Posted on Apr 09, 2010 under Athlete training, Athletic abilities, Athleticism, Coaching, General physical preparation, Specialized physical preparation, Specificity, Strategy, Training athletes, Training specialists, athletic performance, coaches, functions, training |
When we take a look at the functions and duties of most coaches, it becomes obvious that they are not involved in development of the athlete’s skills, the foundation for improved player performance. Many people may disagree with this assessment but if you closely examine what is taking place, you’ll see that it is true.
Most teams have a coach devoted to improving physical abilities, but this is a far cry from improving player skills. In addition, teams may have skill coaches who, rather than developing basic skills such as running, jumping, throwing, etc., spend more time teaching the functions of the player in different positions. Read more… »
More and more often we hear of teams looking for athletes who possess “athleticism”. Scouts and franchise veterans talk about a need for the teams to become more athletic and to invest heavily in ” live-body” athletes. In essence, they want teams to look at more than just the statistics that the athlete has compiled in high school or college.
This would be a great step forward if they would put this recommendation into practice. However I doubt that this will happen for several reasons. First, teams are still guided too strongly by statistics. And it is not merely how many games a pitcher has won or lost. They want to know how many miles per hour he can throw the ball, how many different pitches he has.etc. Read more… »
Posted on Jan 31, 2009 under Athleticism, Elite athletes |
It appears that developing athleticism is a primary goal of coaches on the high school, collegiate and professional levels. Substantiation for this comes from the emphasis placed on physical conditioning.
It is believed that by developing greater levels of strength, speed, power, agility etc., these qualities will automatically transfer to the skills possessed by the athlete and as a result, he will become more athletic. Athleticism is highly regarded and it is usually easy to spot the athlete who has the highest levels. Read more… »
Athleticism refers not only to physical development but to motor skills. The latter applies to your ability to execute different movements, techniques and coordinations that are involved in a particular sport. In general, a person who has a high level of athleticism is one who is capable of executing all or most of the basic movements that are seen in many sports.
Most often this includes agility movements such as cutting actions, zigzag running, skills such as jumping, throwing, kicking, hitting, fielding, and abilities such as exhibiting quick bursts of energy, short acceleration runs and so on. Being able to execute these athletic movements individually or in combination is related to a great extent on your levels of strength, flexibility, endurance, coordination and early development. Read more… »
Subscribe