Kids, you gotta get excited by doing the basics well
Take home message
any athlete that does exceptional skill well, does the basics exceptionally too.
For Coaches
Exceptional feats of technical skill are built on sound mechanics first.
For Athletes (junior or senior)
Please be excited about performing the basics brilliantly. They may not be worthy of a post, but they underpin the movement of that play you will post!
For Parents
Ensure your child develops a solid physical foundation. The taller the building, the greater the foundations.
I’ve always believed that elite performers were able to do remarkable feats because basic skills took little effort. There isn’t wasted thought or energy as fluid movement is automatic allowing full focus to higher level tasks. They display superior fundamental movement skills. I believe many S&C coaches (and sports coaches) agree that underpinning high level performance is the sound application of essential movement patterns.
The issue with developmental programs focused on movement fundamentals is they are a hard sell to many young and aspiring athletes (and their parents). Thanks to endless replays and social media, impressionable athletes see the outcome (the pass or goal) and not the process (the tremendous application of effortless movement and repetitive basic practice). Granted, any sports coach will tell you the basics include your skills (kick, hit, trap, throw, etc) but I’m talking about movement (what you do before / during the skill), how you set your body up to execute.
What is so important about movement quality? Poor movement could lead to injury (ie. the result of something breaking when force is applied to misaligned segments), or an ability to perform a skill (the athlete does not posses the flexibility/mobility or ability to control a posture), or the poor movement wastes energy leading to premature fatigue. Athletes with good underpinning movement save energy, can perform any task required and are seldom injured.
Strong foundations = longevity
Having been fortunate to work with senior athletes for a long-time, I have frequently seen the benefits of appropriate development programs, and the consequences of poor ones.
During this COVID-19 break, a young girl I know wanted some help with home exercise whilst her soccer competition was suspended, so her father, a close friend suggested she contact me. She’s 13, a very capable athlete (like her parents) and highly motivated (some would say almost impatient - like her parents!). With a few sparse pieces of training kit, we designed some circuits to be performed in the home garage (examples of the programs are here). The priority of her program was movement efficiency and learning technical execution of a range of exercises.
Many S&C coaches use some formal or informal technique screening. It can be a systematic test, or observation of movement during training exercises. Each week the young athlete and I have trained and filmed one or two basic exercises, such as squats, lunges or hopping. Performing these basic exercises also helps identify mobility, coordination or strength issues that may hinder smooth execution of these basic movement patterns that we address through other exercises. It also helps provide an example of progression; we review earlier videos to see how she has progressed. She does not see these as tests, just practicing exercises, whereas I can use these to prescribe specific exercises to help improve her movement. This reinforces the importance of technique and posture over external loading. Plus, I have tried to constantly educate her regarding the link between posture-movement and skill execution. We also include crawling variations, skipping, hopping, Turkish get-ups and soccer ball drills into her warm-ups. Her parents have also enjoyed the technique and education aspect of the programs. I’d like to think that if we can keep this up over the next few years (yes, it will take years), she will have developed a movement proficiency that will last her career, and lifetime! Hopefully, if she makes a representative team with a structured training program, her coach will benefit from this work, like I have from the many who have contributed players to the programs I have been involved with.
It was certainly encouraging that this long-term, movement based approach was further reinforced by several well respected S&C coaches in interviews I have listened to during the break from training. Three coaches in unrelated interviews have both described the importance of fundamental movement in professional athletes and the consequences when these are absent (links to their interviews below). Three coaches, with over 60 years combined experience in Australian Rules Football, rugby union, rugby league, netball, swimming, athletics at junior and senior levels, stressed the importance of simple physical tasks. Three coaches who are trying to do the most intricate sport specific programs they can, yet hit stumbling blocks as some athletes cannot do sport “unspecific” movements proficiently (run, hop, land, catch, etc). Because of what they have seen at the elite level, these three coaches encourage mastery of basic movement.
To the young athlete (and parents of young athletes) you have time to ingrain a diverse range of movement patterns before you need to get sport specific. It is no surprise that very often, the best in any sport are incredibly capable at any sport. They just picked one they liked most, not the only one they could do. Practice broadly and seek exceptional basics.
To coaches working with junior athletes, the development of fundamental movement skills should be an element incorporated into every training session. Seamlessly included in a warm-up or between drills, it can include exercises from the AAA testing regime and variations, to the structured warm-up protocols of the FIFA 11, to the imaginative style of coaches such as Jeremy Frisch (@JeremyFrisch) who regularly post amazing content for coaches.
For the betterment of the athlete, their physical performance, technical execution, reduced injury risk and lifelong enjoyment of exercise, ensure that you embed sound movement into developing athletes.
Three wonderful interviews with exceptional coaches discussing, among many things, athlete development:
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Thanks again. BA.