CACC National Jumps Conference

This weekend found me at the National Jumps Conference organized by the Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre. Featuring the likes of Boo Shexnayder, Dan Pfaff and Nelio Moura, to say that I was privileged to attend would be an understatement.

Working closely with the team at UofA and the CACC, my primary objective for the conference was this: To immerse myself in the sport of athletics, and deepen my knowledge, to help improve and refine my day to day workings as an integrated sport medicine and performance professional.

Therefore, from a harmonized training and therapeutic perspective, below are some concepts of what I took away:

Please remember that this is solely based on my interpretation and potential confirmation bias :)

• Training considerations - especially from a developmental perspective - should be based on the continuum concept. That from beginners on one end to the elite high performer on the other, we need to find where - along this continuum - the athlete fits, always keeping in mind where they're going to be.
• Coordination, being a theme stressed regularly throughout the conference, can often equate to freedom of movement. That a lack of freedom of movement often leads to, and results from, a lack of coordination.
• Thus, coordination development may be THE variable determining success and failure. Because general coordination training is the base upon which you build techniques. And that "injury prevention" essentially is giving (young) athletes the greatest number of tools to develop skills, so that once they develop into ferraris, greater coordination will increase degrees of freedom - or greater resilience for injury - with higher speeds and power.
• General strength is important for all athletes. For the younger athletes, it is a window into coordination. For the older athletes, it serves a different purpose - insurance for overtraining syndromes.
• In the information age that we live in, it is easy to want to fit everything (from the smorgasbord) in, be it programming or rehab. But as Henk Kraaijenhof (relayed through Dan) stated,

"...it is not so much (important) that one does all that he can, but that one does what is necessary".

• So sometimes we simply need to be more dynamic and creative with programming, implementing more rest and recovery than what is traditionally prescribed. As Dan stated, "Why don't we study rest like we study work...when you rest and unplug, certain things happen, and I think they're positive".
• Although specifically suggested (at least I think) from a coaching standpoint, I personally take the following from a therapeutic strategy standpoint:  Training management (I see it as injury prevention and performance enhancement as well) is all about "error detect and correct".
• Work capacity is the ability to execute a skill perfectly, more often. The ability to do specific things really well, for unique periods.
• Analysis can be both quantitative and qualitative. The ideal is to mix them together. The qualitative is a coach's - and performance therapist's ;) - most basic tool. And for the qualitative, it is important to have 1) a trained "eye", 2) a clearly defined model, and 3) methodical observation
• Motor coordination at speed is very important. "If the rhythm is there, the position will be there"
• Postural skills are comprised of "Postural Stability" and "Postural Alignment" (in a dynamic sense)
• The more variety you have in training stimuli, the greater the ability to adapt
• On the value of the preparation period - we must recognize what we've already put in. That just because you may stop putting water into a tank at a given point (i.e. competition), it doesn't mean you don't have any water left in the tank. The regression/evaporation process is slow.
• We must aim to breed independence in our athletes rather than dependence. Are you a dictator or a facilitator? Because sometimes, even in the most grandiose of settings, the inherent danger of a good support system is what is no longer present when an athlete graduates from your program.
• From Dan,

"Many forms of training exist in the world today, but research confirms that a synthesis of these systems always leads one back to a classification scheme of BASIC BIOMOTOR ABILITIES".

• Psychology is a skill that needs to be incorporated into a training program.
• Most athletes who fail in major games, it's not the athlete who fails but the coaches who fail them.
• The tendency in this generation is to read what's modern, hip and new with little foundation in reading the classics (such as Geoff Dyson's "Mechanics of Athletics". Thus, many lack the ability to think critically and truly understand the big picture. 

• Multithrows can be substituted in for multijumps with leg, foot and ankle injuries
• Rehabilitative and regenerative therapies (i.e. manual/massage therapy) should be creatively and strategically integrated into an athlete's program. For example, on highly technical days, this is where targeted soft tissue work can be utilized within an athlete's warm up whereas on recovery days, deep tissue work can incorporated - so long as you respect the days that follows.
• Additionally, "F1 race car tuning" can also be implemented actively  (athlete independent) through motor-reeducation schemes (movement patterns to re-educate brain plasticity in consideration of training through and around injury), special walk series with heavy implements held overhead (hurdle mobility for postural analysis/improvement in fatigued states), and dynamic fascial mobility/flexibility drills (i.e. during cool down)
• An interesting thought regarding hydrotherapy that was noted was the consideration of athletes who may be high in tone or "fascially tight". In such athletes, cold baths may be less advantages than a nice soak with epsom salts.
• Although "athlete-centered" coaching and ethical planning models are commonly spoken of in sport, perhaps our contemporary planning and applied periodization strategies may actually have negative impacts. Athlete empowerment and learning essentially should be top of mind when developing adaptive athletes, because it is those adaptive athletes who are most likely to attain success come competition time. So we may need to address the unintended consequences that can come with strict organization of space, time and movement in our training plans. I will be posting more on this in the near future.

I cannot thank the folks at the CACC and UofA enough for this opportunity. For those interested in athletics, the Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre website is highly educational and one built upon academics. There's a wealth of information, such as podcasts and lectures from expert coaches around the world, so I would highly encourage you to check it out.
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*Note: My good friend Thomas Lam also posted a nice review. Click on this link to check it out.
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