Cycling Your Periodization - United States Olympic Committee

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U S O C2007 SurveyADDITIONAL INSIGHTSThe 2007 Survey ask some other key questions of our Elite LevelCoaches that were not in the 1988 Survey.Coaching ProblemsWhen faced with a coaching problem, how do youfind an answer?Talk to the athlete or athletes- 73.9%Talk to my assistants- 58.7%Talk to the High Performance Director- 39.1%Call another elite coach- 76.1%Call a sport scientist- 32.6%Think about it on my own- 63.0%The Elite Coaches could select any or all of thechoices above. The ability to contact and talkwith another elite level coach is very impressive.The reliance on those who “have been thereand done that” is very useful. It is interestingto note where Assistant coaches were in theorder of who they would get involved in aproblem. Not all of the elite programs haveassistant coaches; we do not have a number toconfirm how it affects this ranking. It is surprisinghowever, to see that Head Coaches do not rely ontheir assistants. The hiring practices and experience ofassistant coaches may need to be investigated.Traits or qualities of a successful elite coachThe Elite Coaches were asked to provide in a rank order five traitsor qualities that personify a successful coach. The results for thenumber one response are below:1. Communication (9)2. Knowledge (7)3. Commitment/Dedication (4)When viewing this question with all five answers, we get a morecomplete idea of the traits of an Elite level coach.1. Knowledge becomes number one (22 responses)2. Communication moves to second (19 responses)3. Listening (12 responses)4. Commitment, Dedication, Perseverance drops to fourth(11 responses),5. Leadership (8 responses)6. Passion and Open-mindedness/Flexibility/Creativity, Patienceand Drive all tied at sixth7. Respect being seventh.Coaching educationneeds to focus on the threefundamentals of coaching- Skillsof the sport, strategies of thesport and teaching the skillsof that sport.The following are twenty insights made by some of the coaches inanswer to this question:1. Ability to instill belief/trust/confidence in athletes2. Big Vision, balanced by ability to set and adjust goals3. Care about others more than self4. Perseverance and a sense of humor5. Attention to skills development of athletes; tailored to athleteneeds6. Precise training techniques and coaching on a daily basis7. Ability to filter8. Problem solving orientation9. Ability to observe without judgment10. Desire to improve through knowledge11. Quality Decision makers under pressure12. High level of integrity and fairness13. Ability to multi-task with equal amountsof high energy14. Knowledgeable and with an ability totransfer knowledge simplistically15. Focused on the process16. Creative, open minded to new ideas andapproaches17. Having thick skin18. Flexible, but decisive19. Excellent instructional skills, ability to delivermessages20. Understands critical zone trainingThis also provides us with insight into writing job descriptions forelite level coaches. Who better, than the coach themselves, to tellus what skills that the job needs.TAKE-AWAYS1. The greatest influences on the coaching style of future coachesare the current coaches. It is important to have and be goodrole models.2. A background of Physical Education is a stronger today thantwenty years previous. What will the effects of the reductionin physical education teacher preparation be on the coachingprofession? How do we counteract that change for our futurecoaches?3. Coaching education needs to focus on the three fundamentalsof coaching- Skills of the sport, strategies of the sport andteaching the skills of that sport. It is important that our eliteleve coaches feel comfortable and highly knowledgeable inteaching sport skills of their sport to their athletes.4. What are the qualities of an assistant coach? How can we teachthe aspects of how to be a good assistant coach?O L Y M P I C C O A C H V O L U M E 2 0 N U M B E R 1
y Dave Shrock, Modesto Junior CollegeCoaching has been described as the science of totalpreparation (Plisk & Stone 2003). Effective coachesof all levels rely on systematic training design, orperiodization, as a road map to optimal individual orteam success (Bompa 1999).Following these assertions, coaches should be guided bythe knowledge of what the crucial tasks are that must beaccomplished in the demands of the athlete’s event/position andof the sport. Tudor Bompa, an authority on periodization, states‘a coach is only as efficient as his or her organization and planning’(150). Bompa continues by stating that periodization is one of themost important concepts of training and planning, as structuredphases of training lead to the highest level of preparation andperformance. Training design, or periodization, provides guidance,direction and scope to training; yet needs to be simple, suggestive,and flexible so it can be modified to meet individual circumstancesor changing environments.Will Freeman, in his periodization book entitled Peak Whenit Counts (2001), suggests the three fundamental purposes ofperiodization: 1) to enable an individual or team to peak at theideal moment, 2) to achieve optimal training effect from eachphase of training, and 3) to make training an objective process.To create the objective process, coaches can measure and testathletes to assess progress towards goals, while at the same time,providing comparisons and objectivity so that the coach can makemodifications to workouts, if necessary, and fine-tune progresstowards the training objective.Periodization for Individuals and TeamsThe application of periodization varies between team andindividual sports. Considerations of training are determined bythe sport’s specific requirements, and the discipline demands ofeach athlete- such as power-speed positions versus endurancebased (Olbrecht 2000). Ledger (1998), suggests utilizing thestrategy on two levels. While the development of the individualis important to facilitate their positional and individual potential,team development can be addressed with periodization to producean efficient and cohesive unit. Often, individual and teamconcerns can overlap and complement each other dependingupon their time of season. During the off-season, or preparationphase, individual conditioning and strengthening plans can beutilized to raise the level of fitness and expertise of each player,while during the season, training as a unit should be utilized atevery opportunity. An excellent example of combining individualand team related technical training involves the use of gamerelated movements for conditioning. It has been suggested thatundulating, non-linear periodization, which will be discussedshortly, best suits team periodization when planning for the year.Variation within microcycles does remain important for team sportplayers, and this variation of training loads and volume dependsOften when we hear the term periodization, we think of it as arecent phenomenon. On the contrary, periodization began backin the ancient Olympics with Philostratus’s training of the athletes.U.S. collegiate athletic teams in the early twentieth centuryutilized more evolved systematic training, while the Germans inthe 1936 Olympics began refining periodization with four yeartraining plans. The concepts were further refined by Easternbloc state-funded regimes after the Second World War. In 1965,Leonid Matveyev published what has become the classic model forperiodization in the West. (Bompa 1999).O L Y M P I C C O A C H V O L U M E 2 0 N U M B E R 1
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Cycling Your Periodization - United States Olympic Committee

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