Final Summary of work placement

My final thoughts:

Summary of the work placement:

I have thoroughly enjoyed this work placement. I have achieved my PDP aims which were; improve my technical application, implement an effective training programme, be an effective communicator and generally being able to facilitate a structured and purposeful fitness lesson. I have even improved in areas that I never thought about such as, providing my athletes with the tools to self-reflect and self-assess as this helps the athlete to concrete their development. 

 Dealing with the RMAS football team has shown me a few things such as; using media technology (video analysis) is an exceptional way to improve your athletes form, never assume that your athletes will have experience in your interventions and the use of an anonymous feedback is a fantastic way to highlight your strengths and weaknesses. Along with others, I will most certainly take these points with me to my next work placement.

  

My actions plan:

I have spoken to Graham (Head Coach) and asked if it is possible to stay and help coach the team. Graham, thankfully, agreed and as off Monday I am the RMAS Football 'assistant' Coach.  My future plan are to become head strength and conditioning coach at the Army Elite Sports Programme, were I will be testing and assessing the top Army sports players.

The Last Day -YO YO Test and 20m sprint assessment.

The Last Day:

Review of the day:

This was the last day and the team had bought me a 'coach of the year' hat to say farewell, I thought this was a nice jester and it actually eased my nerves as I was extremely worried about the results of the retest. After the small presentation Graham gave and how I have been an asset to the team over the past several weeks, I thought to myself it does not matter about the results the team had been playing well, I have had no major injuries and both the team and I had evolved in our knowledge and skills.

The retest:

I had the initial scores from the first day and I showed all the team their previous scores and times. I wanted them to know exactly how far they got last time in the hope this would drive them through the barrier. I am extremely pleased to say that the majority or the team improved in ALL areas, literally everyone was scoring better on the YOYO test and the majority of the team improved on their 20m sprint. I was extremely happy with this result, I felt like such a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. The feeling that my training programme and their effort combined gave them a better result after 6 weeks was incredible.

Results: 

The results were not a large improvement but that did not matter. Mainly I was glad that the results were not negative.

Below is the comparison of the initial team average to the final team average.

Initial testing team average:

• YO YO Test: 11.1
• 20m Sprint: 3.70 secs

Final team average:

• YO YO Test:  11.6
• 20m Sprint: 3.53 secs

Summary:

All in all a good and a good way to end my work placement. I am so glad that the results were positive and the team got something visual back for all their hard work. In hindsight, I am glad that I used a testing protocol because this gave me good evidence that my training programme helped them to improve their fitness levels.

End of week 6

Overview of Week 5:

Mon: Combined muscular endurance and plyometric circuit.
Wed: Straight line plyometric circuit.
Fri: Retest and evaluation of Programme (separate blog).

Review of the week:

Monday:

Mondays sessions was again an enjoyable session, I feel I have built a rapport with this team and there is a mutual respect. The athletes know what to expect and most importantly how to do it so the lesson seems to flow. I did not correct many athletes form today they just seemed to know what to do and how to do it. This felt quite good and I feel the past 6 weeks have been a steep learning curve for both myself (as a coach) and the athletes.

Wednesday:

On Wednesday I set the plyometric circuit up as a straight line again but during the lesson I felt a little 'deflated', I think it is because the work placement is coming to an end and I was a little anxious about  the testing results tomorrow. Although not everything depends on a positive result, I would like them to show a positive results as this will support the training programme and the effort they have put in over the past several weeks. This lesson finished early and I added a lengthy stretching session at the end, in the hope this help for Friday.

Friday:

I have blogged Fridays retest session on another blog.

Summary:

Good week the team really get the exercises and reasons behind the circuit training lessons. This week has mainly been me dealing with my emotions, I have been slightly anxious all week in the hope that the retest with be show a significant result.

End of week 5

Over view of week 5

Monday: Joint plyometric and muscular endurance circuit
Wednesday: Straight line circuit
Friday: Strenght training

Review of week :

Monday:

Monday we were in the swing of the lesson, based on previous weeks session and current feedback, I am happy to stay with this joint circuit setup, I feel I get more effort from the team because they like it and i am still able to assess each individual on the exercises. The whole squad seemed very positive today, maybe because they had a good win on on Sunday against a a team at the top of the table. I took a lot of things from that win but mainly that they are not fatigued and losing games because of the extra training we have been doing. the coach was complementing that they looked sharp and sustained there effort levels throughout the entire match. the team simply put this down to having a good day but i am sure this training intervention will have something to do with it.

* Unfortunately I was told on mondays session that I would be losing 8 of my athletes on training exercise and they would not return until friday of week 6.- My action plan is to produce a training program for the 8 athletes to take away and follow to ensure they are still get quality training that is inline with the football teams fitness program.

 Wednesday:

Todays session seemed very quite but with 8 of the normal 20 missing it would. on the plus side todsys session i was able to analysis the athletes more integral, I stuck to the straight line circuit but thia tie i just used a lane of 2 this gave me more time criticing each athlete, not that many need it anymore. Today, due to low numbers,  I used the video camera on every athelte good/bad , I wanted them to tell me whether their form was correct or needed improving. This proved valuable as the athletes were then coaching eachother and I just supervised.

Friday:

Friday’s session was based on strength training, this session historically has been the easiest session to conduct but I feel with some of the key players away the remainder seem to be less motivated. I have gave them the incentive of once they finished their programme they could leave, what they didn’t realise was it would have finished earlier anyway because there was less people so there is more equipment per person. This lifted their spirit and the rest was fine, again I used video analysis even those who form was good, I just wanted to see if they knew there was good and why.

Summary:

All in all a good week the team have been doing this for 5 week now and the majority know what is expected of them, their form and technique has been very good but motivation was a little challenging at times. I am gutted that next week is my last week as I have really enjoyed this work placement, I am going to see if graham requires assistance on a more permanent basis.

My action Plan:

Is to develop a training plan for those that are away and I will get in touch with them this week to ensure that they are follow the program.