This year’s Wimbledon final was fought out between two players, both of whom have a former superstar player as their coach. It seems obvious to think any individual who has reached the pinnacle of their sport, like Lendl, must understand it to great depth. This may well be true in certain cases. But there are clear examples that contradict this. I will use Tennis and Football as two examples to make a case for why “super-coaches” can both succeed and fail. The premier leagues most successful clubs mostly have managers who were average players, think Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger,...
Now there has been some time for reflection, some space for analysis. The over the top disbelief can be dispelled with and the usual “inquisition” into what went wrong, again, can begin. Sack the coach, the players, cut their pay and give them a break in the premier league season. All of these are trotted out every time England is struggling in international football. Yet the coach keeps changing, a lot of the players too, it is too simplistic to look for immediate changes to solve the problem. First we should look at the key question, how badly did England...
The concept of training as a team leans itself to everyone attending and performing the same programme. This means that everyone will see the benefit of the team effort correct? Well perhaps not. Team performance depends on individuals performing at their best as well as complimenting each other. Depending on the sport the importance of individual versus team priority will be varied. Clearly the importance of team discipline and coordination is far more important in Rugby union’s defensive line than it is in cricket, when the individual batting or bowling is most important in the team outcome. Why might team...
With the London Marathon fast approaching many of us are well into our official training schedules, me included. It is not uncommon to see people competing in the marathon in our physiotherapy clinic with various lower limb injuries. Most running injuries are related to the increased repetitive loads placed on the muscular system, resulting in tendinopathy (a broad term used for tendon pain). You might have heard these problems given other names depending on where they are felt, some of these include: trochanteric bursitis / gluteus medius tendinopathy (outer hip), Achilles tendinopathy / tendonitis, plantar fasciitis (bottom of foot/ heel...
Pain is all about PROTECTION! Pain is a fundamental part of everyone’s existence. It is an amazing and interesting system in the body. It can be torturous, attention seeking and sometimes rewarding. Athletes often clarify their efforts by the amount of pain they have been able to cause themselves! The body produces pain to protect us from harm (Moseley, 2015). Gone are the days of Rene Descartes when we believed the brain and body reacted directly to triggers in the outer part of the body. Pain has been found to be much more complicated than a simple relaying system. When...
