MyMOMENTUM - a recap by Giorgio Zucca
MyMomentum was started by Stu Roche, a UK born S&C coach working stateside. Being personally invited to present in 2021 on the flagship event, I wanted to send another practitioner this year using the practitioner development fund to provide him with attendance!
Below you will read Griorgio Zuccas “wrap up” of the 2022 MyMomentum seminar hosted online again. Giorgio has been an intern at The University of Louisville and I had heard some great feedback from coaches on his attitude and promise for the future. As a result I presented him with access to the seminar for free. Taking place over 2 consecutive evenings, the event provided access to some class act presenters. I hope you enjoy Giorgio’s write up below!
DAY1
Dr. Pat Ivey - Health and Performance: A Collegiate Model:
This presentation highlighted:
The importance of building a COMPREHENSIVE INTEGRATED SYSTEM around the STUDENT-ATHLETE (Care + communication + collaboration).
Health & Performance departments should organise regular meetings and human connections to avoid “silos” (separation between departments).
It’s important to understand the difference and the relative importance of Physical Health/Performance and Mental Health/Performance.
Step up and be a leader to build a system based on comprehensive integration!
“Dr. Pat Ivey has highlighted a wonderful concept which is very useful for every sport association or collegiate sport environment: cooperation between health & performance departments is key to reach results and deal with athletes as human beings”
Mary Kate Feit - Post Session Review: The Use of Reflective Practice in Strength & Conditioning:
What is a REFLECTIVE PRACTICE? What turns PRACTICE INTO KNOWLEDGE.
Paper “Effective behaviours of S&C Coaches as perceived by Athletes” shows the importance of building a RELATIONSHIP, need of ACTIONS like instant feedbacks or instructions, and expectations on COACHING VALUES like motivation, confidence and passion.
How do we reflect and change? Collect data > review data > determine goals > plan changes > implement change. Repeat!
Tips on collecting data: write notes on the back of the training card and review them after the session or take video/audio recordings of the session
Tips on planning goals: have a good relationship with athletes, so send education infos, know athletes’ names, attend at least 1 sport practice per week.
“This presentation gave me a lot of ideas on how to change my coaching routine and my attitudes to get better. Not only from the technical standpoint, but also from the relationship point of view.”
Adam Virgile - Critical Concepts in Test Selection and Performance Evaluation:
Why testing? To understand level of Preparedness, develop and plan stimuli over time, compare athletes’ results, converse with athletes, and provide motivation and education.
What matters? Sport, Position, Athlete dependency
Understand which could be the possible constraints to performance: cost, support, reliability, personnel, validity, logistics. Or, from a technical standpoint: complication, time, number of players, surface
Standardize tests! Schedule, Timing + explanation + setup
Tip: understand athletes’ routines to help you standardize tests (ex. Food, caffeine consumption, sleep…)
Repeatability of tests: provide documents, select simple movements (if movements are too difficult, the improvement could be due to technical and not physical improvement), easy equipment access, logistically feasible, easy setup, possibility to repeat it in season. FREQUENCY IS KEY!
Optimize test’s return on investment: try to choose tests which can give feedbacks on different aspects/areas (as less tests as possible in the battery)
“In this presentation I learnt so much about avoiding possible “noises”, which can cause problems in the standardization of tests. Adam gave excellent advice on how to select optimal tests for specific demands”
DAY 2
Shannon Phillips - Comprehensive Communication with Sport Coaches
Care about STUDENT-ATHLETES! Build relationships, trust and communication.
Communication consists in: SENDER-encoding-MESSAGE-decoding-RECEIVER. Everybody should try to get feedback and avoid “noises” during the process. As coaches we need to be senders, but also receivers.
Building relationships needs, time, hardwork and patience.
Speak the Sport Language to build a better relationship with the sport coach: KNOW your sport, LEARN THE LANGUAGE, USE THE LANGUAGE. (ex. Learn the history of the sport, ask elaborated questions)
Organize weekly meetings with the coach, send frequent updates by text and email.
Explain the reasons behind your choices (using the sport language)
Be interested in coaches and athletes as human beings
“This lecture was really helpful in providing good ideas to implement as soon as possible to change our approach with sport coaches. As other lecturers have told us: know the person and the human being”
Brian Cain - The 10 Pillars of Mental Performance Mastery: The Missing Link in Sports Performance Coaching:
Events + Response = Outcome (E+R=O)
3 important concepts to modify the outcome: set the INTENTION, SCHEDULE your plans (ex. Google calendar), MEASURE results (ex. Free “hapitshare” app)
With athletes: be clear, show accountability, provide support.
Practical strategy to fight anxiety and stress moments for athletes: implement mental imaging strategies (it’s very important to learn about breath tempos and control)
“This presentation made me think about how to deal with difficult and stressful situation also from the mental performance point of view, and how it should be prioritised as an important skill to learn as a coach!”
Megan Young - The Evolution of a Role within Soccer: NCAA - NWSL – MLS
Difference between leagues is not only about rules but about a lot of factors like sex and athletes’ age ranges
Professional setting is more often able to create a comprehensive integration environment, while collegiate sometimes could be a “silos” environment
In professional soccer there’s the highest age range you could find (around 20+ years). Very diverse way on how to deal with different ages, both form the physical and the mental point of view.
Let players be human: celebrate achievements with them.
“This presentation gave me the possibility to reflect on differences between sectors in US sport performance. Every sector has pros and cons: the important thing is just to understand them and try to be aware of how to navigate them in the next steps of my career.”
“To summarise the day…I’ve learnt a lot from every professional who presented. I’ve appreciated there are many common take away messages between the presentations too. The importance to enhance collaboration, passion and care with all the people we are working with, is key for every sport environment’s success!”
“Thanks to My Momentum for the organization! Thanks to Dan, who could give me the possibility to attend this incredible event! I Highly recommended event for anyone who would like to attend it next year!” - Giorgio Zucca
Thanks from me to Giorgio for his wrap up summary notes here! Moving forward, more opportunities to send practitioners on personal development opportunities will be coming up! So keep an eye up for future opportunities to sign up!
