players prepare in their pre-season.     But equally it’s also a time where even athletes have a lot of temptations as we approach the festive period with lots […]

Mind blowing Motivational videos

Well it’s Friday and to be honest I probably should be showing this video on a Monday (when we need a kick start to our week) but I thought you would like to see my latest favourite motivational video!   It can be very challenging to focus on all the things you have to do that day, […]

Early Bird offer ends in 2 weeks!

Dear Coach,   if your life is anything like mine you probably can’t believe it’s officially December next Monday!  Well with so much going on you probably haven’t realised there are only two weeks left to get the Level 2 1st4sport Certificate in Strength & Conditioning Early Bird Price.   Click HERE to get the […]

Why modern education is killing our kids!

This Blog post is a departure away from my usual writing.  As some of you may know I’m as passionate about coach education as I am about coaching itself.  As part of my journey to becoming a coach educator I am now enrolled on a teaching qualification.   For those of you who are in […]

How to get a job in S&C Part 2

If you haven’t read the first blog post then read it HERE.   For this final instalment I want to talk about two further points: Observing performance Giving and receiving feedback   These two points are actually secondary for me when I’m interviewing a prospective coach because I believe that the passion to inspire an […]