We are Back

We have found ourselves exceptionally busy over the past few weeks. Hence the silence on the blog. However things have finally slowed down and we will be back to our regular posting this week. First Finishing off the Annual Training plan series, and the we have a lot of great posts and some reviews planned, so keep an eye out!

ACINZ

Apologies and some motivation

I want to apologize for the delay in getting the final part of the Annual training plan series up. Things are very hectic here at the moment. We will get to that post shortly. In the meantime i leave you with some great words of motivation!

Motivation: I AM: Jake Kaminski

We again take a short break in our current series on creating the Annual Training plan for some motivation:

Jake Kaminski is one of the men who represented the USA 2012 Olympics where he was part of the Silver Medal wining team. This video gives a bit of a back story to Jake. And contains some great snippets of motivation.

I love the I AM tattoo that Jake has. I love it for what it stands for. I love the fact that he used those I AM statements from 2007 (and earlier), prior to his achieving the Olympic dream. It reinforces that positive affirmations are so important in the development of the strong mental state required to succeed in sport!

Watch The Video

Below are some Motivational Highlights/Quotes taken from this video (and edited onto photos of ours):

The Annual Training Plan: Physical & Technical Skills

After we have set goals and figured out what mental skills we need to develop this year to reach those goals we need to turn our planning to focus on more practical matters. Physical and technical skills that need development and focus in order to turn those goals into realities.

As coaches we have a list of physical and technical competencies that we believe are necessary for any Archer to achieve success in the sport.  In our Club we, as coaches, go through these, rank an athlete’s knowledge, use and performance of that skill.

The ranking system we use is a simple: Consistently performing, Developing,  and Needs serious work

Below is a condensed version of that list and some questions that we ask regarding them:

Technical Competencies

Form:  How well do they know and perform the steps of shooting:
1. Stance
2. Posture
3. Set & Mind Set
a. Grip/bowhand placement
b. Hook/string hand finger placement
4. Setup
5. Draw/Load
a.Angular Draw
b. Proper use of back muscles
6. Anchor – Consistent point
7. Transfer
8. Holding
9. Aim
10. Release/Relax
11. Follow Through
12. Relax & Breathe

How consistent is form and execution across both training (blank bale, target, and distance) and in competition

How well do they know and utilize and perform the other elements of form and execution:
1. Clicker use
2. String alignment
3. Sight adjustment
4. Aiming off
5. Timing

Do they know how to shoot accurately in any weather condition: e.g. wind, rain, snow etc

Physical Competencies

Flexibility
Does the athlete know and understand the flexibility needs for Archery
At what level is there current flexibility specific to those needs for archery.

Cardiovascular Endurance
At what level is the athletes current cardiovascular endurance?

Muscular Strength and Endurance Training

How is the athletes Core Strength?
How is the athletes Back & Shoulder Strength?
Does the athlete have the necessary strength and endurance to compete in multi-day archer competitions without tiring?

Nutrition
Does the athlete understand that performance is affected by what they eat and drink.
Does the athlete employ good dietary practices.
Does the athlete ensure they maintain good hydration?

Visual Skills:
Does the athlete have good vision? Do they need glasses or work to train eye dominance (sometimes necessary in cross-dominant archers e.g. right handed by left eye dominant)
What is the level of the athletes hand eye coordination
What is the level of the athletes eye-body coordination

Where to from here:

Once we have identified which elements from the above competencies need focus in training(specifically those in the needs serious work, and developing categories)  We prioritize those skills that are most necessary to the achievement of the goals and allocate specific focused training time to address those areas.

For example: We identify that an athlete need’s serious work in regards to proper use of back muscles in the load and release phase of the shot cycle.

We realize that the athlete is not able to consistently utilize these muscles in the shot cycle for the following reasons:
1. They do not know how to activate the correct back muscles (Physical problem)
2. They do not fully grasp the concept of an Angular draw and thus cannot execute the correct draw (technical/form problem)
3. They do not have the strength needed to consistently perform this skill over time (strength or endurance problem)

We assume from prior experience that it will take three weeks of focused practice to fix the technical/form problem. So we isolate skills and drills that will help fix the lack of knowledge and allow the athlete to both activate the muscles and learn proper angular draw (including lots of band work and light bow work). We then set aside a 3 week micro cycle within the training plan where to focus on that specific technical aspect.

We also ascertain that developing the strength and endurance of the back muscles will require strength development over time so we plan to allocate strength session time focusing on this weak point, as well as to properly increase intensity and volume following the micro cycle to help build that shooting endurance.

Join us next time
We’ve discussed now goal setting, the mental, physical and technical skills that need to be considered in developing an annual training plan. Please join us again next time for a  step by step example of how we put all of this together to finalize the annual training plan. With an example training plan included!

Any thoughts or questions? leave us a comment!

The Annual Training Plan: Mental skills

As we prepare and develop our Individualized Annual Training Plan’s the first question we ask are what mental skills does this athlete need to develop in order to achieve the goals set for a season.

We ask this question first because the mental game is often the area that lets an Athlete down. This is because to often mental skills and training the mind is overlooked in development of athletes, especially junior athletes.

As a coach i have at times been slack in training my athletes in the mental skills needed for success. But lets be honest: Training mental skills is essential to ensuring success in sport. So it makes sense to give it prime place of focus in the annual training plan. So no more letting this area slid. This year it comes first.

The mental/psych skills an athlete needs to develop in order to become exceptional are as follows:

Drive: How much do you want to play the game? Do you want to practice outside of scheduled practices? Do you eat sleep breath the sport sometimes to the neglect of of other things? This is drive. Sometimes drive is innate and develops at a very young age, sometimes it is slow to develop and will not show up until the teenage years

Passion: Do you love the sport? To the extent that you would be willing to sacrifice other things for it? There needs to be balance in sport but you have to love it in order to excel!

Stability: Can you tolerate stress? An athlete need’s to be able to cope with the large amount of stress that comes with training and competition. An ability to adapt to obstacles without always being pushed to your stress limit is vital. This emotional skill can be trained, and it is essential to succeed. So if you don’t have it, put in the work required to develop it!

Mental toughness: This is both drive and stability coupled with self esteem and ability to control confidence. Successful athletes have this ability to feel good about themselves, or at least  have enough confidence to believe they will have a good performance, without being destroyed when they meet a bad performance. Mental Toughness is a deep down knowledge that despite it all they are good at what they do! An idea of “i know what i’m doing, i’m going to do it, no one and nothing can stop me”

Positive attitude: An athlete with a good positive attitude has a mindset, despite things going wrong,  where they believe they can still pull it out and win, or recover from a not so great competition to come back in the next one and excel. So important to maintain that positive attitude and mindset to excel at sports.

Realism: An athlete who excels is positive and confident but also realistic about their current ability. They are able to identify weaknesses to be worked on. They learn from experiences, both positive and negative and use those experiences to make themselves better

Focus: The ability to block out all distractions and focus on the task at hand. Ability to zone in on one thing completely! This skill is essential for Archers and every athlete should include the development of this skill in their annual training plan

Effort: Exceptional athletes work hard both in practice and in competition. Many athletes will give there all in competition but the truly exceptional give there all in every training session. They are the first there and the last to leave. They are the ones willing to put in extra training time, or do extra strength work or practice outside of scheduled requirements  They go above and beyond the bare minimum required. Being exceptional takes time and hard work and these athletes put in the effort to achieve it! If you know you don’t put in effort all the time, put this skill down as one to work on developing this season!

Persistence: Even when it is going poorly persistent and athletes keep doing whatever it is they are supposed to do. Even when it looks like it’s never going to happen they trust that if they keep practicing to perfect technique they will perform at a high level eventually  Even when it doesn’t look like that is the case right now. They learn that mistakes happen, things go wrong and they can adapt to the situations before them, they don’t give up when things don’t go as they expect.

Competitiveness: Exceptional athletes like to win and will often drive themselves until they are the best/do win. They are competitive in practice, and competitive in competition. They want to excel!

Resiliency: The ability to cope with whatever comes your way. Not just to cope with it but to overcome and excel in the face of it. This is necessary as in sport thing’s often will not go the way that we expect them to go, if we are resilient we will take whatever comes at us in one stride and continue performing at our best regardless!

How to:

 Exceptional athletes need to learn how to work, develop and hone there mental and emotional skills just as much as they do there physical skills. The key to annual planing is ascertaining which of the above skills needs the most development to ensure success and, once identified, find time within the training plan to focus on them.

Say we identify Focus as essential skills for development we would ask: We first ask what level of importance (and thus how much time) do we allocate to the development of the skill:

Secondly we ask: What drills, skills, seminars, training and reading material can we utilize to improve that area:

Example:
I would say that for any young archer the development of Focus is vital. And thus we should be setting aside regular time for the development of this skill.

Drills to develop this skill: Meditation, Mindful Breathing and Visualization and Concentration excercises.

Seminars/Books/Training material to use:
USOC guided meditatiation and relaxation mediaton cd’s.
Information on Mindful Breathing:
Larry Bassham “with winning in mind” book

Annual Plan time: Worth setting aside daily time for the training and development of Focus through a varied timetable of concentration excercises, visulisation, and meditation

Join us again shortly for part 3 of developing the annual training plan.

Motivation: The Grind

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for some motivation. Because i need some motivation right now:

The audio to this video is motivation. I think i might listen to it every day until it is drilled into my head:

It’s 6:00 AM and your hand can’t make it to the alarm clock before the voices in your head start telling you that it’s too early, too dark, and too cold to get up out of bed.  Aching muscles lie still in rebellion, pretending not to hear your brain commanding them to move.  A legion of voices are shouting their unanimous permission for you to hit the snooze button and go back to dreamland.  But you didn’t ask their opinion.  The voice you chose to listen to is one of Defiance.  A voice that said there was a reason you set that alarm in the first place.  So sit up, put your feet on the floor, and don’t look back because we’ve got work to do. 

Welcome to the Grind.  For what is each day but a series of conflicts between the right way and the easy way.  10,000 streams fan out like a river delta before you, each one promising the path of least resistance.  The thing is, you’re headed upstream.  When you make that choice, and you decide to turn your back on what’s comfortable, and safe, and what some would call common sense, well that’s Day One.

From there it only gets tougher.  So just make sure this is something you want, because the easy way out will always be there, ready to wash you away.  All you have to do is pick up your feet.  But you aren’t going to, are you?  With each step comes the decision to take another.  You’re on your way now, but this is no time to dwell on how far you’ve come. you’re in a fight against an opponent you can’t see, but oh you can feel him on your heels, can’t you.  Feel him breathing down your neck.  You know what that is?  That’s you.  Your fears, your doubts, your insecurities, all lined up like a firing squad ready to shoot you out of the sky.  But don’t lose heart.  While they’re not easily defeated they are far from invincible.  Remember, this is the grind, the battle royal between you and your mind, your body, and the devil on your shoulder whose telling you that this is just a game, this is just a waste of time.  Your opponents are stronger than you.  Drown out the voice of uncertainty with the sound of your own heartbeat.  Burn away your self-doubt with a fire lit beneath you.

Remember what you’re fighting for and never forget that momentum is a cruel mistress.  She can turn on a dime or the smallest mistake.  She is ever searching for the weak place in your armor, that one tiny thing you forgot to prepare for.  So as long as the devil is hiding the details, the question remains, is that all you got?  Are you sure?  When that answer is yes, when you’ve done all you can to prepare yourself for battle.  Then it’s time to go forth and boldly face your enemy.  The enemy within.  Only now you must take that fight into the open, into hostile territory.  You’re a lion in a field of lions, all hunting the same elusive prey with a desperate starvation that says, “Victory is the only thing that can keep you alive.”  So believe that voice that says you CAN run a little faster, that you CAN throw a little harder, and that for YOU, the laws of physics are merely a suggestion. 

So Rise and Shine.

Plan To Succeed: The Annual Training plan

At the end of March/April coaches all around the world many coaches, in many sports, sit down and begin planning for the next season. It is time to develop for the Annual Training Plan.

A good coach will have a general 4 or 5 year plan for the athletes in their program. An idea of where they are at now, and where they should be at in 4-5 years, and general idea of what competitions and steps they need to take over the next 4/5years to get there. These “large view” plans are subject to change and review frequently as goals get refocused or redefined, but they provide a good framework for development.

Archers if you do not have a coach, but have goals regarding where you want to get to in the sport, then it is imperative that you take a serious look at yourself and work on a 5 year plan to guide your development (and, if your goals are to compete on an international level find a good coach!)

Beyond the five year plan, it is necessary every year to drill down and plan through to the end of the next season for each individual athlete.

We, as a coaching team, are in the midst of doing individual planning for the year from April 2013 – April 2014. Individual athletes will be given goal sheets to complete. We, as coaches will also develop our own goals for what we would like to see our athletes achieve, and from there we will compare goals and develop a plan to help each individual athlete exceed their goals for the next season.

Sounds great you say, But what exactly does this look like?

Good question:  Over the next few posts I will be explaining in more detail how we do our annual training plan and season planning, as well as give you tips on how you can implement this to help you plan your own growth as an athlete, regardless of your level.

Stay Tuned!