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!

http://www.gameseducation.co.uk/images/webgraphics/295.pdf

Make it Count – Team Hotspot

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!

www.gameseducation.co.uk

order now –  order@gameseducation.co.uk

The obvious answer is that it is at the discretion of the coach when he/she feels it is appropriate and that the child is demonstrating the relevant skill set.  Of course this differs from coach to coach so is there an answer?

It is observed that some children transition better than others from one stage to the other and that some struggle at certain stages.  Also those who achieve a high rating are allowed to transition by the rules but again depending on how they got their rating (by playing advanced tennis or by “fluke”) will depict whether they are able to transition effectively.  I personally have done both things.  I moved players up when they display what I thought was good play, when they reach the rating and also organically.

Recently I have kept my mini red players back on red and attempted to teach advanced footwork/physical attributes and advanced tactics and patterns of play and in all honesty they are starting to look like competent tennis players just smaller!  In addition we  experimented with bringing Orange players back to red and observed similar errors being made but also they learnt a lot about the game of tennis.  In hindsight they were moved to early..potentially?

Other countries have only recently adopted the 3 stages of development and there is an argument that you learn what you are exposed to and that development is a long road and everything doesn’t have to be done so early.  Countering that is that players could be more skilled at earlier ages and that training methods alter as they get older i.e. becomes more physical/mental based.

Finally, talent ID systems are very difficult to run since players will develop at differing rates and will transition differently as they move through.  That means a very fluid system needs to be in place to allow players who take up the sport late/find a love for it later on or simply just grow into it over time to access.

Again, my thought process is a bit scatty and I welcome all comments!

Stay strong,

Mike

Very young players are very much learning the game and in fact learning to play the game in a way that their coach wants them to.  What I mean is that if a coach is teaching hitting for depth then the coach would like to see this within matchplay at the expense of winning, right?  This past week my focus in training (mini red) has been using the forehand as a weapon in particular the run around or inside out forehand.  To my great pleasure my players tried to do this in their matches but with varying degrees of success sometimes resulting in losing.  Is this bad?

Interestingly there was a match where a highly skilled technical player came up against a much lesser player technically but got the ball back (due to the slower pace of mini red) in weird and wonderful ways.  Due to the size and strength of the age group there was few winners hit and more points were won by “fluking” the ball just over the net.  This is seen a lot at both red and orange mini tennis.

Now the question is….who is the better player with the better foundations and potential?  I would say it is still difficult to say as who knows what will happen to both players over the next few years but..an obvious answer is that the more technically developed will have greater success down the road.

I can see the point of competition from a learning the game and finding your game style perspective and in fact learning to compete and wanting to win etc.  What I am not quite understanding yet is the importance of the result?  Competition should be about winning and trying to win at least but in the big scheme of things what does the result matter?  Which leads me on to the final question….if it does not matter at red/orange or even green at what age does it matter?  Are the best players the ones that win a lot at a young age or not?

My thoughts have hit a wall so please if you have an opinion on this get in touch either by comment or email!

cheers

Mike

The background to this is the fundamental core of Games Education as a company – the one thing that led Mike and I to set it up. Not making huge sums of money (although maybe one day it would be nice to pay off all the loans!) but the strong belief and desire that every child playing sport and exercise should be able to use techniques and equipment similar to the professionals…

..why should only a very privileged few have access to such things…BECAUSE all the technology is too expensive and alas there aren’t many coaches out there like Mike who are passionate enough about coaching to try new things, to replicate the training of elite players and bring that coaching to the young players. I say this not as Mike’s business partner and friend but as the father on one of his protégés in tennis, my son Angus. It was hearing Mike say before a Sunday session that he had been looking at Nadal and Federer on You Tube the night before and was trying some of their drills with my son that stood out for me as a parent. That’s creative coaching and not confined by rigid guidelines of governing bodies. And the technology bit? Use scientific nowse, start from the very beginning and create a piece of technology that can be bought by the very entry point of sport and exercise. And so we created the HotSpot. And that’s accessible technology for sport and fitness. By definition.

Okay so where’s all this going….my concern is this. Why can’t we harbour the knowledge and passion that Mike and I have for sports coaching and combine it with tools and technology that are affordable and fun for children? You can I hear you say! Well we’d like to think so too, but we’ve faced an uphill battle with PCTs for obesity and schools for inclusion trying to convince them that by introducing healthy competition, by making sport and exercise fun and enjoyable, you will get more kids being active, having fun and ultimately all getting something out of it. My favourite expression that I have coined about this is it’s not about inter-competition but intra-competition. (Alas I guess this message my be lost on some audiences!) What I mean is we don’t want James to be better than John we want James to be better than James before! Why not get some times and scores and get some motivation. I work with children all day every day and they love competition! Everything is competition – but it’s about making that competition fun and using it to help each individual themselves. With me so far?!

So all the non believers that getting competition into schools and young people’s lives is a good thing, take note of the next bit. And the reason for me writing now…

I spent a very humbling afternoon yesterday with the group I mentioned at the beginning. I was asked by my friend and colleague from our football team if I knew who could help with his after school session that afternoon as the organisation (who I’d better leave nameless!) who had been booked to run the session had cancelled literally hours before. So in for a penny in for a pound I said I’d run a session. Having rushed down the motorway back home, out of a playground, some cones, footballs, ladders and a little goal I created an agility course for the ten or so kids assembled. Needless to say HotSpot was integral to mark out the way points and give me some scores. Urban Agility and Football had been born! Okay don’t want to labour the point but an hour later and two runs of the course, the header challenge and a crazy playground cross bar challenge later we had kept 10 kids very entertained and given it was around -3degrees, warm and entertained. Quick certificate giving for all and off they went.

Okay no need to feel smug but it really taught me something – most kids whatever their background can be entertained, helped and encouraged by good people skills, knowledge and fun and can get a lot from sport and exercise. That by having a little competition everyone got more from it. And that the most able and the least able all competed on the same level and all achieved.

And that’s what I want all those involved in sport and physical education who might doubt the fact that competition is good and healthy and right if conducted in a sensible manner to take on board.

If there’s still some non believers then this is the email I received today and I have entered it word for word…..

Nothing more to say huh but happy times and let’s give the kids what they deserve.

It is a wonderful time to be involved in sport however there does seem to be some major differences in approach in the UK and abroad.  Standing at the side of a high school football game with 2000 people was a bit odd since it is unheard of in the UK.  The approach that testing and measurements are key and that each individual strives to be the best they can be regardless of stature are stark contrast to my experience in the UK  particularly in schools.  On more than one occasion I have been told that scores and times encourage elitism and leave the weaker behind.  Is this not the case in the real world?

Funnily enough our local MP when asked about a multi million pound sports village to be built in rural Worcester had a similar opinion in that it would not benefit the community.  In aspects of understanding British culture he may well be correct as are we actually motivated to achieve or mollycoddled into a sense of averageness?

The can  do attitude of the American people could do us all a favour in the UK in times of difficulty.  Do we simply look for someone to blame or find the solution?  Hotspot and Games Education are in the mind set of striving to be the best when it comes to our sport and training.  If you want to achieve in sport whether it is getting fitter, playing pro or in my case getting a free education in the states on a scholarship you have to put the time and effort in from a young age..like it or not!  Going back to the sports village what better way to motivate the local community to achieve than providing an opportunity to succeed?  Ok, so I have a had a little rant and in all honesty it is a free following dialogue that is just putting some thoughts out there.  I would love to hear back from anyone who reads this with there opinions on things raised in this rant and check back for more thoughts and feelings.

hope all is good…and make it count!