CREATING THE TOTAL STUDENT ATHLETE: Looking at all the Pieces to Solve the Puzzle

The term, “student athlete” as most commonly used, usually refers to collegiate athletes. However, it is MORE important to emphasize adding the “student” prefix when considering the development of pre-adolescent and adolescent athletes. 

When it comes to balancing the “student” with the “athlete” there are many developmental components to consider.

In my last post I stated: “Look at your athletes as “resources” but DO NOT FORGET THAT your sport is ONLY A PIECE of the total ENERGY PIE AVAILABLE to each athlete. Plan training and practice volumes with this in mind. Do not add to the stresses of the athlete and make it a part of your program to educate athletes on the importance of Sleep, Nutrition, Time-Management, Stress Reduction & Academic Management skills. These may be more important to their overall DEVELOPMENT than any of the sport skills or training that you can give them.”

Both educational and athletic administrators are quick to emphasize all the positive benefits of competitive sport participation, such as teamwork, sportsmanship, dedication, citizenship, discipline, fair play, development of positive work ethic, etc, but many times overlook the connectivity of all parts of a teen’s life to their overall success in academic, athletic and social/family endeavors.

Teachers many times lose sight of the work loads that may be imposed by the other teachers. Coaches many times lose sight of the amount of hours required for the weekly academic work responsibilities of their athletes. Parents many times lose sight of the importance of quality sleep, nutrition and a balanced social life to the overall (academic, social and physical) development of their children. 

It is easy to forget that ALL THE SYSTEMS of the body are interconnected in such a way as to negatively or positively affect the other systems and, thus, the overall balance of the body that is critical to the optimal growth and maturation of the teenager!

Coaches need to consider that intensities, volumes  and hours of physcial work need to be balanced with the stress loads of academic and family responsibilities. In addition, teachers and parents need to understand the totality of academic, social and athletic resonsiblities that are expected of their children. Stresses from all of these demands can be unrealistic in terms of the emotional, psychological and physical abilities of the individual teenager. 

IT SHOULD NOT BE ASSUMED THAT CHRONOLOGICAL AGE determines the readiness of an individual to handle all the stresses of being a teenager, whether it be physical readiness for “elevated physical training”, academic readiness for “honors classes” or emotional readiness for living up to expectations in athletics, academics and home life.

Some of the observations I have made in the last few years reveals a LACK of “postural development”, adequate FMS and AMSC foundational movement patterns, proper nutrition and adequate amounts of quality sleep. All of the above trends make today’s high school athletes vulnerable to the many serious joint, back, overuse and soft tissue injuries that COULD BE AVOIDED. 

For instance, overtraining  has a tendency to be more prevalent when athletes experience high volumes of training, multiple hours of homework and lack of the optimal amounts of quality sleep.

Adoption of consistent habits concerning 1) optimal nutritional intakes, 2) adequate hours of quality sleep and 3) properly designed and individualized training programs are the KEYS to optimal physical growth, maturation and successful cognitive development for adolescent student athletes.

For “student athletes”, it is important to keep in mind that cognitive ability in the classroom and physical performance on the fields, courts, pools, etc. requires a balanced approach so that success in either academics or athletics does NOT SUFFER because of the time spent in the other.

SLEEP, NUTRITION, TIME MANAGEMENT AND PROPER PHYSICAL TRAINING METHODS are all areas we need to evaluate before teen athletes fall prey to overuse, overtraining, poor academic performance and interferences of the growth and maturation processes that are highly elevated during the adolescent period.

In my next posts, I will share articles on Sleep, Nutrition and Physical Training Protocols that CAN alleviate injuries, allow for optimal physical and emotional maturation and enhance the cognitive abilities that are needed for successful academic performance.

ONE THING I WANT TO SHARE THROUGH THE BLOG BY KELVIN GILES BELOW, IS THAT ALL SCHOOLS HAVE A VEHICLE IN WHICH TO PROPERLY EVALUATE THE MOVEMENT, POSTURAL, FITNESS AND HEALTH NEEDS OF ALL STUDENTS….IF ONLY THEY SEIZED THE OPPORTUNITY TO USE IT.  

WHAT IS THIS VEHICLE THAT, IF INTEGRATED WITH THE SPORTS PROGRAMS  FOR TRAINING PURPOSES, CAN PROVIDE “FREE” DEVELOPMENT OF NEEDED MOVEMENT SKILLS, PHYSICAL QUAITIES AND NUTRITIONAL EDUCATION?

IT IS THE LONG DORMANT PHYSICAL EDUCATION CLASS.  See what some of the best coaches have to say  by reading the blog by Kelvin. Too many good ideas and solutions to the above problems here TO IGNORE.

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Nice’ PE

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Kelvin Giles

 

I would recommend that as many people as possible do their best to become part of the GAIN network. This is the brainchild of Vern Gambetta and is epitomised by the annual one-week conference held in June each year where a group of practitioners join an incredible faculty to get back to common-sense in all aspect of Athletic Development. To find out more visit www.gambetta.com and get some fact-finding done.

On the forum that the GAIN network has created there are daily interactions between all the members who offer appropriate guidance to all questions pertaining to teaching, coaching, development, high performance, injury, well-being, etc. It is a vibrant forum and very practical-minded. The key philosophy is one of sharing and integrity. Recently one of the members (Adam Moss) highlighted a recent article in the Washington Post -

http://m.washingtonpost.com/local/education/us-schools-develop-a-nicer-version-of-gym-class/2014/06/14/40e2aba8-ecf2-11e3-93d2-edd4be1f5d9e_story.html

Now I am all in favour of people and organisations ‘questioning their assumptions’ and creating alternative positions on certain subjects but my reply to the content of this article was as follows:

A colleague of mine said that ‘at least this is a step forward, at least it is something’. I guess this is true – anything that improves the physical well-being of people is to be applauded. Hearing that though just gets me mad. I get tired of hearing that something is better than nothing. It’s time to stop apologising for mistakes and actually stop making them. Parents, teachers, coaches, curriculum designers, PE decision-makers, Health and Nutrition agencies – you have been appeasing – trying to find the least painful decision for the people you say you love and care for. You have created mediocrity and you have created a generation that is bereft of the ability to overcome adversity or absorb inconvenience and discomfort.

To me there are 3 major pillars of physical well-being – Movement (mechanical) efficiency and consistency; Cardio-Respiratory fitness & consistency; Nutritional quality & consistency. Within the Mechanical & Cardio-Respiratory area are all the exercise prescriptions and modalities that GAIN always talks about e.g. solving movement puzzles; precision of movement; building from the ground up; work capacity; the 24-hour athlete; commitment; perseverance; etc.

Sitting above such prescriptions must be some powerful mission statement and the word ‘compulsory’ should appear in it. They either do physical work or they don’t. At the moment the majority simply don’t and it is this change that will make the difference. I remember Greg’s APS (anti-perspiration syndrome) and see this as the key issue. You can appease them or get them back to work. You are kidding if you class Archery and Fly-Fishing as being effective in terms of delaying the onset of cardio-respiratory disease or obesity. These are pastimes or hobbies and will do little to address the catastrophic position the younger generations (and their parents) find themselves in.

Appeasement doesn’t work. Being ‘nice’ to them doesn’t work (I know – neither does bullying). Someone needs the cojones to raise the bar and stop offering futile, mediocre choice and start to demand attitude and commitment to difficult, compulsory tasks. Stop coaxing them and start coaching them. Stop enabling them to be mediocre.

It reminds me of a statement I read recently when a panel of experts were discussing the rise of the radical elements of religion worldwide and the awful effect this growth was having on peaceful, multi-cultural societies -

‘The peaceful majority are irrelevant’

The more the majority of people accept wrong-doing the more that wrong-doing becomes accepted. We stay supposedly safe in our personal environments and allow wrong-doing to gain a foothold. This is reflected in the current approach to changing the sedentary lifestyle of the younger generation and their parents. We can continue to bleat about obesity and the lack of physical literacy of current generations and watch all our health services be crushed under the tsunami of self-inflicted disease and try to solve the problem by appeasement. Or we can embrace positive action and make positive decisions even though inconvenience and discomfort are attached. When did we place ‘inconvenience’ and ‘discomfort’ on the ‘can’t do’ list of life-skills? When did it become unfashionable to talk about sacrifice and consequences? When did it become improper to have our children to sweat and toil physically on a daily basis? When did we allow Physical Education (the real ‘physical stuff’) to become an option for teenagers just when they so desperately need to be physically active? When did PE see the only answer being a ‘Competitive Games based Curriculum’ when the problems are in health, fitness and well-being? When did we embrace mediocrity so heartily?

‘Nice’ PE….cont’d

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Kelvin Giles

 

This another illustration of the quality and common-sense that prevails on the GAIN forum. My good friend and colleague Greg Thompson – an exemplary practitioner whether teaching or coaching sport – reacted to the article on ‘Nice’ PE as follows:

At the core of the issue, to me at least, is what I tweeted out following Adam’s on this. The “new PE” folks are doing something we would never do in Reading or Math. Their approach with kids who have nothing fitness-related in their life is to hook them by getting them to do things that are fun. This is another failed model in my mind because it only addresses a symptom. Of course Johnny doesn’t like to elevate his heart rate because he is morbidly obese. So, let him do archery or bowling. He won’t be more fit, but he will like PE. On the other side of this is the mindless cardio approach that we see with a variety of machines from Dance, Dance, Revolution to all permutations of mindless movement to music. I saw an article last year with a school library that had bicycles that powered video games. Somewhere along the line, we stopped feeling ok about having everyone accountable for being fit. Worse, in my mind, is that we don’t hook kids on liking how it feels to be fit. We have not done that in Math and Reading and anyone who has had any dealings with “no child left behind” and worked in a school that is deemed “failing” knows the mountain of documentation necessary to dig out of that hole. We go to extraordinary lengths on the academic side so that we do not lower our standards. My standard is that everyone who comes through the program will have multiple growth opportunities during their time in my building. They will be challenged and held to standards that come from our district but more importantly, their personal best effort. Our standards tend to be so low that once you really get kids working, the low district standards are speed bumps. And, just as in our coaching, we fail occasionally as teachers and have to re-think things. That is different than accepting low or in the case of “new PE” no standards. As Kelvin said, someone has to have the courage to have an honest conversation that could save an obese child’s life.

Some Other relevant comments

Adam Moss – PE needs direction otherwise it will continue to be a ship at sail just following the prevailing winds.

Greg Thompson – Perhaps something could be set up where a handful of folks come and work with your students in front of your staff. When I visited Mark Day in Ohio for a workshop, I put together an exercise video with a group of kids I had never met. We had a blast and when I left they had 10 new movement challenges and a 6 minute video.

Vern Gambetta – The “New PE” needs to be the old PE with a little sensitivity thrown in. We need trained PE teachers and PE must be mandatory daily. The new PE movement is espousing methods and ideas that have proven not to work. This is a problem that needs attacking with the same energy and resources that we used to send men to the moon. It is a crisis that will literally and figuratively KILL US – individually and as a society. AL Queda does not need to bomb us, we will sit and eat ourselves into oblivion.

Steve Myrland – I have little use for consensus building in times of genuine crisis. We begin moving (visibly, actively, forcefully and publicly) in a positive direction and encourage those who turn their heads toward us and seem curious to come along.

Steve Myrland – We can show selected people what we have created to deal with the essential (and pan-cultural / universal) problems created by the perfect-storm that is the combination of sedentary living and plentiful, engineered, processed, toxic food.

Adam Moss – I saw three teachers walk their classes down to the track and huddled and chatted for an hour while the kids walked the track (their obvious PE or ‘fitness’ lesson)- what would the algebra or history equivalent to that be?

The above thoughts are typical of the people that I am honoured to be associated with. They aren’t just ‘talkers’ they are ‘doers’ and their comments are born of thousands of hours of delivery.