To give you some background on these pathways, essentially all our complex movements are written as motor programs within the brain and stored in motor areas and supplementary motor areas in the parietal lobe of the brain. A series of motor programs can be integrated to form one motor plan. These can be influenced by ‘higher centres’ such as long-term memory and these can cause adaptation of the plans according to past experience etc. The key to the execution of these plans is the basal ganglia, which sit at the top of the spinal cord in the brain stem (and why Parkinson’s patients have such a problem with both initiating and executing movements).

All very interesting (I hope!) but how does this fit into sport? Well here’s what I know. Most of these motor programs whilst they are stored in the parietal lobe are actually executed entirely by the spinal cord and basal ganglia. This means that most movements are not consciously thought about but happen automatically. The very complex integration of muscles, joints and movements just in standing up from a chair do not generally require conscious thought – we do it without thinking at all.

So this got me thinking about complex movements in sport. Surely there must be movements made by elite players e.g. Beckham striking a free kick or Nadal hitting an early ball that cannot by their very nature be ‘thought about’. They happen immediately, reflexly and without involvement of higher centres. And there must be many more sequences of movements in all sports that happen like this. This where training comes in – if we can train drills focusing on such events, then we can write a motor plan for this eventuality. In the game setting we can execute these plans without conscious thought, instinctively, reflexly and at high speed and accuracy.

The training of drills now can have real purpose and with this understanding athletes can realise how crucial the repetitive training aspect is and how it really can give them that extra edge.

Need more convincing….take Robin Van Persie’s goal last night for Arsenal (sorry Barcelona fans). He was around three yards from the baseline, not really facing the goal and hit a tremendous strike in at the near post and into the goal. Incredibly tight angle and the commentators described how he saw the goalkeeper give him a space and he went for the shot. I beg to differ! There is no way that was a conscious decision – he instinctively hit that ball and there was only one place it was going. He has practiced it, drilled it and there’s a motor program in there for it I’m sure!

Final words on this closer to home and also to me of amazing relevance to those of us involved in grass roots sport. This automated movement is not something that is confined to elite sport – it can be taught from a very young age. The young brain is very plastic (just see how well a young brain recovers from injury / illness compared to an adult one – or take my word for it!) and its ability to learn and re-learn is incredible. So I watched my nine year old (right footed) son play for the U10 Sabres football team I coach. Last week he was through on the right with only one player to beat. He cut inside and hit the ball without changing pace immediately with his LEFT (see above) foot. Totally reflexly, no thought involved. How do I know that? Well here’s the very interesting thing…..not 5 minutes later I spoke to him about the shot at the half time talk. He totally denied hitting the ball with his left foot, that the event had even happened – he had absolutely no recollection of the shot! Why – because I am certain that that decision came totally spinally with a motor plan execution that had no higher thought involved. No decision to do it, no using past experience, no long-term memory input. The pathway had never involved his higher centres so he actually had no memory of it! Amazing!

Okay lots more to say on this topic which as I am sure you can see I am very passionate about! Just so I don’t leave you hanging here’s the other pieces of information you might want to know to finish with – in Parkinson’s the motor plans are in fact intact but the execution is at fault and alas the shot was saved and we went out of the cup

Hope that was of interest to you all – let me know your thoughts!

So what really struck me the most was the knowledge, dedication and passion of the coaches on the ground. Every single one who visited the stand (quite a few I can tell you) really wanted to see what the HotSpot had to offer and how it could help their sessions and ultimately their teams.

The level of conversation I had with each one was at a far higher level than I have experienced in this country – the discussion started with the obvious need for agility and movement training in sport, in this case soccer. By the time they had left the stand they had thanked me for my time in talking with them and demonstrating the system and all its features. And for me after 3 days of demonstrating it on my own, my thighs and calves certainly felt it!

I was lucky to be able to attend a few key note sessions, the most notable with Shad Forsythe – Head Fitness trainer for the German National Football team. He gave a great field session on simple plyometrics and its relevance to soccer (football!) I was fortunate to be able to chat with him afterwards about fitness and agility training in soccer. What this confirmed was what Mike and I strongly believe, namely that fundamental movement skills and agility training are the cornerstone of developing young athletes into great sportsmen and women. It also reassured me that my style of football coaching with my U10 Sabres which has a heavy emphasis on agility and movement skills is exactly right – Shad feels that an hour fifteen session with developing athletes should comprise at least 30mins conditioning and agility without a ball in sight – Sabres your coach is right!

Another great conversation I had was with Scott Moody of the SoccerFit Academy. He is a strong believer in breaking down the components of any athletic game and dedicating training sessions to these specific areas. He spent some time with the HotSpot and could see that the system can really help with the acquisition of movement skills and at the elite end be able to measure activities that previously haven’t been measured.

So all in all a great show! For me the only question that remains is closer at heart…. Why is it that USA coaches really seem to get the whole movement training and agility aspects of sports coaching and yet in the UK if the training doesn’t involve a ball or a racquet then people seem very reluctant to listen? And this is not just at elite level but permeates right through every level of US sport.

Here endeth the lesson! Answers on a postcard or via this site!

VIDEO OF PRO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiew5hIjri4

It builds on the Hotspot concept of providing a system that is affordable yet versatile enough to fit into any training program for any sport.  The wireless “hotspots” offer  a simple way to create movement patterns and drills for your training program whilst offering an easy way to be flexible adhering to the needs of your athletes.

The PRO system comprises of 4 Hotspot’s (with improved sensitivity for increased reliability) and a “test” spot that is configured to be used with the vertical jump function in the base unit.  Also on the base unit are the standard “count” and “time” modes with split timing  as an extension of the “count” mode.   Now you really have every option for your training.

The PRO system now has the capabilities to be used in a variety of training settings.  Time and Count modes offer a training option where we can have our athletes work for a duration of time or be timed over a set number of spot hits.  We can use split timing to measure reaction abilities and differentiate between movements to the left and right.  Finally the jump mode does exactly as we expect using the time of flight as the basis of measurement.

Now, with the addition of the “test” spot we open up a few new training options.  We can use the “test” spot in drills that require only a single spot.  For example imagine a drill where athletes are required to start from a central point, sprint to the left, sprint past the centre to the right and return to the start (T test).  The test spot can accurately measure the drill using “count” mode and a single count of 1.  Due to the increased sensitivity we can effectively use the “zero” mode to start the timer by having the athlete place a foot on the spot prior to starting the activity should we want to eradicate reaction times and measure pure athletic ability.

The “test” spot is greater in sensitivity and also has a lower settling time of 0.25s (compared to the 0.5s of a standard hotspot) meaning that we can now accommodate hop tests where athletes have to return to the spot  in a time less than 0.5s.  For example in a hop test where athletes have to hop on to a low box and back down onto the spot or in a step up drills.

Earlier I mentioned the “time” and “count” modes and I would like to go into a little more detail.  Time mode is where we set a period of time we want the athlete to work, for example 20s.  We set up drills where athletes repeat movements and each spot trigger constitutes the final score.  In count mode we set the number of spots we want the athlete to trigger and the system provides the time (accurate to 100th of second) to complete the exercise.

The impact of the Hotspot PRO system is huge in that it is extremely adaptable to the training requirements.  The system itself forces athletes to control their movement and bodies much more and provides measurements that can be used to monitor progress, current performance and used in learning.   There really isn’t a better training aid and for the price can you afford not to add the PRO to your inventory?  Make It Count with Hotspot PRO!

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order now –  order@gameseducation.co.uk

The “flow” step is commonly used as a means of defending wide balls that have caused you to be on the run and over stretched.  The “flow” step allows you to hit the ball on the move and implement a braking method allowing quick and efficient recovery back into the court.  I am going to provide 3 variations of the drill and alongside each provide some coaching tips and analysis.

Flow Step Drill 1:

In this drill there are simply two spots.

1. positioned as a recovery point.

2. positioned where the outside foot is placed in order to execute the flow step.

The drill is a repetitive exercise that puts the execution of the flow step and the recovery under pressure.  There are two ways to do this.  Firstly repeat for a period of time, say 20 seconds or secondly to perform a set number of repetitions, (using the hotspot will provide both methods and give times and scores as feedback).   Obviously the repetitive nature is not tennis specific but the point of this is to isolate a “skill” and train it to be efficient and robust so it can be relied on in game play.   Also during a drill of this nature players will stress their concentration and their technique whilst putting it under time and fatigue pressure.

"Flow" step drill - basic

For the drill the player is asked to move from the centre of the court, perform the flow step and recover back to the recovery spot and repeat.  The timing of this will be affected by a number of variables.  Clearly the ability to execute an efficient flow step will aid in allowing the player to go quickly, apply the brakes and recover.

Flow Step Drill 2:

This drill uses the same configuration as above.  This time however, the system is put into it’s “zero” start mode which means that the first hit of a spot starts the timing.  We are also going to use a count of 1 which means that the player will perform a single flow step (which will start the timer) and then recover as quickly as possible to the recovery spot (which will stop the timer).

This drill is aimed at measuring the effectiveness of the flow step and the recovery speed.  Clearly improved times will reflect flow step braking and recover speed.

Flow Step Drill 3:

Flow steps can be executed in a variety of court positions.  We can position spots in alternative areas as to apply more movement pressure and execution stress to the player.

I have set up the drill as in the picture below.

Flow Step Adaptive Drill

There are numerous options in which order things are done, for example top, middle, bottom repeat or bottom, middle, top, middle, bottom etc.  Once again repetitions can be set or the drill can be done for time.  The key point to this drill is that players must adapt to different movement patterns needed to move and recover to each of the 3 areas. This adds additional pressures to the drill and improves complexity.  If players can perform the necessary skills in this environment there is a good chance they will be executed in game play.

These drills are not only useful for the “flow” step but by moving up the court and replacing with the appropriate footwork pattern you create a tactically, technically, physically, and mentally competent practice.

Finally, the hotspot system  provides for precision and repeatability of the drills and most importantly provides accurate feedback on the players performance that coupled with subjective, observations from the coach can be extremely powerful.  Players will gain a more complete understanding of where they are at and the level at which they perform.  In addition there is no better motivation once players start to own their development.

Hope you enjoy this post and can make use of it!

MAKE IT COUNT!

www.gameseducation.co.uk