In this episode of the Pacey Performance Podcast, after 7 years since he first appeared on the show, Rob is joined by High Performance Consultant, Kelvin Giles. With a career spanning decades in both the UK and Australia, Kelvin brings a wealth of experience and insight into the challenges and successes of coaching. This episode takes an in-depth look at the shifting landscape of youth sports, focusing on the critical need for a holistic approach to training and well-being.
Kelvin, starting as a volunteer coach and rising to work with professional athletes, shares his journey and the lessons learned along the way. He delves into the changing culture in sports, particularly how the emphasis on results and rankings is negatively impacting young athletes’ health, leading to increased injury rates and a decline in technical robustness.
The conversation then shifts to the detrimental effects of prioritizing competitive winning over overall health and well-being. Kelvin highlights the decline in fundamental movement skills among young people and stresses the importance of addressing this issue in schools and sports programs.
Recognizing the need for a paradigm shift, Kelvin discusses the necessity for coaches to prioritize individualized training and mentorship. He emphasizes the importance of developing movement literacy and foundational skills in young athletes, ensuring their physical health and performance are equally catered for.
In a profound reflection on the state of high-performance sports, Kelvin points out the often-overlooked consequences these programs have on the majority’s health and well-being. The discussion underscores the need for a balanced approach, one that values foundational movements and physical activity in the education and training of young athletes.
Moreover, Kelvin provides practical advice on creating flexible and adaptive training programs. He advocates for a focus on personal bests and providing meaningful feedback, rather than just concentrating on outcomes. This approach, he argues, is vital for the holistic development of young athletes.
Towards the end of the episode, Kelvin stresses the significance of sharing resources and knowledge for the betterment of youth athlete health and performance. His commitment to this cause is evident through his work and the impactful resources he has made available to the broader coaching community.
Main talking points:
• Coaching journey from volunteer to professional level.
• Experience with Canberra Raiders and Brisbane Broncos.
• Declining health in young athletes.
• Culture of results impacting youth sports.
• Emphasis on competitive winning harming development.
• Need for progressive learning in coaching.
• Importance of movement literacy in youth.
• Prioritizing foundational movements in training.
• Holistic understanding of young athletes’ needs.
Kelvin Giles welcome back to the pacy performance podcast I’ll say this before you before you say anything else and you you were quite surprised at this your name in a positive way is one of the most mentioned names who comes up on the podcast when I when I when I speak to
Guests about people that have influenced them especially those in Australia so welcome back to the PACE performance podcast well that’s that’s that’s heartening than that’s very nice to hear that very good very humbling blim me I got got l enemies but I didn’t think we got that many
Friends and it was Jason Weber that mentioned your name a couple of weeks ago I remember I remember getting emails from Jas that he’d written at 2:00 in the morning and that’s how intense that guy is good man as well a good absolutely and he’d mentioned your name
I scribbled it down and I thought I can’t I can’t keep scribbling kelvin’s name down um like this without without reaching out so thank you for coming on and giving up some of your Friday evening pleasure pleasure would you mind just giving a bit of a background on you
So you’re a you’re you’re a Brit in Australia yeah would you mind just giving us a bit of a a backstory of how that came about oh look I’m 77 now so when you get to my age it goes up you’ll use the whole hour going back to all the
Stuff I did look I started as as a PE teacher in the UK teaching PE in Birmingham having been through mle College of Education where I was Guided by Ian Ward and wolf p and the crew there and got into PE teaching uh went to the states uh and went into my
Master’s Degree and did some other coaching because I was committed to wanting to be a national coach for Great Britain at that time in athletics and I did everything possible with the guidance of all those great National coaches from those those times in the in the 70s uh and became National coach for
Great Britain in athletics looking after the Midlands area and being with in the team for Moscow um and then one of one of the the the the worst decisions of my life then I was I was attracted to Sor sorry to interrupt why was that
The worst decision of your life to to to come to Australia was the worst decision I should have continued learning my trade you know I was a I was too young anyway as a national coach I should have stuck there and learned and learned and learned to be a much
Better mentor and guide and coach and all those things that National coaching brings to you uh but lot any young person I got attracted by the the offers that came from the Australian Institute of sport that had been put together because Australia had a disastrous 1976 games in Montreal and somebody started
To do some smart things and decided to create this high performance center in Cambra and then there were eight Sports in there and one of them was track and the field and wolf wif Pac was one of the guys that pushed my name forward and
At at what 34 years of age 36 years of age it was all attractive go to Australia and be the head coach of a big operation oh big mistake but anyway that was uh so I was there for five years uh through the the Olympics there I I coached um from the
Great Britain and and the the Australian situation I coached 14 olympion uh eight Olympic finalists uh World Championship silver medalists so that was a it apart from the mistake professionally where I should have stayed as an apprentice and learned my trade uh particularly the the political parts of of these appointments which I
Wasn’t very good at um then let fell out with the national governing body um uh and then finished up going into rugby league I just met some rugby league players from the cber Raiders they needed some help in certain areas of of their preparation it was
Pretty dark Agy stuff then and we had a crack at it and then the Raiders were good enough to to put me on board as as uh a performance person in there with with the team of coaches they got there and we won the championship in 1989 we
Introduced new stuff to the Raiders and at the time when I first joined the Raiders Wayne Bennett was the the coach he’d come down from Brisbane to be the coach and I I got to know him briefly but I got to know the players really
Well there and we had a real crack of it we started doing doing things different and doing different things and we really went after them and I think that gave them the edge if you go and look at the 1989 Grand Final where we win it in
Extra time and we only equalized with a minute to go that they got this emotional and physical resilience and and proud to see them do that then I left and and Wayne took me up to Brisbane and I was six years at Brisbane and those were the the housian days of
The Brisbane Broncos Champions and the Dynasty and all those kind of things uh always wanting to coach Athletics so while I was we were working with the Brisbane to their their Championship era I was I was as a an honorary coach a nonprofessional coach coaching athletes
Still to the Olympic Games so I was still having Olympians in ’92 um and then the world championships in 97 so I was doing that as a hobby I’d like Gone full circle uh i’ I’d be come a I was a a volunteer coach working at birfield Harries and spario Harries in
Birmingham way back when I was trying to learn to be a coach and then became a full-time professional coach uh at The Institute of sport with Great Britain with Nike International and and the big professional stuff and all the Glamorous stuff that went on and then finished up
Returning back to being a volunt a voluntary coach um that was like a full cycle that still goes on today that my I’m volunteering to to to coach athletes uh now in in my dotage um moved on then um went back to the UK and looked after
The London Broncos for four years that was great getting back home and and working with them uh went back came back to Australia and became the the head of performance at the Queensland Academy of sport uh and that was that’s a real sharp operation we won 65% of Australian
Medals in Athens and and Beijing we we got it right there at the qas I and that’s where I met some of the best practitioners in in the strength and conditioning world as well as in the coaching world that have been my friends you know all the way through my life now
And they they’re leading lights in the world these people left there who would who would you mention well Lan penfold I’m pretty sure you’ve had on two or three times Loy met him as a 21 year old and the first words he said to me was I want to be the best
Strength and conditioning coach in the world I said oh well okay get on with it and he’s got on with it and he’s just a great bloke he’s a great practitioner Suki Hobson who’s with the Milwaukee Bucks for the last eight years and and championships Scotty Dickinson that’s
Worked with just all sort he ran the operation for uh the the Dutch Olympic Committee uh he was one of the crew there at the qas Anthony George he looked after the Hong Kong Institute uh in athletics uh Chris gaviglio that’s just an enormous number of Michael Davey that went to the Milwaukee
Books and has moved on to to uh Brigham Young just this crew that that I see I I learn from them today uh that now they you know they’re they’re in there they’re at the top of the tree and I I know money phone call away from these this wonderful crew of practitioners
That have every single day are creating best performance in their operations I moved on to be working for the Australian Rugby Union and that was a that was a really good we worked with the Development Group there we decided that it was 2002 and I met um I met the crew in
There and the decision was we’re looking at the 2015 World Cup final so they decided and they smart enough to look long term and and just to show you that that this can work uh with we um out of the we got the best 100 players in the
Country at 15 years of age and by the time 2015 came around 86% had played test for the wbes and inside that group was a higher performance group they were a bit more fast tracked and all 12 of those played 50 tests for Australia so we we did find ways of technically
Tactically physically and behaviorally guiding young people from the age of 15 right through to the international Arena on unfortunately as most bureaucracies go they they they fell over financially the Australian Rugby Union the bureaucrats got hold of it and collapsed it and that entire system was was just
Folded so and that’s uh and then I I after that I decided working I came back to the UK in 2008 just to travel around and run as many courses as I could on all the things that i’ learned and and really hooked in heavily with Scottish Athletics and changed their coach
Education and changed the principles of how they were going about things and and some of the coaches up there have grown exponentially you know through these just approaching it from a different point of view um and then came back in 20632 Olympic Cycles back home uh working across so many different sports
Um in professional football and and all the rest of professional rugby doing operational reviews for bath and for Leicester and just stuff like that and um then got back in 2016 back here and I’ve been pottering around ever since and I saw I saw I you asked me you asked me the
Question so I saw you at Sheffield Hamman 2014 maybe for a one it 14 13 well it could have been yeah yeah oh look I I did so I met so many people and and and so many people as well they were just people who are
Willing to to people who are willing to listen and people who are willing to share and and I I was lucky enough to come across so many one the name of a a guy that’s so strong in that Sheffield helam and I can’t think of his name but
Now he’s just doing extraordinary things um and I look I’ve forgotten his name now but but but a lot of very very good people in the UK trying their best against things which are thrown in their way by bureaucracy and and they’re they’re still fighting and I’m glad they
Are well I know you’ve got a you’ve got not only got an interest in the kind of sports performance side but the community health and well-being as well so in terms of the current systems the current challenges for people like you just mentioned where are we at with that kind
Of battle to to push both things forward from Sports Performance and Community Health well we we’re on that that before looking at any strategy to do with the Youth of today the first thing I think you’ve got to do and I’ve been trying this with so many of the national governing
Bodies and can’t quite get them to to commit to it and and that is to find the anchor points of what reality is out there in in the teaching and the coaching world of our young people not not what the adults of the have imposed upon children the adult
Ambitions that they but but but what the reality is that we’re facing um and you mustn’t think that this is a 2023 problem I’ve been me and the crew that I’ve always worked with have been fighting these battles for 40 to 50 years this is not a new thing so I’m I’m
Always disappointed that it’s 40 years later and we’re still facing the same problems what do I mean by these points of reality or these anchor points let this up there’s a decrease in the mechanical metabolic and mental health of and well-being of all young people in our communities that that them’s the facts
We’ve got these massive participation drop offs 11 to 13 years of age across here in rugby league for example 38% of the participants are leaving between the ages of 11 and 13 and then between 17 and 19 just when these young people are beginning to enter the freedom of adul
Adulthood we’re losing up to 70% of them in participation we’ve also if you look at another Anchor Point the number of injuries that we are seeing with these in these development age groups from six onwards to 6 to 20 if you look at the injuries that are being sort of imposed
Upon these young people if you want to look at some of the technical stuff in high performance uh then there’s a lack of robustness in the technical models that they go and use in their participation and recreational and and competitive sport so if this is the evidence that
You’ve got in front of you then whatever strategies you come up with surely has got to be put together to try and eradicate or reduce those problems not just perpetuate the same stuff but what do we see when the adults and it’s our fault what the adults no matter
At what age it is see what I call the three Rs results ranking and reward every every activity every word and the language and the vocabulary spoken to these young people in our physical education lessons or in our Junior Club coaching sessions in the evenings everything is geared around results
Ranking and reward which creates ongoing critical stress points for this person person that’s just trying to navigate uh their their growth and it’s detrimental to the individual progression towards adulthood it’s so it’s a it’s easy to only I could just if I’ve got a couple of things if I just throw
These things out to you now just so you can see where the research is taken us to and I might have to read some of these out because there’s that many the UK has got 4.8 million 8 to 14 year olds so let’s just look at that group where
We know we’re going to get participation problems injury problems and all the rest of it 79% are not getting the required amount of daily physical activity 79% so you you you these statistics go on and on I we got more here 2.27 million boys in the 8 to 14 AG group are
Not getting enough required physical activity 2.34 million girls are not getting this the right amount of physical activity so just from the statistic of how much they are getting we’re in a woeful situation and and this is these stats are from Going Back 40 years but but one of the keys for this
Is as you begin to discuss and debate the whole thing is is let’s just not deal with how much physical activity they’re getting to me the critical one that is not the how much they’re getting but what and how this is being done what are these kids being exposed to by these
Adult Ambitions that that are being forced upon them what’s the progression that they’re going on for the next decade or so so so if you go back to where since somebody took the physical out of physical education uh 40 odd years ago and decided in in physical
Education in our schools and in our Junior Sports Development to build everything around a competitive games based solution a competitive games based solution and we are forcing that that we think it’s the only vehicle that we can ever use to get kids moving mechanical Health metabolic Health mental health it the only tool
We’ve got in our toolbx is to give them a competitive winning losing type of strategy it’s failed it’s failed for 40 years so it’s not cond let me summarize it the three Rs results ranking and reward are not conducive to development they nice if you win a local
Championship or you you know it it it it brings about where you talk to somebody and you talk about a young person in their 8 to 15 age group and you say Well they’re a high performance Talent they are there’s no such thing and that’s the biggest problem it’s the language and
The vocabulary and the um bitions and the hunger of the adults being poured down into a and we’re losing in two areas therefore it we’re losing in the health and the well-being of young people forget forget the medal count I know the medal count is good and it keeps people
In their jobs and it’s going to be important this year because it’s an Olympic year and that’s all you’re going to hear and it’s only going to be for 1% or half a percent of of all the people involved in performance a huge amount of young people that need to be given the
Enthusiasm to move forward and keep on moving for the rest of their life so they stay active is vitally important the results ranking in reward that’s for high performance but we have a bigger responsibility to the rest of the or of of people in our community physical and mental well-being
Is a basic entitlement to every person on this planet every child yet we as adults have have pushed them down this this Pathway to uh the narrow quick fixing fast tracking about competitive Sports Performance and and it’s a it’s a relatively new thing because when when I
Was at school and going to in the in the 50 from the 50s onwards uh our physical education was a robust one it was based on the old army stuff it we were physically strong we had to be fit physically fit and we were we didn’t
Suffer from some of the problems that we see nowadays with our diet but we we were qu and out of this General all around physical fitness we could then utilize that in our sports that we chose to go into into our competitive games but it was only a a an outcome the games
Were an outcome of this huge level of mechanical and metabolic Fitness that physical education gave us at those times but I’m afraid that that that that is that has all changed now let let just if I just go a couple of minutes and just read some of the stuff out here um
In the Australian situation I know it’ll be the same in the UK in the last 30 years the jumping ability of boys and girls has has dropped by 11% only 33% of the girls can can can Master running actions only 40% can Master catching 32% of the boys can
Master a vertical jump 59% can Master catching and and and those kind of things those are those those fundamental movement skills of uh running jumping kicking catching striking flotation those those become part of this journey we want to explore as much as we can only 40% of 12 to 15 year olds are
Believed to have a healthy cardiorespiratory Fitness level hang on that’s life and death stuff that is this could be the first generation since the first world war it’s not going to live as long as its parents because of the sedentary living they go through the average 5-year-old is estimated to
Be consuming their own body weight and sugar every year between 1998 and 2008 strength fell by 0.6% each year Falls in muscular endurance were larger than 2.5% a year it these statistics go on half of the sports related injuries that we know in all our emergency departments are
Between the six and 19 years of age children Age 5 to 14 account for 40% of all sports related injuries adolescent sports injuries are on the rise in terms of the silent epidemic look I can keep reading this all out here this isn’t just me getting
On me high horse some old silly old fart that’s talking about this is research that tells us what we’re doing to children now whether you want to send them on the pathway to high performance sport which is all nice golden trinket and all that stuff but all the money
Goes or you want your child to have health and well-being for the rest of their life they both start at the same place so there is no excuse there is no excuse I think one thing that I want to point out and I’m hope you’ll back me up
Here the high performance the the high performance interest whether it’s Chelsea and Arsenal Northampton Saints bath rugby their P the bottom of their pyramid is participation the bottom of their pyramid is physical fitness in schooles that’s where they’re picking from at 8 9 10 11
So if there if if we improve the that what you’re just saying it’s going to improve it’s going to improve the the base that they’re getting these kids at to ENT the hyperin environment absolutely it’s a huge investment for high performance that’s yeah God sorry no I
Was going to say with that in mind whether it’s a high performance Outlook with them clubs that I’ve mentioned and and hundreds of others here in the UK just here in the UK or it’s a participation what is what’s the solution I know there’s not one solution
But what’s your idea in terms of how this is how that base level to keep people active kids active through adulthood and all these things get get reduced or they push on to high performance because they’re both one and the same up to a certain point what’s the solution they’re exactly the same
And and and so the first thing to do is to make the you answer this question if your development program and your high performance program look exactly the same one of them’s wrong if all you’re doing is watering down the high performance factors down to and trying to force that into the
Children so you have a a much you think you’ll have an easier Pathway to high performance you’re wrong and you’ve been wrong for 50 years so so that it’s going to come down to who is wise enough and brave enough to change the mindset of the adults the
Language of the adults the the the vocabulary of the adults the the general outcomes that we are going to put down and applaud the outcome comes which is not ranking reward and results it’s going to have to be something else it’s it’s going to have to be things
Like engagement how can we keep engaging them every single day this individual that that that keeps on turning up how can we then progress them appropriately can we engage the individual in this group or are we just to lump them all together and just wait
Till we see the the one Talent are we going to be able to progress them appropriately I guess the other point is this are we going to spend a decade doing this are we going to put at the center of of what we do having consistently attractive Progressive
Learning I I if we had that as the central pillar of everything that we chose to do and chose to teach our teachers and chose to teach our coaches so we had a new language and a new vocabulary that which gave us this new mindset that parents and teachers and
Coaches and would you believe it the kids themselves would start appreciating and being attracted to it’s it is I haven’t got the one I mean if you want to go even deeper than that you’ve got to get into coach development and coaching development in sport and you’ve got to change it and
And I don’t know how long we’re going to keep on talking about this about Coach development but it ain’t working it hasn’t worked for 50 years for all the announcements that we see every sport do so get ready choose a sport and I’ll guarantee that within 12 months they
Would have announced or a minister would have announced or another professional bureaucrat would have announced some whizbang idea to improve sport in this country and no matter what they come up with and how much money of your money they spend on it here’s the following questions that that are I’ve I’ve always
Done so if you say okay you’ve just done all that I’ll give you an example uh Australian Sports commission did this two years ago and it I think cost him $400,000 and it was this it looked really nice it was all well nicely colored in and it was a good use of
English in there and it it passed all the tests and it was meaningless because when you ask the following questions two years later well it’s participation on the rise for all the kids uh no are injuries decreasing uh no is there an optimal transition from Junior to senior uh participation uh
No are these kids mechanically and metabolically efficient consistent and resilient oh no definitely not are they technically efficient consist assistant no uh what’s being coached in the sessions is all have we got technical tactical physical and behavioral being taught no it’s just Technical and tactical because we got to win stuff and
Then when you pose the other questions which are deeply embedded in this such as are we taking into account the biological level of every individual in that training session they are all unique that one size does not fit all and you you pose that question about
Maturation to them and they go I don’t know what you’re talking about and then you ask the question well are coaches using very sound learning tools from their toolbox from implicit learning right through to explicit learning and and the reverse of that and they go never heard of
It and then I guess you can finally say now where’s the quality control coming from how’s the nationaly body are they coming down to your Club level and seeing you at the club and seeing how you are and watching what you’re doing and mentoring you forward and they go no
No once we’ve paid for our certificate we’re on our own so it’s in those areas that the solutions have to be found from the overview of the mindset the language the vocabulary right through what are we teaching our teachers and coaches what are we wanting what skills
Are we and are we once we’ve given them their certificate as a coach took me three years to get anywhere near understanding how I’ve got to try and teach physical education and even that wasn’t enough let alone just doing one weekend for 250 quid and then just letting you loose and
Hoping that you can go and win the medals for people can’t you see how it’s just a nonsense yet there are there are bureaucrats continuing this this process the lucky thing is that it’s a shame that it can’t be formalized out there there are a number only a small number
Of practitioners that are thinking this way they’re thinking hey we got to do this different I’ve got to turn up tonight at this Athletics Club Judo Club swimming club a hockey club and I’ve got to do it different because this crew I’m working with are 11 to 13 years of age
I’m about to lose them what can I do that’s better who can I turn to to help me present much bit of learning environment so these this participation we’re not going to be eradicated it but we could less it what about the injury and so on and so forth so the solutions
Are going to be from Global uh mindset strategic looks of things right down to look the the simple thing is this for any administrator or go down to a club for the next 6 weeks and watch what’s being taught just go and watch it and and
That’s going to and that will that will give you nightmares and and straight away you think you’ve got to start attacking the poor Co the the the the honorary coach out there uh and it isn’t you’re the person you’re the the the decision makers have used public
Funds to put together a strategy that does not work so just just no no no you’re all right you’re all right so as I’m as I mentioned as as of thankfully I wasn’t talking gibberish that base of the pyramid not only feeds participation but feeds the the the pool the pool that
Has been developed for that high performance thread that thin high performance thread because the thick bit Is the participation yeah what can what can high performance spot because like you mentioned that’s where all the cash is what can the high performance coaches with it snc coaches who have gone
Through a particular um cycle of Education what can they do to help this bigger pool that they’re actually fishing in is it snc coached in school is it like well I mean it could be but the worry is if again it isn’t it isn’t it’s what I said a few minutes ago it’s
Not uh how much of this change you’re going to make how much more physical activity you’re going to give them it’s what physical activity you’re going to give them so in answer to that group of whether that strength and conditioning and that the strength and conditioning worries the pants off me uh because
That’s another it’s another group that haven’t addressed the Journey of developing an allround movement vocabulary which is the general level and then to begin slowly to move and shift towards a related to a certain sport activity action or posture and then finally into the actions and posture of the sport that’s a long
Journey and you spend a long time in the general a little bit less time in the related and only a small amount of time in the specific that allows this person coming forward to have movement literacy but so so that’s the first thing to say to whether they’re strength
And conditioning coaches PE teachers General coaches is to understand how do we develop movement literacy so what what does that mean to you Kevin Kelvin what does that what Literacy for you it means a a a real understanding of what Foundation movements are now I my term the foundation movements are squat lunge
Pull push brace rotate hinge and Landing those and all their hybrids all those make up this pool of things that children Generations ago would go out and spontaneously play and practice I wouldn’t tell them how to do it but they would just go out naturally well those days are gone the kids aren’t
Going to go outside and play so once you accept that that you are now really pushing it uphill because that there’s no backup the only chance we’ve got of the schools and the clubs to do this General play this all around movement vocabulary so that’s the first thing I am I
Teaching the fundament the foundations of squat lunge pull push brace rage hinge and landing and the combinations of these that go together and secondly am I directing them intermittently directing these towards the fundamental movements of running jumping throwing kicking catching striking and flotation if you ever go down to an
Organization you watch if you see people that are really understanding how the foundation movements squat Lun pull push feed into the running jumping throwing kicking catching and striking that is an art in itself to be able to not only teach and coach these Foundation movements that to get
These right and their hybrids and all the layers that you’ve got to work on and then try and feed those into running mechanics throwing mechanics catching and passing mechanics that is the essence of every single sport it’s also the essence of every single physical action that a
Person’s got to do in their life that is the beginning it’s the bit that has been completely ignored apart from I could there’s a few people Jeremy frish and another there’s there’s a crew of guys out there um who are willing to do this and are doing it as we speak James
Marshall down in will the Willing Village in Devon he lives off this stuff the locker 27 guys in the south of London they start on this stuff this isn’t just a Brendan chaplain this up from Europe neck of the woods up in leag Brendan when we met when I work with the
Uh the the uh the tennis Association law and ten Association the UK he was one of their strength and good condition guys Brendan got that going as well the the foundation movements we had a real strong look at that once you see that going on and we develop practitioners
That understand this but then can deliver it now this is the next part I’ve already mentioned once you understand the foundation movements and the fundamental movements then you’ve got to know how do I put this into this decade long minimum General to related to sports specific Journey remembering that only the super
Talented and the super interested are going to go all the way need go all the way to the sports specific Journey but our problem is the only tool we got in our toolbx is a competitive Sports system and so they say oh buger the general let’s get to the related oh no that’s
Too let’s go straight to the specific mom and dads want it so they can kick and and jump and catch and do all this a lot better and we bypass it because the the threat of not winning the threat of not being ranked High the threat of not
Getting the rewards for performance mean that people just Cast Away the general and the related journey and and within that the next set that of things that you work on are whatever you’re trying to develop squat lunch pull push brace rotate Hing and landing and all their hybrids and inside developing running
Jumping throwing kicking catching and striking inside there is another Journey that you can go on and that is well the first thing you better do is get them efficient at doing that whatever the movement pattern that you’re working on they need efficiency at that then they need to do that
Consistently not just once but all the time and then they’ve got to show the resilience of that movement pattern under things like speed fatigue and pressure so straight away if you if you brought to bear an understanding of foundation movements and fundamental movements and how to teach them and
Progress them appropriately over a decade and you use the tools of General to relate to specific inside the tools of efficiency consistency and resilience you you’ve got a chance and you but the thing that you mustn’t forget that what glues all those together is sound learning tools the
Principles of learning how does a person learn something and you got 25 kids in the group they’re all going to be learning in different rates you’re going to get slow Learners and fast Learners slow adapters and faster adapters slower recoverers and faster recoverers they’re all going to be
Different the tools that you’re going to need and not just the tools to win the game at the weekend they are going to be these learning tools that glue all these systems together what I’ve just written there for you is is something we wrote this we’ve got all this laid out ready
For National governing bodies to try and and and start to roll out to them the coaches the volunteer coaches out there uh and it look it won’t happen in my lifetime but it’ll have to happen in somebody’s lifetime certainly yours I would imagine I don’t know whether I’ve
Made any sense then but those are the three layers Foundation movements and fundamental movements General to related to specific in a sense of efficiency to consistency to resilience all all glued together by brilliantly sound uh evocative learning systems on a second Toc basis in every training session and
Every every PE lesson we going to PE teachers in a minute because I’m interested in that side of things but we we’ve got um a video on the website of the head of Academy Sports Science snc at Chelsea and they’re they’re looking they’re almost going back to the like
The me you mentioned there about these kids are not getting exposed to the play that they used to so they’re going back to try in these high performance environments like there’s many out there I’m sure are doing to try and kind of reverse that and and and overcompensate
For the amount of play that these kids in theirm have been exposed to so there’s there is I’m sure there is this thing going on of accepting what is society and and and high performance sport like almost taking a hit to try to develop that within their environments
As well see I I’m not sure if you have to also accept that you you need to take a hit I I I think I still think that because it is such a small group that transitioning high performance from from tal identified Talent through to uh the high performance and setting in there
It’s just a small number we’re never going to change that you’re not going to suddenly have 3/4 of the population knocking on the door with with the Olympic standard but what you what you really want is 99% of the population being Health having great health and well-being
And and how we can as adults sit here now and and you you you said high performance might have to take a hit gee it needs to take a hit if we’re willing to put all our children at risk while the only tool we have in our tool box is
Competitive sport it’s an it’s an absolute nonsense so uh I I get it and the unfortunate thing is that the people that will make the decision to shift ground in a in a strategic point of view and a finance point of view the national governing bodies or or Ministers of
Education and whatever these are the people that are are still worried about high performance taking the hit and they shouldn’t be in their jobs that they’re not fit for purpose if that’s the what all you bring to the table and this is where I come down and say now all
National governing bodies there’s an interesting thing happening in UK Athletics you know that UK Athletics sank the ship many weeks ago and it it’s just collapsed and now coach education and Coach development has now been just thrown out to England Athletics to try and look after well thank thank God
There was somebody there now they are beginning to speak with that that the newly assembled British Athletics coaching Association driven by Mike winch and and and suddenly we You’ get this slight chance the people that have crippled the sport that hopefully they’ve sacked them all maybe this new group of people might suddenly
Now stop thinking there’s going to be a hit to high performance and not worried about that but try and look after the general population uh not in my lifetime but every now and again we get these chances and there’s one happening now in England Athletics p teachers a little bit we’re
Going to have a little bit of time on p teachers then I’m going to ask you about the coach’s toolbox to finishes off but but for for PE teachers what because because that is what kids are exposing I’ve got a daughter at 2 and a half so this well I
Was interested before when we spoke five six seven years ago it’s it’s there’s a personal impact now of all this kind of stuff because I’ve got a daughter who be going to school in 18 months so for for the for p teachers what can we do what
Needs to be done to have that regular exposure to the this type of stuff that we’re talking about well first of all go and see what’s going on at the moment and and I’ve been now back in Australia for I’m seeing the Australian version of this now since
2016 uh when I was visiting lots of primary schools in the UK uh I found that they are very parallel where they are when you look at the training of of the the the primary school teacher uh they they do what 3 hours on PE you got so so the health and the
Wellbeing that health and the well-being of the children uh they’re not serious about it but we came across um there was a place in in a a really tough part of Birmingham we went to we went into that school and we sat all the staff down and
We spoke about the health and well-being of the children and then we we showed them what they could do H and we also did this down at um where where James Marshall down at the willand school he actually started going to volunteered to go in there to get the kids moving and
The minute we got the staff moving they made a difference they suddenly realized that this was fun this wasn’t difficult we could understand all the different ways of presenting these this movement vocabulary but unfortunately it clashes with all the things that education think are important nowadays and and it get if
Anything’s going to get canceled it’s physical education so the first thing that’s one thing is how how the adults approach physical activity in the Primary School remember that for 50 years we’ve ignored the status that that that we we we know about and that is that children need 60 minutes a day of
Moderate physical activity and we’ve known that for 50 years and we we we refuse to do it with the children so it takes some some Brave heads of Department some Brave heads of school to suddenly say there’s got to be some things that we can take out of this
Program that we’ve got at the moment it’s not helping the kids it’s just helping some adult vers whatever it is going to be uh get rid of it and put in 60 minutes of moderate activity then we’ve got to train the staff so the second part is say where are our
Our teachers in in primary school and secondary school coming from well they’re coming from in many cases the university structures and and I’m I’m sorry but that went down the toilet many many years ago we now have these pseudo scientists coming out uh that don’t understand pedagogy they don’t
Understand learning tools they don’t understand where to stand what to say what not to say how to give feedback all the things that go with teaching and learning they’re not taught that they’re taught to get their degrees and to write their their papers and publish or perish
And if that’s too of a too much of a a generalization then I I I’ll put my hands up and say I’m wrong but I I’ve been through three-year teacher training for physical education way back in in the late 60s and we had to teach we had
To teach every day we have to have children would come in and we would we would teach ourselves in our group they would have children come in and we teach them why we were being mentored and we were we were torn to shreds if we got it
Wrong and we had to learn and do it again and again then we go out on teaching practice for six weeks and we did that for three years and your entire future life depended on you being a good teacher by being mentored by great teachers not writing another essay to
Get your master’s degree publish or perish and you know these pseudo scientists that are coming out so there’s a to answer your question I don’t know where the ANW is lying the decision makers and I’m sorry they’re not fit for purpose at the moment it might come down to individuals
I worked at a school in in in stevenage uh back in 2008 2009 and the head of school there said hey I want to do this this sounds really good getting the kids engaged in stuff and and we started to do this we we put what was called the five five exercises
In five minutes into the classroom and then we we used to make that happen in the PE lessons as well we had to teach the teachers how to do it the teachers grew uh and the kids grew and the whole thing because of one person that was
Willing to just fight back against the the the powers that be on some of this lunacy that’s in our curriculum at the moment and decided to do that and we watched these kids just just grow another leg to be honest but it was going to be short term because the next
Headmaster that came in or head Ms that came in had got some other thing that they wanted to promote and then they’re certain up promoting health and well-being as I mention there the last thing was what should be in a coach’s toolbox and I think by coach we could
Mean someone in high performance we could mean someone who’s working the primary school we could mean someone who’s working the high school in terms of the what they should be going into practice whatever that looks like with with a toolbox you’ve mentioned quite a few there this may be
A summary of what you’ve already said but what should coaches who are going into youth environments be armed with I’ve got I’ve got nine things that that and the sad thing about just me and you chatting now is that unless you’re in a room with these people and you’re with them for a
Couple of days several over several weeks and you say okay get out your chairs we’re going to choose uh one of these tools here and you’re going to practice it you’re going to practice it in pairs then you’re going to practice it in a group we’re all going to watch
You we’re going to criticize it and help you out then you come to do it again then we’re going to come and do it again tomorrow and you’re going to keep practicing and practicing and you’re going to make terrible mistakes and we’re going to be able to support you
And we’re going to help you through this and we’re going to build your confidence into these me and you sitting down and chatting about these now means means nothing at the end of the day but look let me try and add a few sentences to each one the the the first one
Is is call the individual all right so you you’ve got to who are they where are they how are they see if you can handle those straight away not just when you first arrived but all the way through the session the lesson all the way through
The week the month the cycle the phase the year the decade it never stops who are they are they at work what are their work relationship what are their families like are they what what relationships are in what goals and dreams have they got what’s their personality and character like and
Secondly they need to know that about you as well you’re in a partnership now you so you you’ve just got to be very very open and brave enough they’ve got to be brave enough where are they well what do you mean by where where are they in their
Maturation age are they a early developer or a late developer well now that’s a huge thing once we understand the maturation Journey that’s a that’s a that’s a weekend in itself understanding that and being prepared to see this happen in front of you with 30 kids in
Front of you and all all operating at different levels of their maturation what’s their training age how long have they been doing this two years one year one week and they’re all going to be different and what’s their General physical competence well you overcome that by saying right we’re going to
Squat lunch pull push brace rotate hinge and Landing we’re going to do running jumping throwing kicking catching striking if you got all those to do we’ got five years to do this and then the other part of that first one of the individual how are they look as soon as
They arrive how are you how was your day sleep all right eating okay anything sore or tight or hurting just ask them and then you get an un and if you’ve got to the point where they’re willing to have a conversation with you and you’re willing to give up some time in the
Session towards this understanding then it’s going to make a difference now the you’re going to understand what’s happening in front of you but we we get so we we got to get on with the technical stuff because we got to play it the weekend and we forget that this
Is the this is the human element that glues all this together in front of us uh number two is understand the keystones what do I mean by that this the keystones are those those Central pillars uh of a movement pattern or the or or an individual patter pattern
Inside the foundation movements or an or a collective pattern inside the the the fundamental movements that glue everything together and it’s it’s really around which you build everything let let me give you you can do you need to understand the keystones of squat lunge pull push brace rotate hinge and landing
And you need to know the the the keystones of running jumping throwing kicking catching and striking and it takes a long time to really to become of with those but that’s part that’s part of the job um so let me give you an example now um let’s just deal with
Running mechanics getting kids to run let’s let’s it’s one of those the foundation fundamental movements so my keystones for that the ones that I’ve settled on after 50 odd years of doing this might not be the same as what you might do mine are this how when and
Where the foot hits the ground and in what direction the foot comes off the ground that’s the Keystone of everything I try every exercise and activity I do is all aimed around those keystones there and for me if if I take that to the next
Step when I see that happen in front of me it means toes up heel to hamstring step over the opposite knee those are three things that tell me how when and where the foot it’s the ground and what directly comes up that becomes where I
Keep or my attention and I aim at that and I know if I get those optimal for this individual those keystones optimal and every exercise I do that supports that from running jumping throwing kicking catching and striking whatever exercise I pull in from uh squatting lunging pulling push are all aiming
Slowly in some way generally related specific efficiency consistency resilience all aimed at those Keystone that I’ve got and my keystones have have been like that for probably the last decade or more now my all my sprinters and people involved in running activities everything gears around that that’s where I finished up of
Understanding the keystones and I’ve I’ve got to do that um number three prepare for what’s coming next prepare for the session so you’ve got to understand time management Space Management and Equipment management inside this session so remember inside this session you’ve got a manage time you’ve got to manage
Time between technical tactical physical and behavioral remember we we have got to keep a sport specific element going on the kids turned up and uh uh to to hockey to play hockey they don’t to play rugby they’re playing rug there’s got to be an Essence in there of what’s going
Suddenly you can’t turn it into a gymnastics if they have gone to a gymnastics Club if they wanted that so I’ve got technical tactical physical and behavioral things to make sure now have I got enough time devoted to each one of those in the session now the emphasis of
Each one of those technical tactical physical and behavioral pillars will change and alter this week it might be better to spend a lot more time on the physical or next week it might be more on the behavioral is so you’ve got to react to what’s happening in in front of
You but those become the things to do and each one of those then each one of that time management has got a handle General to related to specific choices that you make it’s got to be able to handle the efficiency to consistency to resilience that you’re going to make so
With all these wonderful things in your head you know am I going to manage my time in these 60 Minutes 75 minutes 30 minutes to make sure I’ve given enough exposure to those then I’ve got Space Management is there enough space for this activity to be done well and safely
Is there enough space that there’s no queuing going on is there enough space for you to coach in you better Coach by walking around and then equipment management is it appropriate have you got enough and where is it so those are little things that have got the number of sessions
I’ve seen just explode on a coach because they didn’t handle those time space and Equipment things before they turned up uh is amazing so if you want to sum up you better get there early prepare the training activity plan the activities but write them in pencil because whatever the kids will determine
The athlet determine what comes next he saw you writing down I’ll do five minutes of this and I’m going to move on to that go hang on they never got that you better stay on that a little bit longer so you’ve got got to have this adaptability and flexibility on that and
Planning the activities if you as you get more experience you’ll say well we’ve done this before we’ve done this I’ve done this a thousand times and I know that this is going to happen at this stage usually and this happens next this is what I normally say here this is
Where they make their biggest mistake or this is where they have the greatest Advantage they make I’m getting used to that so I make sure I’m ready for that as well and then I’ve also got to be ready to put the brakes on could it I’m going too fast or accelerate what
They’re doing and and it could be an individual you might have to accelerate the activity for an individual who’s flying or you might have to back it off with somebody else so you need to be able to turn the activity up or turn the activity down we might so to interrupt Kelvin we
Might have to cycle I’m just conscious of your time on a Friday evening justo if it’s too long for you you have to stop it keep going keep going keep going with the next yeah keep going with the next five five so like I just said what typically happens when I’m doing this
Activity you’ll remember it you’ll keep some notes you you’ll you’ll think back on this oh this is what normally happens here I’m going to be ready for this one and the other part where do I need to stand to look for this Keystone what am I going to look at what
Part of the body should I look at and what am I looking for that’s going to happen here now if you’re new to this job it’s this is going to be tough this part but as the years go by and you’ve got an open enough mind you’ll start
Knowing I’m standing there for this one I look there this is what I think’s going to happen and this is when you become a master at all this then you’ve got to plan the session itself you got to put it together now I’ve just pulled up one in front of me
Here just as a reminder this is a development age group they got the attention span of a net if you just start going under the same thing for long long periods of time you’ll lose them I’ve got in front of me in a typical session here and it is 10 5
To 7 Minute units for this group of 8-year-olds there’s 10 different sections it’s I’m going to keep their attention and I’ve got to try and cover all the things I’ve said before inside this I’m going to do a warmup uh let’s choose the the I’ve got one here to do
With running again look we could have done throwing or jumping okay I’m just chosen running I’m going to do a warmup then I’m going to do some general running General stuff running forwards and backwards and sideways I’m going to do other Locomotion of hopping and skipping and Galloping I’m going to run
Around these circles I’m going to run around circles backwards I’m going to run around circles while I’m skipping I’m going I’m going to do all these General activities then I’m going to work on some of the keystones I’m going to spend five minutes on the keystones of all the
Things I mentioned then I’ve got to do some of my physical work remember there’s a physical compos in this technical tactical physical and behavioral I’ve got some physical work to do the squatting the lunging the pushing the pulling the bracing the rotating then I’m going to apply what
I’ve just done into some type of fun game fun fun fun fun fun relays and little games and the the screaming and shouting and and then all right I’m halfway through the session then I’m going to start again I’m going to go back to the general running for 5
Minutes and then the event specific keystones for 5 minutes then the physical another 5 minutes then I’m going to apply it into some type of fun activity then I’m going to warm them down so I’ve got 10 units that have gone on there satisfying all the things I’ve
Got to do if it’s with the 14y olds well I’m probably going to do eight times 8 Minute session I can spend a little bit longer because their attention span is a little bit better so how you piece together this broadly speaking and you got to do it in pencil you’ve got all
These things to go through you’ve got to be able to piece it together in the session remember you’re never going to lose sight of who are they where are they how are they what and all that will influence how you create this looking lesson or session that you’re going
On the whole point is that you’re going to fit this program to these athletes the opposite has never worked so that that becomes one of the things you’ve got to have this adaptive ility and flexibility on the exercises you choose the activities you choose how
Long you do it for the the the the implications you expect from it the outcomes you expect and all those things you’ve got to fit it to what’s happening change it on a second to Second basis to fit with what’s going on so when you’ve got those little boxes of five minutes
You then need a good toolbx full of all the things you’re going to populate it with so I I mentioned before when I’m doing General running I can it’s locomotion I can run forwards I can run backwards I can run laterally I can do it with high knees with low knees with
Feet close to the ground with feet off the ground I can do it with arm action one arm action no arm action I can do it in clockwise around the circle backward I can do skipping with a rope I can do I can do hopping and leaping and Galloping
Activities Oh got all got trillions of these to do in the general stuff so you’ve need a toolbox full of all these to go and populate these five minute blocks you’ve got and you you’ll slowly build it up as time goes by and again if we look at this at coach development
This is what should being taught to all the coaches out there and and there’s resources given to them number five is before you go to number five Kelvin yeah I mentioned I’ve got a two and a half year old and this is the pressure of a podcast
Host I’m I can I can hear a waking up so that’s all right that’s all right that’s fine we’ve I’ve got a couple more minutes yeah is that all right to to R through the next okay well if I just give you the titles of them and I
Mentioned you’ve got to be able to turn the exercise up and turn the exercise down you’ve got to be Advan the exercise you’ve got to be a it based on what’s happening in front of you don’t you don’t choose how fast they can learn it you can’t do that and that’s where
The old ideas of you do what they can do what they can do what they can do what they can’t do whoops that fell over go back to what they can do manipulate those uh understanding the tools of progression which means you can go from static to Dynamic slow to fast simple to
Complex big to small unloaded to loaded you you’ve got all those that you can choose to add other layers to all these activities as well um I’ve got I guess these next these next six are important you’ve got to use you got to be able to manipulate the task in
Front of you to suit what’s going on you’ve got you can use use analogies as you try and create pictures to them you can get them to do an external Focus you can get them to use their observation skills with their Partners you you you bring variability into the
Way that you teach and then finally you give them feedback that these become it’s these ones that we need we could do another day and spend some time on what these are but can I just I won’t go on let me get to the one that’s really important which is the
Is the uh is the feedback one I’ve got that I’ve got that somewhere so I don’t I don’t spend too too long doing it so feedback when are you going to feedback what are you going to feedback and how are you going to feedback and it you’ve got to understand
Those things feedback isn’t just saying oh I did that wrong feedback is to the first thing is to is to start with what’s going right if they look to you and say look I’ve just tried that then you start with what’s going right if they’re a young
You never try and give them feedback while they’re doing it that’s the last thing about is your voice bearing in their ear when they do it and and if you’re going to give try and choose words that that that give them pictures straight away so doing analogies all
Always helps on that I had a high jump Anessa we we had trouble at bar level and we spent months and months and months she was she she she she was 1 M 70 tall and she jumped 198 she jumped 28 cm of her own height for Australian
Record holder and we were struggling at some bar stuff and one day I said cross the bar like a frog now just making that strange analogy for some reason went off in her brain and she found some answers so the way you feedback is probably use analogies ask them questions more than
Give them instruction and try them try and do it in a way that’s that that in the minute you ask questions of them that’s a lot better than just shouting at them and and things like try harder go faster are meaningless that that’s not feedback be careful when your feedback
And how you feedback and what you do we could spend we could spend days on feedback basically look I’ll let me that’s really the the final one is reflection the the reflection is is in a Continuum after 3 or 4 minutes you better say to yourself is this
Working don’t wait till tomorrow is it working have I engaged them all are they all learning is this fitting with what we want you to do so you you’ve got to reflect straight away and then go is he working if it’s not working you got to
Come up with another way then reflect at the end of the session did I engage them all was it fun did did they look like they want to come back again did they all progress in a certain way have I taught them that progression isn’t winning progression is look your grip
Was a little bit was with some golfers the other day and they were saying well how would you know if you’re improving oh our scores get better no no remember your grip was a lot better in the back swing today than it has been or your
Your feet move correctly uh a little bit better this time or the your your posture is a lot better so we start looking at personal bests inside what’s going on rather than the outcome straight away look I look I’ll stop there we could go on there’s
A this is the vitally important stuff is this these learning tool situations um maybe another time we could go through them but absolutely there’s nine of those and they’re the ones that glue all the rest I’ve been talking about together is there anywhere that you do these presentations celvin I people is
There any way that people can get these presentations that you’ve done or on the website or no no no I don’t do I did I did this this one we just been talking about I did the international um coaches association uh International Federation of Athletics
Coaches I think two years ago I did this presentation just on these learning tools I did it so on the ifax site I don’t know whether it’s free or not but I know I did a presentation where I shared the screen and I could spend and I got some videos
To show and illustrate some of those things I’ve just been saying you know there it’s best if you see pictures of it I don’t know how I did see on this when I looked that you can share a if we could share a yeah we we’ll keep it
We’ll keep it as audio because it goes It goes to iTunes and yeah oh okay um you know we do need to talk through these a bit more I’ll have a little look I’ll have a little look on the ifac website and I’ll if I can find
It I’ll I’ll drop a link in there so people can free free or paid I’ll I’ll stick it on people can make a choice so ifac 2021 I did it with Frank dick and whatever uh good crew we work together there so I did that and I think it took
Me I think it went over by five minutes as usual I’m going to let you get on with you Friday evening and I’m sorry to interrupt I’m sorry to interrup it’s great no thank you for the opportunity it’s really good of you to do that my my
Pleasure my pleasure and I’ll link to all your social media and your website and all that kind of stuff where people can learn a bit more about you oh yeah I wrote I put a lot of my articles which cover a lot of this on my website and
I’ve got them on linked in as well so feel free to have a look at them and throw them in the bin if you need amazing well I’m going to let you get on me Friday evening thank you very much however many years it is after you
Come on the first time 567 appreciate you coming on it’s it’s always a pleasure to speak to you and be inspired about the things you say so um yeah really apprciate itks it’s nice of you thank you good luck M thank you