Topics
Anti-doping in Sport
Ron Clarke
Basic anatomy and biomechanics
Peter Micalos
Whether a coach decides to study anatomy and biomechanics or not, they should at least learn the basics such as being able to recognise structures and movements of the body so they can analyse performance of their athletes. This workshop looks at the structures of the body, biomechanical principles, and analysing athletes’ movements.
Coach/Referee Communication – What works/what doesn’t
Peter Wright/Nathan Pearce
Most coaches are aware of the consequences of using performance enhancing drugs. This session provides coaches with basic information regarding anti-doping issues, including inadvertent doping. This practice workshop teaches coaches about their role in anti-doping and informs them of the anti-doping requirements for their athletes.
Injury Prevention through Movement Screening: Past, Present, and Future
Dr Stephen Bird, Kerry Mann and WRAS S&C Interns
Integrating BAPS into the functional warm up: Firing up muscular activation.
The goal of the functional warm up is to stimulate sensory and motor components related to preparatory (feed-forward) and reactive (feed-back) systems through functionally integrated movement patterns. This involves stimulating proprioception, kinesthesia and neuromuscular control mechanisms that enhance muscular activation. Integration of balance and postural stability (BAPS) activities are simple methods to obtain neural facilitation and muscular activation. This practical session present BAPS activities that are easily implemented into the functional warm up and provide variations that enhance preparatory and reactive muscular activation.
Introduction to Physiology
Dr Eric Drinkwater
There are always new activities coaches can develop to improve their athlete’s physical abilities. This practical workshop aims to teach coaches about identifying the energy systems used in sport such as aerobic and anaerobic, the components of fitness for sport, the types of training used to develop physical abilities, and the principles of training.
No limits, just regulation!
Prof Frank Marino
Over the past decade it has become apparent that the area of sports science research has developed with a particular mindset; what limits exercise performance. It is now clear that this particular way of thinking has limited application and cannot predict in any substantial way how athletes either perform or the way in which they can achieve their goals. This presentation will look at the historical development of this way of thinking and suggest that this is constraining for the researcher, coach and athlete and that a more appropriate way of thinking is understanding what regulates our performance. In other words, there are no limits, just regulation!
Playing for life… Using game sense to push beyond the limits of traditional coaching
Felicity James
Playing for life is an approach to coaching that uses games to introduce skills and tactics of the particular sport or structured activity being delivered. This session will explore the difference between game sense and traditionally coaching approaches and provide practical examples of how to implement a Playing for life session.
Skill acquisition
Simon Woinaski
Coaches have the important job of assisting their athletes and helping them develop skills as well as ways to improve their skills. This presentation teaches coaches how to identify skill acquisition processes such as training perception and decision making skills and how to provide an environment that promotes skill learning and development.
Sports nutrition made easy
Dr Stephen Bird
While athletes recognise the importance of sports nutrition for enhancing training, recovery and performance, research suggests that athletes may lack sports nutrition knowledge with many athletes turning to coaches for nutrition advice. Coaches are often the primary source of nutritional information for athletes, however many may obtain nutritional information via alternate sources such as the internet, media, and other athletes, and this may represent miscommunication between sound scientific information and anecdotal experiences.
Therefore, this presentation shall:
- overview sports nutrition guidelines for enhance training, recovery and performance
- provide practical nutrition strategies for athletes
Sports Psychology
Deb Clarke
To help athletes prepare for sports performance, it’s helpful for coaches to understand the basic psychology training skills. This presentation teaches coaches about the basic elements of mental preparation, how to assist athletes to deal with disappointment in sport, and how to assist athletes to access professional sports and psychology advice.
Stretching the truth: Staying clear of static holds to warm up athletes
Dr Eric Drinkwater
While static stretching is a typical part of most warm-ups, there is now strong evidence indicating that stretching reduces an athlete’s speed, power, reaction time and balance while doing little to prevent injuries. This practical workshop will involve methods of warming up athletes with technical running drills without static stretching. Come prepared to work!
The essence of coaching
Deb Cook
It’s essential to display behaviours and standards that are expected of a coach as well as to self-evaluate in order to improve coaching performance. This workshop looks at self-reflecting and evaluating skills, improving one’s own coaching performance, maintaining professional standards expected of a coach, having a positive and inclusive coaching philosophy, and knowing the role of being a coach and the role of the sport in society.
Working Better with Parents
Simon Woinaski
Recent research conducted by Sport and Recreation, investigating coaching behaviours at the junior community level, also uncovered that “dealing with parents” and the issues around parental expectations and behaviour are creating significant stress for community coaches. This workshop aims to explore the reasons behind parental behaviour in today’s world and use this information to develop strategies to assist community level coaches develop more positive relationships with the parents of the athletes they coach.
