Strength and Conditioning Philosophy with a Need for an Understanding of Sports Psychology: a Consideration
“A Need for an Understanding of Sports Psychology: A Consideration”
My Perception of Philosophy within Strength and Conditioning
S&C coaches are required to have and often asked what their “Philosophy” is. I describe my philosophy as a set of skills that I have acquired over time via scientific study, fundamental analysis, sporting anecdotes, personal experience and belief that I execute in order to achieve agreed results of physically preparing an athlete for a positive outcome of a sport or body function. Ultimately for an S&C coach the philosophy is a mode of training which he/she has a firm understanding of and belief in. I often use the analogy that the S&C field is like the financial market. There are many players in the market who execute their trades on some mode that they practice, however relative to another player some days they win some days they lose. They all speak the same language/jargon, but their modes of executing trades are entirely different be it mathematical or sentimental. The true skill however, lies in finding the perfections and imperfections of a particular mode and continuously trying to acquire new skills via research in order to execute at will to the dynamics of the financial market to improve the gain to loss ratio. The gains may well be as a result of randomness, till the theory is either broken or proven. We all remember how many experts criticised Michael Johnson for his awkward upright running style till he re-wrote the record books “A Black Swan” event. It has now become a main stream running action for many athletes.
In this article I shall discuss how I intend to incorporate a relatively new subject, to myself, “Sports Psychology” within my philosophy as an S&C coach, in order to add a new skill set that may help push the boundaries of athletic performance. You may want to refer to this as an element of my coaching style which takes into account the physiological and psychological effects caused by an athlete’s
My Perception of Philosophy within Strength and Conditioning
S&C coaches are required to have and often asked what their “Philosophy” is. I describe my philosophy as a set of skills that I have acquired over time via scientific study, fundamental analysis, sporting anecdotes, personal experience and belief that I execute in order to achieve agreed results of physically preparing an athlete for a positive outcome of a sport or body function. Ultimately for an S&C coach the philosophy is a mode of training which he/she has a firm understanding of and belief in. I often use the analogy that the S&C field is like the financial market. There are many players in the market who execute their trades on some mode that they practice, however relative to another player some days they win some days they lose. They all speak the same language/jargon, but their modes of executing trades are entirely different be it mathematical or sentimental. The true skill however, lies in finding the perfections and imperfections of a particular mode and continuously trying to acquire new skills via research in order to execute at will to the dynamics of the financial market to improve the gain to loss ratio. The gains may well be as a result of randomness, till the theory is either broken or proven. We all remember how many experts criticised Michael Johnson for his awkward upright running style till he re-wrote the record books “A Black Swan” event. It has now become a main stream running action for many athletes.
In this article I shall discuss how I intend to incorporate a relatively new subject, to myself, “Sports Psychology” within my philosophy as an S&C coach, in order to add a new skill set that may help push the boundaries of athletic performance. You may want to refer to this as an element of my coaching style which takes into account the physiological and psychological effects caused by an athlete’s
References: Nassim Nicholos Taleb. The Black Swan Stephen D.Mallalieu & Sheldon Hanton. Advances in Applied Sport Psychology Paul McCarthy (2010). Using Goal Setting to Enhance Positive Affect among Junior Multievent Athlete Jean M.Williams. Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Performance