It has been an exciting weekend, full of emotions, surprises and disappointments.
A weekend that has created a team that I hope will be more intrigued and motivated that they can do more for the upcoming season in time to come.
However, let me go through some thought processes that has been on my mind ever since training the NUS dragon boat team building up a team from scratch.
It was simply surprising to even imagine how far the boys have come even after paddling for a little more than 11 months together. They have proven to me that the order of the day when it comes to winning begins in the mind. The actual fire, desire and belief that they are willing to put their hearts and minds to try to match up against competitors who far outweigh them in terms of experience. I have begun to believe how much more this team has with how I may have judged them initially and it has nothing to do with experience.
Bouncing back from defeat after an unsuccessful run for MR500, the boys pulled themselves together to push through a torrid start of the season to see themselves finish second for all the categories that they have competed in. I would believe there is more to be done in the basics, but I would think it as an achievement by itself. It would be difficult to judge whether the training was enough but that I would have to go back to the drawing board to eke out some solutions.
Drawing out some conclusions after the race, the following would be what I will look into in future to emphasise in future trainings.
1) Basics - the catch and pull phase.
Much has to be done in this department as the basic skills are still lacking. Alot of attention has to be spent in this area to create more awareness of how they understand the water and how they would learn to react to differing conditions to execute the above mentioned skills more thoroughly
2) Basic Strength and eventually strength endurance.
Although we would believe that the whole is always bigger than the sum of its parts, but there must be thought and consideration in the conditioning that the boys are in before proceeding to manage intense loads and stresses involved in racing in a typical 1km race. Alot more emphasis has to be directed towards hypertrophy in the initial phases of training to maximise possible strength endurance capabilities. Bigger muscles will create higher capacities of strength endurance if the process is done correctly. Definitely something that I have to look back at the drawing board.
3) Utilisation of starts to mentally get ahead.
An area of improvement that has to be tackled from the start to make sure the boys understand that having a good start creates a better solution than trying to chase the competitor. We must be able to deliberately train for higher targets to build confidence to get ahead of the pack so as to gain mental confidence.
4) Running through the last charge.
The boys definitely lack the advantage at this point where muscle glycogen stores are severely depleted and the lack of drive at the end of the race. Little training was done to facilitate speed intensity at high stress levels which cause lack of form and structure to remain intact by the end of the race set. Much to do to work on this, something that can be easily rectified but difficult to attain without leaving the "comfort zone".
Well, it has been a good weekend, and a wonderful learning opportunity for myself. I hope to gain more from next season and see to a better training regimen for the team.
Sunday 12 July 2015
Saturday 27 December 2014
Coaching Fundamentals: Creating a Common Purpose
I find coaches in Singapore are excellent examples of the sport in their own right. They are technically proficient in their sport, possess technically sound fundamentals in the strategies employed in the sports that they have played in for years and create good platforms for the those who are willing to learn the sport that they so enjoyed in their years in the sport.
However, I believe fundamentally, we as coaches find some difficulty expressing the desire for the teams we coach to excel by creating a common purpose for individuals who come from many different backgrounds and experiences. I personally found this a challenge because each person in the team has their own motives and reasons as to why they join the sport of their choosing. I hope to share in this post how I have personally gone into framing the minds of my teams to create a shared purpose for them to paddle not just for themselves but for the good of the team.
1) Objectives / Goals
I think it can be clearer to the team if the objectives of joining the team can be expressed right from the start. Many coaches fail to see this as an important point to unite the team in the shared purpose of pursuing their goals. Whether be it finishing the race together even if they come in last, or racing till their lungs burst, the objective has to met out to the team to set the expectations for the team.
2) Expectations
Although used interchangeably with the word "objective", I believe the word expectations has a more roundedness in its use, especially when used in the long term. The team has to understand how their expectations of themselves has to match the objectives of the team and how they are to be accountable for their own improvement. I have personally set the bar high for my teams to expect the best of themselves in any of the training sessions they are to execute because only then will they be able to race easy. As they say, train hard, race easy.
3) Clarity
It is only with clarity of what the team wants that will fully embody the purpose of the team's existence. If the leadership in the team becomes clear with the above two points, the team will set a higher standard for themselves in achieving the goals set for them. The reasons and purpose for them to come to training will become stronger as they see a clear direction in the path the team is taking.
I think the challenge in coaching young teams has definitely giving due time to make sure that the above 3 points are constantly being imbued into each training session. Setting goals, expectations and giving clear directions in the actions they take in each training session gives them a strong purpose in achieving success in such a dynamic environment where many individuals may have different opinions and establish their own set of expectations. I hope that I may have done better in this aspect, because I know there is only so little in terms of fundamentals that I can coach, for the better part of the team's success is getting them to paddle with one heart, one mind and one soul.
Monday 8 December 2014
A 3 Step Guide to Training Plan and Debrief Frameworks
Over the years of paddling, I have gone through many coaches and through their instructional methods, I definitely learnt alot from them. Unfortunately, I never really went through a training session that was completely devoid of unnecessary talk that was far too long or far too off topic where it basically lacks a framework that was concise, brief and to the point.
I will not choose to blame any of these coaches for handling debriefs in a slightly haphazard manner noting that they could have probably used "old school methods" to drill in paddling terminologies into young paddlers at the end of the race or training session in the hopes of achieving their objective of "teaching" the paddlers what they ought to have learnt over the session. However, it just leaves the paddlers confused as to what the coach was trying to drive at when he starts to talk about topics that may not have applied to the lesson the paddlers went through which may lead to distrust and frustration for the paddlers in believing in the coach's plan.
I believe fundamentally that there is a better way of instruction so that our paddlers can definitely be very focused in achieving the specific objectives of the training session or in certain cases, races. I would hope to highlight in this post how I arrive at every training session with a clear plan in mind leading up to what I would eventually say in a debrief.
Planning
A coach can only be as specific as the lesson he or she plans. It will only take a minute or two to spell out exactly the expectations that he will be setting for the training for that session that the paddlers will be executing.
I make it a point to spell out the objectives of the training programme for the day so that they will know exactly what we are looking to achieve today. Whether it be strength endurance training with resistance, speed endurance training, cadence training, or even technique checks. This would clear the paddlers mind in terms in performing to the specific objective of the training session without having to be concerned with speed on the GPS for example which would hamper the performance of a paddler if that was not part of his objective.
Of course, the coach has to has a consistent structure to his training program so that anyone who is going to take over training in his absence will be able to conduct his training without him. This will help facilitate a system from where his captains will easily be able to follow a simple plan directed in his absence.
Execution
As they say, planning does not necessarily lead to perfect execution and this is where following through the plan takes shape. I believe in strong fundamentals of keeping to timing in terms of duration of exercise and rest times to maximise the time available to the paddlers for training. However, contingencies will have to be arranged for situations where paddlers may not be fully prepared to take on the rigour of the program set out by myself and he has to cut down on training to match his paddlers potential. It would only make sense for the paddlers to achieve targets that they will be able to meet for them to push themselves abit more in future. Stretching the targets too far too early will only demotivate them further if not handled carefully.
Debrief
I would believe this is the most crucial part of the training because debriefs would highlight all the possible points that the coach has set out for the team and to give the team an overview of whether the team has met them. I would advise coaches to take on specific frameworks either derived from experience or specific influences from other areas in their lives to facilitate the team's progress and performance in every race. Personally I would stick to 3 points of observation based on 3 objectives that I set out before the training program is carried out to let my guys keep track of their progress of achieving the objectives or goals.
I guess this would really be too general an article to be very specific about how I conduct training and debriefs and I hope to be able to share more specifically step by step my thought process of planning, execution and debriefs. I hope that this would be the first for many more articles on training program planning.
I will not choose to blame any of these coaches for handling debriefs in a slightly haphazard manner noting that they could have probably used "old school methods" to drill in paddling terminologies into young paddlers at the end of the race or training session in the hopes of achieving their objective of "teaching" the paddlers what they ought to have learnt over the session. However, it just leaves the paddlers confused as to what the coach was trying to drive at when he starts to talk about topics that may not have applied to the lesson the paddlers went through which may lead to distrust and frustration for the paddlers in believing in the coach's plan.
I believe fundamentally that there is a better way of instruction so that our paddlers can definitely be very focused in achieving the specific objectives of the training session or in certain cases, races. I would hope to highlight in this post how I arrive at every training session with a clear plan in mind leading up to what I would eventually say in a debrief.
Planning
A coach can only be as specific as the lesson he or she plans. It will only take a minute or two to spell out exactly the expectations that he will be setting for the training for that session that the paddlers will be executing.
I make it a point to spell out the objectives of the training programme for the day so that they will know exactly what we are looking to achieve today. Whether it be strength endurance training with resistance, speed endurance training, cadence training, or even technique checks. This would clear the paddlers mind in terms in performing to the specific objective of the training session without having to be concerned with speed on the GPS for example which would hamper the performance of a paddler if that was not part of his objective.
Of course, the coach has to has a consistent structure to his training program so that anyone who is going to take over training in his absence will be able to conduct his training without him. This will help facilitate a system from where his captains will easily be able to follow a simple plan directed in his absence.
Execution
As they say, planning does not necessarily lead to perfect execution and this is where following through the plan takes shape. I believe in strong fundamentals of keeping to timing in terms of duration of exercise and rest times to maximise the time available to the paddlers for training. However, contingencies will have to be arranged for situations where paddlers may not be fully prepared to take on the rigour of the program set out by myself and he has to cut down on training to match his paddlers potential. It would only make sense for the paddlers to achieve targets that they will be able to meet for them to push themselves abit more in future. Stretching the targets too far too early will only demotivate them further if not handled carefully.
Debrief
I would believe this is the most crucial part of the training because debriefs would highlight all the possible points that the coach has set out for the team and to give the team an overview of whether the team has met them. I would advise coaches to take on specific frameworks either derived from experience or specific influences from other areas in their lives to facilitate the team's progress and performance in every race. Personally I would stick to 3 points of observation based on 3 objectives that I set out before the training program is carried out to let my guys keep track of their progress of achieving the objectives or goals.
I guess this would really be too general an article to be very specific about how I conduct training and debriefs and I hope to be able to share more specifically step by step my thought process of planning, execution and debriefs. I hope that this would be the first for many more articles on training program planning.
Monday 24 November 2014
Race Strategy Training
Many would agree in the racing world how important race strategy training is for the athletes' as a way to focus themselves toward specifically training for a race. As far as my limited experience as a coach has been, I have seen for myself how well race specific strategies improve my paddlers on many different aspects of the sport. In this article, I would very much like to share the 5 learning points that I have picked up from using race strategy training.
1) Focus and direction
It seems that on my previous occasions on races before I used this technique, my paddlers would find having an ambigious plan that resulted in me changing the game play at the very last moment very unnerving and disorientating. I learnt alternatively to focus on a very specific game plan that they would be very confident of executing based on their strengths and would give them a very specific direction in how my training would be performed prior to the weeks leading up to the race.
2) Confidence
I have seen how my paddlers became more confident in executing their strokes when they can actually count the number of strokes that they would have to execute at every part of the race. Giving them the exact layout of a race gives them the confidence they need to achieve the targets and it spreads really quick when their execution is exactly (or close to) what they practiced.
3) Increased performance
With increased confidence in their race plan, it is easily observable that their performance increases by more than what they expected. Expectations increase after every race, as the team take advantage of the increased performance from each race.
4) Better synchronicity
As opposed to being very haphazard in their previous races when they were given an ambigious race plan which changes from race to race, it gave the paddlers much attention to making sure that they were all in sync when they have practiced this by counting verbally what they would have practiced and executed this in the race.
5) Reduced complexity in communicating post race debriefs
In contrast to the vagueness of previous debriefs where debriefs are general in nature, specificity gives them much better control in communicating improvements between team members, relating constructive feedback to team members and providing very specific details on race portions (i.e. starts, body or finishes) that they can improve on. It creates a very solid platform for communicating simple tweaks to improve the different parts of the race without confusing the team on too much technicality.
1) Focus and direction
It seems that on my previous occasions on races before I used this technique, my paddlers would find having an ambigious plan that resulted in me changing the game play at the very last moment very unnerving and disorientating. I learnt alternatively to focus on a very specific game plan that they would be very confident of executing based on their strengths and would give them a very specific direction in how my training would be performed prior to the weeks leading up to the race.
2) Confidence
I have seen how my paddlers became more confident in executing their strokes when they can actually count the number of strokes that they would have to execute at every part of the race. Giving them the exact layout of a race gives them the confidence they need to achieve the targets and it spreads really quick when their execution is exactly (or close to) what they practiced.
3) Increased performance
With increased confidence in their race plan, it is easily observable that their performance increases by more than what they expected. Expectations increase after every race, as the team take advantage of the increased performance from each race.
4) Better synchronicity
As opposed to being very haphazard in their previous races when they were given an ambigious race plan which changes from race to race, it gave the paddlers much attention to making sure that they were all in sync when they have practiced this by counting verbally what they would have practiced and executed this in the race.
5) Reduced complexity in communicating post race debriefs
In contrast to the vagueness of previous debriefs where debriefs are general in nature, specificity gives them much better control in communicating improvements between team members, relating constructive feedback to team members and providing very specific details on race portions (i.e. starts, body or finishes) that they can improve on. It creates a very solid platform for communicating simple tweaks to improve the different parts of the race without confusing the team on too much technicality.
Wednesday 8 January 2014
Cadence Training for Dragon Boat
I recently used an metronome app and used it for cadence training for the teams I have been training with
and the results I must say have been particularly impressive.
Metronome training has traditionally been used for musicians such as guitarists, drummers to keep a consistent rythm for the beats of songs that they are playing especially for live events. I have seen many physical versions that require the metronome to be attached to a earphone and the drummer uses it to catch the beat per minute of the set.
Using a bluetooth speaker to amplify the volume of the metronome app on my trusty Xperia Z, my paddlers have been able to generate increased performance of over 10% within 2 sessions of using it. They find it a clearer assessment of the ability to gauge a constant pace and they are better able to judge pulling faster through the water to engage the next stroke. I have seen more consistent efforts at low ratings to generate more efficiency and synchronisation for every stroke applied to the water.
I never really expected to use this until I came across an article on cadence training in cycling which made alot of sense in cycling to increase performances at low cycling rates while improving on the effectiveness of the cycling technique.
Many of these sports apply similar principles in cadence training to improve performances over the long run.
I hope to see more benefits of using the metronome in time to come.
For those who are interested in getting the app, it is free on the Play Store for Android Phones - Mobile Metronome.
and the results I must say have been particularly impressive.
Metronome training has traditionally been used for musicians such as guitarists, drummers to keep a consistent rythm for the beats of songs that they are playing especially for live events. I have seen many physical versions that require the metronome to be attached to a earphone and the drummer uses it to catch the beat per minute of the set.
 |
| Screen capture of the mobile metronome |
I never really expected to use this until I came across an article on cadence training in cycling which made alot of sense in cycling to increase performances at low cycling rates while improving on the effectiveness of the cycling technique.
Many of these sports apply similar principles in cadence training to improve performances over the long run.
I hope to see more benefits of using the metronome in time to come.
For those who are interested in getting the app, it is free on the Play Store for Android Phones - Mobile Metronome.
Thursday 14 November 2013
Singapore River Regatta 2013: Post Race Reflections
With the Singapore River Regatta 2013 behind me, I have seen all my teams earn credible results in their outings in their respective categories..
Team MSF finished their race beating their previous timings in trainings.. They fought incredibly hard against their much more experienced opponents and I could see it in their eyes that wanted to do better out on their next outing. I admire their courage for taking up the sport and I can see much more potential in them with more to come:)
Team NUS managed to go into the tertiary finals only missing out on a podium spot by mere seconds. Their juniors went in fighting for a spot in the semi-finals of the mens open also missing out by mere split seconds. I only can say that it is only really the beginning of more exciting things come March when they battle it out again with their rivals in their Tertiary Category. It will take time and effort to reach the possible goals that they are going to achieve. It is going to be an excellent season ahead!
And finally, I ended the weekend with a truly deserved second place finishing with Team OneStroke in the PA GRO finals.
That race was truly a nail biting finish as they were behind for most of the race until the final 25 meters where they edged out the other 2 competitors to finish a close second merely 0.2 seconds behind their rivals.
The race was purely exhilarating even from shore; when we only managed to inch past almost everyone only in the final few meters of the race.
What made that second place finish more delightful was that for many of these paddlers, they have been awaiting a Regatta medal for many years; for a few as long as 5 years and for one, an excruciatingly long 7 years.. I was not only happy for the results but the true happiness it brings to the entire team for them to experience a new level of greatness that they have ever rarely felt before.
It all started from believing in the will to win, regardless of their circumstances and ability because it is all this team truly needed at the start.
I have still to learn alot more of this fine art of dragon boat, a classic sport that truly entails all manner of beauty, grace, aggression and skill all combined into one majestic performance on race day.
Time for me to reflect back on my learnings and learn more to share with the world this art and science of dragon boat paddling. Till my next post..
Yours Truly,
The Original Paddlegeek
Team MSF finished their race beating their previous timings in trainings.. They fought incredibly hard against their much more experienced opponents and I could see it in their eyes that wanted to do better out on their next outing. I admire their courage for taking up the sport and I can see much more potential in them with more to come:)
Team NUS managed to go into the tertiary finals only missing out on a podium spot by mere seconds. Their juniors went in fighting for a spot in the semi-finals of the mens open also missing out by mere split seconds. I only can say that it is only really the beginning of more exciting things come March when they battle it out again with their rivals in their Tertiary Category. It will take time and effort to reach the possible goals that they are going to achieve. It is going to be an excellent season ahead!
And finally, I ended the weekend with a truly deserved second place finishing with Team OneStroke in the PA GRO finals.
 |
| The runners up, all smiles! |
 |
| More of the winning team! |
The race was purely exhilarating even from shore; when we only managed to inch past almost everyone only in the final few meters of the race.
What made that second place finish more delightful was that for many of these paddlers, they have been awaiting a Regatta medal for many years; for a few as long as 5 years and for one, an excruciatingly long 7 years.. I was not only happy for the results but the true happiness it brings to the entire team for them to experience a new level of greatness that they have ever rarely felt before.
It all started from believing in the will to win, regardless of their circumstances and ability because it is all this team truly needed at the start.
 |
| The management team with me, Edwin, our team manager and Jojo our captain. |
I have still to learn alot more of this fine art of dragon boat, a classic sport that truly entails all manner of beauty, grace, aggression and skill all combined into one majestic performance on race day.
Time for me to reflect back on my learnings and learn more to share with the world this art and science of dragon boat paddling. Till my next post..
Yours Truly,
The Original Paddlegeek
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