This week I am giving you a FREE presentation which answers the fundamental question- why should an athlete use an S&C coach?

I’ve had the opportunity in recent weeks and months to speak to a number of coaches who work with athletes, whether they be Head coaches for a sports team, a Director of a Sports Academy or a Head of department of PE in a school.  I have been speaking to them to see if they might be interested in working with APA to run some S&C sessions with their athletes.

I have first sought to understand what some of the barriers are to being able to do this.  There are two common barriers.

Barrier #1:  Cost

On pretty much every occasion there has been some degree of reluctance to want to invest in strength & conditioning coaching with their athletes due to its cost.  Often it comes down to resources available and I accept that not everyone can afford to pay for professional strength & conditioning coaching, particularly if they are already paying for sports coaching.

But the cost of NOT investing in strength & conditioning could mean that your greatest ‘assets’ will get injured at some point in the future if you don’t take action.  Even if you can’t afford to put a full-time coach into your programme I’d encourage you to at least get your  athletes screened to see who might be more at risk of injury.  This way you can do something about things before they happen.

Barrier #2: Time

Closely followed by #1 is the argument that the athletes don’t have the time to invest in further coaching on top of an already full weekly schedule of school academics (if we’re talking about adolescents), extra curricular activities, all in addition to their sports teams commitments.  This is a real issue if the athletes in question have commitments to their school teams, as well as local clubs and even county or regional teams they play for.  It is even more so if the athlete is playing in several sports teams.

Again, we can look at solutions to these challenges, even something as simple as training up the sports coach or teacher on how to run a high quality warm-up will go a long way to maximising the returns on a limited time and money budget.

Sound like your situation? 

So it’s important that as the Director of an S&C company I can make a strong case for why they need to value S&C at a high enough level that they are willing to pay for it in some form.  As I am so passionate about helping athletes realise their athletic potential I work very hard with whoever wants to work with us to come up with a solution that can achieve this.

Below is a presentation which I would urge any athlete or programme Director to watch if you are wondering why an athlete should employ an S&C coach.

The full presentation is 39 minutes- but I think that to do the topic justice and really answer the question properly it needs that long.  In the presentation I discuss:

• Long-term athlete development and the 10,000 hours rule
• The age that professional sportsmen and women hit their peak
• The consequences of early specialisation
• The benefits of strength training
• Why athletes get injured
• How to properly screen athletes

 

 

I hoped you found this blog interesting and will challenge your thinking the next time you are thinking about employing the services of a strength & conditioning coach!

 

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