As a former athlete, I don't recall ever having much of a game day ritual. I never really did anything differently on game day that I didn't do otherwise. As I have grown into my role as a roller derby coach I have found that there are certain things I need to do to be ready for the game physically and mentally. I know as a coach it might sound weird that I need to prepare physically, but I find it is just as important!
1. My prep starts weeks before a game. If we are playing another league I try to learn as much as I can about them. I look at Flat Track Stats to see how they have fared recently. Compare common opponents if there are any. Dig for any bout footage I can find, even if it is old (I make note of skaters that skated then as well as now and how they played, assuming they will have improved).
2. One or two weeks before the game I will write my lineups. I may tweak them daily all the way up to the day of the game but I still like the feeling of having something written and ready to go.
3. During bout week I mentally run through EVERY possible scenario I can think of.
What would I do if we were down by nine points with two minutes left and one timeout? What will I do if skater A fouls out? How will I handle it if the other team gets an early lead? What am I going to say to the team at halftime if we are winning by a bunch?
This way I feel ready for anything once the whistle blows.
4. The night before I try to get as much sleep as possible. Sometimes with travel games we pull in pretty late so I will try to get to bed as quickly as possible.
5. On bout day I like to get up and get moving. I have found that the best way for me to do this is to hit the gym. Thankfully for me just about every city has an Anytime Fitness for me to head off to. These gym sessions are never for targeting muscle groups or hitting fitness goals. All I do is go in and throw around as much weight as I can, burn off the bout day anxiety, and focus my mind. I have found this to be a huge key for my preparation. Recently I lost my cool at a game (which is VERY uncharacteristic of me) and I think the fact that I didn't get my morning gym session in that day played a big part in that.
6. I like to get a big lunch in because often bout times fall into a meal time for me so I need something that will get me through to the after party.
7. Between those two things on bout day I like to boot up the computer and watch some inspiring games. Personal favorites are Bay Area/Denver and Texas/Gotham from last year's champs in Milwaukee.
8. Once I am at the venue I like to get in game mode. The captains warm the team up off skates and I will take everything in. By the time our team track time rolls around I like to be all business. I want to set the tone for my team and our attitudes from that point forward.
I am curious to hear other people's rituals. Please comment below!
*The Truck Stop* Musings from a roller derby coach on the finer points of the game. Now with more bow tie.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
The Role of the Alternate on the Bench
In roller derby a coach has many responsibilities on the bench. Lineups must be called, jammers need to receive instructions during jams, and skaters need to be coached up on the things they are doing on the track. Most teams have two bench staff that are tasked with these and other responsibilities during each game. The roles and their divisions are different depending on who you talk to. What I would really like to focus on in this post is the role of the alternate in roller derby.
Obviously wearing the A gives someone certain rights and powers during a game. Basically they are the same as those of the Captain. The main difference is that in most cases the person wearing the A is not a skater playing in that game, they are one of the bench staff. (I have seen skaters wear the A but I think it is a terrible idea to do for reasons I will specify below.)
WFTDA rules dictate that the alternate (A) has the ability to call time outs and call for official reviews. These are vital things when it comes to a game (really in all sports that have those two things). I mentioned that I feel like a skating alternate is a terrible idea and this opinion revolves completely around focus. Generally a captain is going to be a skater that plays a lot. Oftentimes they are even one of the "go to" athletes when it comes to crunch time. You would not want that person to have to be focused on clock management while on the track. At the same time, a captain may never even see a potential incorrect penalty call because they are focused on what they are doing on the track. This is where the alternate needs to come in. They are the eyes on the track at all times and should have a much better opportunity to watch things like the clock and referee calls.
On your bench, ideally, your alternate is going to be the person who has eyes on the track at all times. In the past I myself have taken on multiple roles on the bench at once including calling lineups, coaching jammers, as well as wearing the A. To be honest it was not the most effective situation for me to be in. Oftentimes I would be in the process of calling the next line and miss a penalty on the track or look up to find that my jammer was out of the pack but not lead and had no idea why not. It was always a terrible feeling having to take my eyes off the track. Now with our travel team I have a designated bench manager that holds down lineups so I can focus on the game. This has allowed me to become a much more calm and effective bench coach. I am able to approach my official reviews with all the information possible and I am able to manage the clock with precision because I can focus on it between jams.
Moral of this blog is, put everyone involved in the most effective possible position they can be in. The A isn't about ego. The A is about management. There are really only two reasons I could see putting it on a skater. 1) The bench coach is very green and doesn't know the game or rules very well.
2) The skater wearing it just wants to have the legal right to argue with officials and say, "Look I am the alternate!" (Check your ego, you will win more games.)
I will cover that sticky subject of how to approach an official review in another blog.
Obviously wearing the A gives someone certain rights and powers during a game. Basically they are the same as those of the Captain. The main difference is that in most cases the person wearing the A is not a skater playing in that game, they are one of the bench staff. (I have seen skaters wear the A but I think it is a terrible idea to do for reasons I will specify below.)
WFTDA rules dictate that the alternate (A) has the ability to call time outs and call for official reviews. These are vital things when it comes to a game (really in all sports that have those two things). I mentioned that I feel like a skating alternate is a terrible idea and this opinion revolves completely around focus. Generally a captain is going to be a skater that plays a lot. Oftentimes they are even one of the "go to" athletes when it comes to crunch time. You would not want that person to have to be focused on clock management while on the track. At the same time, a captain may never even see a potential incorrect penalty call because they are focused on what they are doing on the track. This is where the alternate needs to come in. They are the eyes on the track at all times and should have a much better opportunity to watch things like the clock and referee calls.
On your bench, ideally, your alternate is going to be the person who has eyes on the track at all times. In the past I myself have taken on multiple roles on the bench at once including calling lineups, coaching jammers, as well as wearing the A. To be honest it was not the most effective situation for me to be in. Oftentimes I would be in the process of calling the next line and miss a penalty on the track or look up to find that my jammer was out of the pack but not lead and had no idea why not. It was always a terrible feeling having to take my eyes off the track. Now with our travel team I have a designated bench manager that holds down lineups so I can focus on the game. This has allowed me to become a much more calm and effective bench coach. I am able to approach my official reviews with all the information possible and I am able to manage the clock with precision because I can focus on it between jams.
Moral of this blog is, put everyone involved in the most effective possible position they can be in. The A isn't about ego. The A is about management. There are really only two reasons I could see putting it on a skater. 1) The bench coach is very green and doesn't know the game or rules very well.
2) The skater wearing it just wants to have the legal right to argue with officials and say, "Look I am the alternate!" (Check your ego, you will win more games.)
I will cover that sticky subject of how to approach an official review in another blog.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Work Hardest On The Things You Hate: How I Learned To Embrace Leg Day
There is a sad truth in life. Many of us work the least at the things we hate doing. Unfortunately oftentimes those things are the things we are the worst at. I don't think I am alone in being guilty of this. When it comes to roller derby, and much of life for that matter, if I am not very good at something it is tough to enjoy doing it. I absolutely suck at plow stops, especially if I am moving at a pretty fast clip. I am much better at doing tomahawk stops and hockey stops/power slides so I do those all the time trying to perfect them. I use warm up times and water breaks to get lots of reps in on them but I never do plows. Why? Because I hate doing them. Why do I hate doing them? The answer is simple, I am rarely successful at them, I suck at them.
The logic here is terrible. Things I do well, I practice more than things I don't do well. Shouldn't it be the other way around? When I write practices for my team I don't have us work on stuff we are amazing at, we work on stuff we need improvement on. I think we are all guilty of this at some point or another.
I came to this realization myself recently when I found myself looking forward to leg day at the gym. In the past this has been something that got minimal attention from me and often I would skip it if I missed a few days at the gym. Why would I do that? The answer is simple, I was better at lifting for my upper body. I can bench press a solid amount of weight. I can do lots of pull ups. Frankly I just plain felt more successful at the gym doing those things.
For a long time now I have had pretty bad knees. This has made me paranoid about doing lower body lifts as I am always concerned about them. Many years of this paranoia has led me down the path of being the typical gym guy who over works the upper body and rarely hits the legs. (This is why many huge muscly gym guys wear baggy workout pants, they have scrawny chicken legs!) The recent turning point for me was actually kind of silly in the grand scheme of things but it has changed my attitude. Outside of derby I play on two softball teams during the summer. I have been a first baseman for many years and for those that know baseball generally that is where the biggest, slowest guy gets put. (Not to toot my own horn but I am there because I am a damn good first baseman!) This year I was asked by one of my teams to play center field instead. I was happy to but I knew I needed to get myself ready to be at my best. I decided I needed to improve my speed and explosiveness out there so I could cover as much of the field as possible. The only was this could happen was leg day.
From that point forward I made it my goal not to skip leg day no matter how much I didn't want to do it. The real kicker here is suddenly, I started to look forward to it! The more I did things like front squats and dead lifts the better I got at them and the more weight I could lift. Suddenly my weakness started becoming my strength. If I hadn't set a goal for myself I would never have gotten to this point, now I have even more goals set. I recently dead lifted 285 lbs and I really want to hit 315.
This attitude shift can be applied to anything in life really but this is a roller derby blog so I will try to keep my focus there. We all have things we are not good at when it comes to derby and skating. Until we set goals for ourselves and really embrace the things we are not good at we will never truly get better at them. If you are like me and suck at plow stops, tell yourself you are going to be able to stop within five feet from full speed in the next two months. If you want to improve your laps in a five minute skate aim for adding one every month and work at it. If you hate doing off skate, force yourself to do it once a week and try something different each time. You will be amazed how easy it is once you find something you love to do.
Set goals, attack your weaknesses, and become a better player and person. You can do it. don't doubt yourself.
The logic here is terrible. Things I do well, I practice more than things I don't do well. Shouldn't it be the other way around? When I write practices for my team I don't have us work on stuff we are amazing at, we work on stuff we need improvement on. I think we are all guilty of this at some point or another.
I came to this realization myself recently when I found myself looking forward to leg day at the gym. In the past this has been something that got minimal attention from me and often I would skip it if I missed a few days at the gym. Why would I do that? The answer is simple, I was better at lifting for my upper body. I can bench press a solid amount of weight. I can do lots of pull ups. Frankly I just plain felt more successful at the gym doing those things.
For a long time now I have had pretty bad knees. This has made me paranoid about doing lower body lifts as I am always concerned about them. Many years of this paranoia has led me down the path of being the typical gym guy who over works the upper body and rarely hits the legs. (This is why many huge muscly gym guys wear baggy workout pants, they have scrawny chicken legs!) The recent turning point for me was actually kind of silly in the grand scheme of things but it has changed my attitude. Outside of derby I play on two softball teams during the summer. I have been a first baseman for many years and for those that know baseball generally that is where the biggest, slowest guy gets put. (Not to toot my own horn but I am there because I am a damn good first baseman!) This year I was asked by one of my teams to play center field instead. I was happy to but I knew I needed to get myself ready to be at my best. I decided I needed to improve my speed and explosiveness out there so I could cover as much of the field as possible. The only was this could happen was leg day.
From that point forward I made it my goal not to skip leg day no matter how much I didn't want to do it. The real kicker here is suddenly, I started to look forward to it! The more I did things like front squats and dead lifts the better I got at them and the more weight I could lift. Suddenly my weakness started becoming my strength. If I hadn't set a goal for myself I would never have gotten to this point, now I have even more goals set. I recently dead lifted 285 lbs and I really want to hit 315.
This attitude shift can be applied to anything in life really but this is a roller derby blog so I will try to keep my focus there. We all have things we are not good at when it comes to derby and skating. Until we set goals for ourselves and really embrace the things we are not good at we will never truly get better at them. If you are like me and suck at plow stops, tell yourself you are going to be able to stop within five feet from full speed in the next two months. If you want to improve your laps in a five minute skate aim for adding one every month and work at it. If you hate doing off skate, force yourself to do it once a week and try something different each time. You will be amazed how easy it is once you find something you love to do.
Set goals, attack your weaknesses, and become a better player and person. You can do it. don't doubt yourself.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Clock Management in Roller Derby
Roller derby teams rarely manage clocks effectively. This can be said of teams at every level. In every other sport with some kind of clock and limited "scoring opportunities" (soccer and hockey for example probably do not fall under this argument) clock management is incredibly important. This can be seen for example at the end of many close basketball and football (American football, sorry worldly folks I live in the U.S.A., more specifically Wisconsin where the Green Bay Packers are king) games where timeouts and clock stoppage are incredibly crucial for maximizing scoring opportunities.
In American football teams are often praised for effective clock management. A team with a slight lead will run the ball to keep the clock ticking away and out of the hands of the other team. Conversely a team playing behind will do things like throw passes to the sidelines (out of bounds stops the clock) and play a hurry up offense where they rush to the line as quickly as possible to limit the amount of time between plays. All of these things in both situations are meant to increase or limit the scoring chances of the team playing with a deficit. Coaches that manage these things are praised for their decision making in these situations. Losses in close games due to poor management are often blamed not on players or defenses but the coaches.
In roller derby we do not see coaches held to this same standard. Many times teams either allow another team extra time to complete a comeback or waste precious seconds that could be used to gain vital extra points.
Roller derby is a strange beast clock wise for two reasons. First there is the 30 second runoff between the fourth whistle at the end of one jam and the starting whistle of another. That means that in a 30 minute half if there were 22 jams there would be about 10 minutes of running clock during that half (depending on timeouts, how the final jam ends, etc) where skaters are not skating. The other oddball part of roller derby is that when the period clock shows one second there can still be two minutes of playtime in the period yet. As long as the previous jam ends prior to the clock showing zero you can stop the clock if you have a timeout or official review. This allots you one more scoring opportunity and depending on execution could be a huge swing in points.
To understand proper clock management we have to look at the scoring potential of any given jam under realistic situations. If we take out the very real possibility of a power jam on average you can generally expect to score between 4 and 9 points in a successful jam. (9 points assumes you passed the opposing jammer on the first scoring pass and they completed there initial before you could pass them a second time.) According to Windyman of Windyman.net in 80+ Division 1 bouts last year the average jam scored 9.1 points. This number is probably skewed due to obscenely large power jams that offset more common single scoring pass jams. With the new 30 second penalty rules I would have to imagine this average will drop.
For clock management planning purposes I would never expect to score more than 9 points in a jam. That is to say that if my team was down by 36 points in the waning minutes of a game I would like to have at minimum 4 jams to close the gap.
This is the point at which clock management comes hugely into play. It is entirely possible to cram five jams into the final four minutes of a game that each encompass two full scoring passes. You would need all three of your timeouts as well as your official review to pull this off most likely but it is possible.
Recently at Quad City Chaos there was a major controversy that came up because of a team very smartly managing the clock and their play at the end. With a little more than a minute to go in the Ohio/Toronto game Toronto's jammer went to the box for a cut track. Ohio decided to have their jammer stop engaging. Brilliant move! Yet the announcers chided the team for it. They did exactly what they needed to do to win the game. For those familiar with American football, they took a knee. If you are a basketball fan, they dribbled out the clock. This kind of smart play should be applauded but because roller derby as a sport is still behind in a lot of ways we still expect them to "entertain" us to the final whistle. Last time I checked the win means something (well in WFTDA rankings maybe not as much) but it was important to Ohio to keep some kind of a point spread in there. With this being the third game of the weekend for both teams they weren't taking chances. I would do the same thing and if I had been there I would have stood up and applauded while that crowd booed. Sometimes brains wins out over brawn. As a coach, once we hit the track there is very little I can do to affect the outcome of the game. 90% of my job is the preparation that goes into the team. Clock management is a huge part of my role on game day. I take it very seriously. I hope to see more bench coaches do the same in the future. With 30 second penalties, point swings due to power jams are much smaller so teams are going to have to utilize the clock to aid in their comebacks. Without strong clock management teams will fall short every time.
In American football teams are often praised for effective clock management. A team with a slight lead will run the ball to keep the clock ticking away and out of the hands of the other team. Conversely a team playing behind will do things like throw passes to the sidelines (out of bounds stops the clock) and play a hurry up offense where they rush to the line as quickly as possible to limit the amount of time between plays. All of these things in both situations are meant to increase or limit the scoring chances of the team playing with a deficit. Coaches that manage these things are praised for their decision making in these situations. Losses in close games due to poor management are often blamed not on players or defenses but the coaches.
In roller derby we do not see coaches held to this same standard. Many times teams either allow another team extra time to complete a comeback or waste precious seconds that could be used to gain vital extra points.
Roller derby is a strange beast clock wise for two reasons. First there is the 30 second runoff between the fourth whistle at the end of one jam and the starting whistle of another. That means that in a 30 minute half if there were 22 jams there would be about 10 minutes of running clock during that half (depending on timeouts, how the final jam ends, etc) where skaters are not skating. The other oddball part of roller derby is that when the period clock shows one second there can still be two minutes of playtime in the period yet. As long as the previous jam ends prior to the clock showing zero you can stop the clock if you have a timeout or official review. This allots you one more scoring opportunity and depending on execution could be a huge swing in points.
To understand proper clock management we have to look at the scoring potential of any given jam under realistic situations. If we take out the very real possibility of a power jam on average you can generally expect to score between 4 and 9 points in a successful jam. (9 points assumes you passed the opposing jammer on the first scoring pass and they completed there initial before you could pass them a second time.) According to Windyman of Windyman.net in 80+ Division 1 bouts last year the average jam scored 9.1 points. This number is probably skewed due to obscenely large power jams that offset more common single scoring pass jams. With the new 30 second penalty rules I would have to imagine this average will drop.
For clock management planning purposes I would never expect to score more than 9 points in a jam. That is to say that if my team was down by 36 points in the waning minutes of a game I would like to have at minimum 4 jams to close the gap.
This is the point at which clock management comes hugely into play. It is entirely possible to cram five jams into the final four minutes of a game that each encompass two full scoring passes. You would need all three of your timeouts as well as your official review to pull this off most likely but it is possible.
Jam starts at 4:00
15 seconds to get lead
20 seconds for scoring pass
20 seconds for second scoring pass
Call off-9points
Time out
3:05 left
similar jam sequence
Call off-9 points
Time out
2:10 left
similar jam sequence
Call off-9 points
Time out
1:15 left
similar jam sequence
Call off-9 points
Official review
0:20 left
Final jam (up to two minutes of scoring potential)
Obviously this is a best case scenario but with some momentum and luck it is entirely possible to erase a 36+ point lead without a power jam.
Personally I like to hoard timeouts for this very reason. I am happiest when I still have all three of my timeouts for the last fifteen or so minutes of a game. It amazes me how often you see teams lose close games with one, two, or even all three of their timeouts still in their pockets. Worse still I see teams all the time allow precious seconds tick off the clock between jams before they call their timeouts.
On the opposite end of the spectrum I think sometimes teams are even worse at clock management when it comes to holding a lead. Jammers will make super quick call offs in single pass jams when the other jammer might be six to ten seconds from beginning their scoring pass. These seconds seem insignificant at the time but sometimes it is the difference between being able to end the game or having to hold of the other team for one more jam at the end. When my teams play with a lead we do our best to grind the other team. Recently we started a final jam with the intent that we needed to kill a little over a minute before we ended the game. We got lead and when the other jammer escaped the pack I didn't panic and end the jam, I just told my jammer to skate smart and burn clock until it hit zero. I wasn't going to call it off and give the other team two more full minutes to try to reel us in. I knew if we stayed out of the box they didn't have a chance.
Personally I like to hoard timeouts for this very reason. I am happiest when I still have all three of my timeouts for the last fifteen or so minutes of a game. It amazes me how often you see teams lose close games with one, two, or even all three of their timeouts still in their pockets. Worse still I see teams all the time allow precious seconds tick off the clock between jams before they call their timeouts.
On the opposite end of the spectrum I think sometimes teams are even worse at clock management when it comes to holding a lead. Jammers will make super quick call offs in single pass jams when the other jammer might be six to ten seconds from beginning their scoring pass. These seconds seem insignificant at the time but sometimes it is the difference between being able to end the game or having to hold of the other team for one more jam at the end. When my teams play with a lead we do our best to grind the other team. Recently we started a final jam with the intent that we needed to kill a little over a minute before we ended the game. We got lead and when the other jammer escaped the pack I didn't panic and end the jam, I just told my jammer to skate smart and burn clock until it hit zero. I wasn't going to call it off and give the other team two more full minutes to try to reel us in. I knew if we stayed out of the box they didn't have a chance.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Always play as a team unless that option isn't there.
All of my skaters will tell you that if there is one way to describe my philosophy as coach, it is that no one individual can win a game. I heavily preach the idea that players make highlights, teams win games. This isn't a revolutionary concept. Gotham has been touting their "Hive Mind" for years now. When it comes down to most sports, having individually talented players is very important but without a solid overall team those individuals cannot win games consistently in the long run.
A great example of this was the Chicago Bulls teams that featured Michael Jordan and that won six championships in the 1990's. Michael Jordan was the best player in all of basketball at this time but to assume they won just because he was on the team is ignorant of the facts. All of those teams featured talented players who had their roles and performed them incredibly well. Michael Jordan might get all the publicity but guys like Steve Kerr, Luc Longely, Horace Grant, Dennis Rodman, and of course Scottie Pippen all were huge parts in many wins for those teams. Without those guys Jordan may have never won a ring.
On the opposite side of the coin I look at a guy like Dan Marino. He may have been the best quarterback the NFL has ever seen but he never won a Super Bowl. He didn't win because he never had the team around him to. He never had a running game to support him and he never had hall of fame receivers to throw to. He could win, but could never take it all the way because his team wasn't good enough. Underscoring this was John Elway. Elway had a nearly identical career to Marino up until the final two years where the Denver Broncos surrounded him with a stout defense and solid running game. Elway finished his career with two Super Bowl victories, not surprisingly.
I am a team guy. I have always respected sport organizations that put building a team over paying for stars. As an athlete myself I was always the role player. Never one to make a big splash but just always consistently doing my job so the team could win. I didn't worry about accolades, only W's.
Based on all of this, my skaters might wonder, why in the heck have we spent the last week working on one on one blocking skills? My answer to this is simple. Sometimes you have to admit to yourself that you don't know everything and it is time to step outside your box.
I came to an epiphany last weekend watching the Men's World Cup. The best teams were able to not only employ absolutely insane team blocking but then when jammers exited the front of the pack they showed incredible one on one blocking skills. Here is where I found my epiphany. This one on one blocking wasn't to show off how great they were or to show up the other team, it was a part of their overall team strategy. Time and time again I watched Team USA almost lose a jammer and then one of their blockers would all but stop them from moving forward on the track. This allowed the pack to swallow that jammer back up and suddenly that one on one block became an incredible four wall, swarm, or whatever blocking scheme the team was employing. Here you had a complete who's who of men's derby playing together as a team. It was tough to pick out the "stars" because they had such great team strategy going on.
If you have read my previous blogs you know that as far as I am concerned anybody can learn to do anything if they give it a chance so as far as I am concerned I am going to build a team of great one on one blockers. I will keep reiterating that team comes first but these individual abilities will make us better as a team. One on one blocking can buy your teammates time to come help you and sometimes those extra precious seconds can mean the difference between the other team getting lead or you holding their jammer for the entire two minutes.
The point I am trying to make here is that even though every great team plays as a team sometimes you need people to step out and make great plays. Jordan needed to hit a clutch shot once in a while. Elway needed to take the team on his back for the last two minutes from time to time. I have realized that if I don't give my skaters the skills to perform in these situations they won't be able to make the play. As I said in a previous blog, sometimes you have to learn and practice things you might never have to use, but when the time comes it is good to know them.
For all the coaches out there, take this as a lesson. No matter how much you think you know, you will never know enough. You can always learn something new and you should always be evaluating your strategies and philosophies. You never know when you might suddenly realize that everything you have ever done is not quite as good as you always thought it was. I always try to stay humble and reflective in my coaching. While I never want to drastically change things we do so as not to confuse our team I still will always be willing to add, take away, or morph our strategies. The game of roller derby is changing every day. If we aren't willing to adjust it will leave us behind. I have spent the last year getting my league caught up to the game, I am not willing to let them fall behind it again.
A great example of this was the Chicago Bulls teams that featured Michael Jordan and that won six championships in the 1990's. Michael Jordan was the best player in all of basketball at this time but to assume they won just because he was on the team is ignorant of the facts. All of those teams featured talented players who had their roles and performed them incredibly well. Michael Jordan might get all the publicity but guys like Steve Kerr, Luc Longely, Horace Grant, Dennis Rodman, and of course Scottie Pippen all were huge parts in many wins for those teams. Without those guys Jordan may have never won a ring.
On the opposite side of the coin I look at a guy like Dan Marino. He may have been the best quarterback the NFL has ever seen but he never won a Super Bowl. He didn't win because he never had the team around him to. He never had a running game to support him and he never had hall of fame receivers to throw to. He could win, but could never take it all the way because his team wasn't good enough. Underscoring this was John Elway. Elway had a nearly identical career to Marino up until the final two years where the Denver Broncos surrounded him with a stout defense and solid running game. Elway finished his career with two Super Bowl victories, not surprisingly.
I am a team guy. I have always respected sport organizations that put building a team over paying for stars. As an athlete myself I was always the role player. Never one to make a big splash but just always consistently doing my job so the team could win. I didn't worry about accolades, only W's.
Based on all of this, my skaters might wonder, why in the heck have we spent the last week working on one on one blocking skills? My answer to this is simple. Sometimes you have to admit to yourself that you don't know everything and it is time to step outside your box.
I came to an epiphany last weekend watching the Men's World Cup. The best teams were able to not only employ absolutely insane team blocking but then when jammers exited the front of the pack they showed incredible one on one blocking skills. Here is where I found my epiphany. This one on one blocking wasn't to show off how great they were or to show up the other team, it was a part of their overall team strategy. Time and time again I watched Team USA almost lose a jammer and then one of their blockers would all but stop them from moving forward on the track. This allowed the pack to swallow that jammer back up and suddenly that one on one block became an incredible four wall, swarm, or whatever blocking scheme the team was employing. Here you had a complete who's who of men's derby playing together as a team. It was tough to pick out the "stars" because they had such great team strategy going on.
If you have read my previous blogs you know that as far as I am concerned anybody can learn to do anything if they give it a chance so as far as I am concerned I am going to build a team of great one on one blockers. I will keep reiterating that team comes first but these individual abilities will make us better as a team. One on one blocking can buy your teammates time to come help you and sometimes those extra precious seconds can mean the difference between the other team getting lead or you holding their jammer for the entire two minutes.
The point I am trying to make here is that even though every great team plays as a team sometimes you need people to step out and make great plays. Jordan needed to hit a clutch shot once in a while. Elway needed to take the team on his back for the last two minutes from time to time. I have realized that if I don't give my skaters the skills to perform in these situations they won't be able to make the play. As I said in a previous blog, sometimes you have to learn and practice things you might never have to use, but when the time comes it is good to know them.
For all the coaches out there, take this as a lesson. No matter how much you think you know, you will never know enough. You can always learn something new and you should always be evaluating your strategies and philosophies. You never know when you might suddenly realize that everything you have ever done is not quite as good as you always thought it was. I always try to stay humble and reflective in my coaching. While I never want to drastically change things we do so as not to confuse our team I still will always be willing to add, take away, or morph our strategies. The game of roller derby is changing every day. If we aren't willing to adjust it will leave us behind. I have spent the last year getting my league caught up to the game, I am not willing to let them fall behind it again.
Friday, March 7, 2014
I don't care if you don't think you can do this. Building the skater Toolbox.
This is an open letter to roller derby skaters.
Dear skater (fresh meat, vet, or otherwise),
I don't care if you think you can do *insert skill/drill/edurance insanity here*. Your opinion on this subject doesn't matter to me in the least. As your coach it is my job to give you an opinion on your talent level, not listen to yours.
Sincerely,
Trucker
Man, that sure was harsh! Gees Trucker, you can be such a jerk sometimes.
In all seriousness though if there is one place that I feel as though I have succeeded as a coach it has been in quieting that little voice that says "I can't" in every skater's head.
Before I get into all that let me explain my Toolbox theory. It is my belief that everyone has a bag of tricks and skills that I like to term their toolbox. These are things that their bodies instinctively use in the heat of the jam without their brains necessarily "thinking" of doing them first. They are reactionary. Often times skaters will say afterward that they didn't realize they did them.
To build our toolbox we learn new and different skills all the time. Some of them are transition maneuvers. Others are different styles of stops like hockey stops or single leg plows. Often times I will throw these types of things in at the end of practice or after a tough endurance drill to break things up. We won't spend a ton of time on them because many of them are not vital skills that are necessary for playing the game effectively but many of them sure do not hurt. I give skaters the basics of these skills and enough coaching to send them on their way and then ask them to work on them during warm ups or our "Work on anything you suck at" times.
Back to quieting that little voice.
Many of these skills we work on are more advanced skills. Some of them, sit down if you aren't already, are way above the ability level of some of my skaters. Guess what, I still teach them to do it! I bet you are thinking to yourself right now that if skater A can barely do a two footed plow, why would I teach them to do a one footed plow? Heck, why would I teach them to do a hockey stop?! My answer, who in the heck are you to tell me that they can't do that. For that matter that skater isn't allowed to tell me that either!
My point here is that if we determine that skater A is incapable of performing some skill then the outcome is always going to be failure. Then again, if we never let them try they can't fail anyways.
We learn from failing. If we only ever perform tasks that are completely within our ability levels we will never improve. I can guarantee that every coach has had skaters that hit walls in their skill levels. This is exactly the time to push them way outside of their comfort zones. Sometimes trying to learn one thing teaches us to do something completely different and unrelated. We don't intend it but we also do not complain when it happens.
You want to build a new skaters confidence? Show her something that no one thinks she can do and then praise her when she can do 1/8 of it correctly. If she can do 1/8 of that uber complicated fancy transition blocking maneuver today, in a week she might be able to do 1/4 of it. In a month 1/2. Maybe after two months she is using it, not effectively, but trying it in scrimmage. After three she busts it out in a scrimmage and everyone goes "ooooohhhh" and suddenly she is a rock star. All because her coach dared to teach her something she, or anyone else for that matter, didn't think she could do.
As blocking facing backwards has become a legitimate, reliable strategy we in our league have worked hard to develop this skill. If I had a dollar for the number of girls that told me they would never use it in a game and now have at some point, I would be like $12 richer. Some of them have even found that they love to block that way. Some are even really effective when doing it. Same can be said for the "creepy octopus" that we learned from the Windy City Rollers. (Basically transitioning around a blocker while in contact with them.) Everyone thought it was scary as heck at first and now I have girls that do it without even realizing it.
All of this because once in a while at practice I say, "We are going to learn this new skill. It is pretty advanced and some of you might not be able to pull it off today, or tomorrow, or even this month but we are going to try it. ALL of us."
Don't tell me you can't do it. You are wrong, you can. Just not yet.
Dear skater (fresh meat, vet, or otherwise),
I don't care if you think you can do *insert skill/drill/edurance insanity here*. Your opinion on this subject doesn't matter to me in the least. As your coach it is my job to give you an opinion on your talent level, not listen to yours.
Sincerely,
Trucker
Man, that sure was harsh! Gees Trucker, you can be such a jerk sometimes.
In all seriousness though if there is one place that I feel as though I have succeeded as a coach it has been in quieting that little voice that says "I can't" in every skater's head.
Before I get into all that let me explain my Toolbox theory. It is my belief that everyone has a bag of tricks and skills that I like to term their toolbox. These are things that their bodies instinctively use in the heat of the jam without their brains necessarily "thinking" of doing them first. They are reactionary. Often times skaters will say afterward that they didn't realize they did them.
To build our toolbox we learn new and different skills all the time. Some of them are transition maneuvers. Others are different styles of stops like hockey stops or single leg plows. Often times I will throw these types of things in at the end of practice or after a tough endurance drill to break things up. We won't spend a ton of time on them because many of them are not vital skills that are necessary for playing the game effectively but many of them sure do not hurt. I give skaters the basics of these skills and enough coaching to send them on their way and then ask them to work on them during warm ups or our "Work on anything you suck at" times.
Back to quieting that little voice.
Many of these skills we work on are more advanced skills. Some of them, sit down if you aren't already, are way above the ability level of some of my skaters. Guess what, I still teach them to do it! I bet you are thinking to yourself right now that if skater A can barely do a two footed plow, why would I teach them to do a one footed plow? Heck, why would I teach them to do a hockey stop?! My answer, who in the heck are you to tell me that they can't do that. For that matter that skater isn't allowed to tell me that either!
My point here is that if we determine that skater A is incapable of performing some skill then the outcome is always going to be failure. Then again, if we never let them try they can't fail anyways.
We learn from failing. If we only ever perform tasks that are completely within our ability levels we will never improve. I can guarantee that every coach has had skaters that hit walls in their skill levels. This is exactly the time to push them way outside of their comfort zones. Sometimes trying to learn one thing teaches us to do something completely different and unrelated. We don't intend it but we also do not complain when it happens.
You want to build a new skaters confidence? Show her something that no one thinks she can do and then praise her when she can do 1/8 of it correctly. If she can do 1/8 of that uber complicated fancy transition blocking maneuver today, in a week she might be able to do 1/4 of it. In a month 1/2. Maybe after two months she is using it, not effectively, but trying it in scrimmage. After three she busts it out in a scrimmage and everyone goes "ooooohhhh" and suddenly she is a rock star. All because her coach dared to teach her something she, or anyone else for that matter, didn't think she could do.
As blocking facing backwards has become a legitimate, reliable strategy we in our league have worked hard to develop this skill. If I had a dollar for the number of girls that told me they would never use it in a game and now have at some point, I would be like $12 richer. Some of them have even found that they love to block that way. Some are even really effective when doing it. Same can be said for the "creepy octopus" that we learned from the Windy City Rollers. (Basically transitioning around a blocker while in contact with them.) Everyone thought it was scary as heck at first and now I have girls that do it without even realizing it.
All of this because once in a while at practice I say, "We are going to learn this new skill. It is pretty advanced and some of you might not be able to pull it off today, or tomorrow, or even this month but we are going to try it. ALL of us."
Don't tell me you can't do it. You are wrong, you can. Just not yet.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Explosiveness > Speed
There is a lie out there that permeates sport in general and especially roller derby. That lie is that speed is important. Now don't get me wrong, speed is a great tool that many skaters use to be effective in different ways but ultimately having a top speed that exceeds everyone on the track means absolutely nothing if you aren't explosive.
I do not coach a USARS team so obviously my point of view in this blog post is a bit skewed towards WFTDA game play style. In USARS wide open full speed skating for extended periods is far more common so one could argue speed is important but I am not looking at that iteration of roller derby.
So how is being explosive different from being fast? Simply put, acceleration. A good example is cars. Often times you will see a high performance car listed with its top speed as well as its 0-60 miles per hour time.
Example: 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 0-60 mph 5.6 seconds/top speed 118 mph
1981 Ford Escort 0-60 mph 14.6 seconds/(for the sake of my argument let's pretend this car also has a top speed of 118 mph even though it is closer to 65mph)
Now if both cars are started, as in Nascar, at the same pace (in car racing such as Nascar all racers follow a pace car at a set speed until they pass the green flag) and if that pace is their top speed neither car will have an advantage, they both are moving at the same rate. (Yes I understand that aerodynamics and other factors play into this, stop messing with my argument!) They will constantly post equal lap times.
Now let's take the same two cars, put them on a start line stationary with a giant I-beam hanging from a crane 100ft down the track. On green both cars accelerate from the standstill and try to pass underneath the I-beam before it is dropped. Which car would you rather be in? If you value your life and your means of transportation you chose the Mustang.
Now change that car into you on your skates and that I-beam (and the road) are the two most talented blockers you have ever faced. Would you rather be the Escort or the Mustang?
Explosiveness is the ability to stop and start quickly. It is the ability to go from both feet on the ground to as high as you can jump instantly. It is the ability to accelerate your body from a stationary position through another skater to deliver a crushing hit. Explosiveness is not measured in track lengths. Explosiveness is demonstrated in short bursts.
If I had to choose between a group of skaters that can do 4 laps in under 35 seconds and a skater that can go from not moving to full speed in under 10 feet I would choose the latter every time. The fastest skater in the world can't utilize their speed if they are stuck behind a wall and unable to shoot through the tiny crevices that the best defenses occasionally leave open.
Skaters who are explosive are also going to be your hardest hitters. Good quality controlled hits can be a blocker's best weapon at times (that is when they aren't focusing on containment which is way more important but that is a totally different blog altogether). Many skaters will use speed and the geometry of the track to achieve huge hits but those are the same skaters that whiff mightily more often than not and end up off the track and out of the play. Skaters that are explosive are able to hit hard without using momentum. Think a boxer's hand, stationary, then snapping forward in a compact motion. It returns to its initial position without putting the boxer in danger. Rarely do you ever see a boxer take huge wild swings because they will put them out of position.
So how do we develop explosive skaters? Three words FAST TWITCH MUSCLES.
#1 WEIGHTLIFTING
*Lifting more than just strictly body weight trains your muscles to be able to perform movements under more load than they generally have to. Simply put, if you can squat with 150 lbs on your shoulders your legs will absolutely explode upwards when you take the weight away. Crossfit has become increasingly popular in roller derby for cross training and for good reason. The combination of Olympic lifts like the snatch, power clean, etc. with interval training is perfect for building an athletic well rounded body.
*I strongly suggest that when it comes to weight training skaters focus on big muscle groups. Squats, snatch, bench press, dead lift, and seated rows, the list goes on. The thing all of these have in common is that they work multiple muscles at once. Bicep curls, tricep pulldowns, and leg extensions are all wastes of time because they focus on one specific muscle that can be worked out while doing other things. Bench press works the muscles of the chest and back while also utilizing the triceps for stabilization. Seated rows work the back and shoulders as well as the biceps.
*Movements like the snatch or the clean and jerk force your body to exert a great deal of force through quick powerful movements. They also require many portions of you body to work together to make them happen.
*Obviously skating requires your lower body to be strong but do not neglect your upper body. Your arms and legs work together during movements like skating and jumping. A strong upper body allows you to skate faster, accelerate more quickly, and jump higher. Another added feature of a strong solidly built upper body is that with more and more people skating and blocking backwards their chests and shoulders are taking a lot more contact. Strong muscles mean a much more solid surface to take those hits or even better give them out.
#2 INTERVAL TRAINING
*Marathon runners have slow twitch muscles. You don't want those. Outside of building endurance being able to run or skate for hours on end at the same pace consistently will do absolutely nothing for you. You don't do this in roller derby so why would you train your body that way? Generally you are never going full speed for more than a lap or two , often times much less. You should train your body to work efficiently in the manner that derby requires it. In Andre Agassi's autobiography Open he talks about how he was always getting beaten in five set matches because of his training and conditioning. His first trainer had him running miles and miles a day and he never really saw improvement in his conditioning on the court. His career trajectory changed drastically when he met Gil, a trainer at UNLV that would eventually become his personal trainer and lifelong friend. Gil looked at his training and asked him how often in a tennis match he ran non-stop for miles. The answer of course was never. Gil put Andre on a training regimen that focused on interval training to prepare Andre for the stop and start movements that are characteristic of a tennis player. The thing that was his weakness, long matches, became his strength. Often times his strategy became tiring out the other player, as others once did to him. Eight grand slams tell us that Gil was on the right track. Roller derby is a lot like tennis in that stopping and starting and short bursts are common. We need to train in this manner as well.
*Interval training at its core is characterized by short bursts of high effort with small rests in between. One example of simple interval training from my youth that I still go back to is wind sprints. We would get on our outdoor track and start off by walking. At the straightaway we would sprint as hard as possible for 100 meters and then slow to a walk. At the next straightaway we would repeat. We would sometimes do 8 to 12 laps. This meant we were sprinting at full speed for a mile or more. This was far more effective in building endurance for the middle distance (400 and 800 meters) that I ran than running 3-5 miles ever would have been because during my races I never ran a pace, I was going full tilt. The key here is 100% exertion during the "on" times. For example if you were to do intervals jumping rope you might do 30 seconds as fast and as intensely as possible and then 10 seconds of rest. That 30 seconds of jump roping should be at 100% of your maximum output. If you only do 70% you are training your body to operate at 70% and it will be difficult on bout day to get it to perform up to its full potential.
#3 BODY WEIGHT TRAINING
*Never underestimate the things you can do with no equipment (or very little) at all. Burpees are a perfect example of an exercise that requires nothing but you and a floor that translates to roller derby incredibly well. We all get knocked to the ground in roller derby. Getting up quickly is key. Burpees train our bodies to spring up from the ground. They also provide a hell of a cardiovascular workout as well. They were initially developed as a way to test heart strength as the up and down motion causes the heart to have to work against the forces of gravity.
*Box jumps are very high on my list of body weight exercises as well. They pick up where the squat leaves off. Not only are your legs asked to press upward but they are also asked to explode away from the floor. If you don't have a box you can do squat jumps as well. Some dedicated souls even do weighted squat jumps! (Be careful though, can be hazardous to your knees if done improperly.)
#4 NUTRITION
*Fuel your body right. There are millions of diets out there that claim to be the best for athletes. Ultimately a balanced diet with adequate protein for muscle growth is ideal. Stay away from processed foods as much as possible and eat lots of little meals every day to keep your engine running at all times. (Funny how we both started and ended this blog with car examples!)
On skates I have numerous things that I have had my skaters do to build explosiveness. My tactics and drills evolve over time, as well they should and I definitely tweak and coop things I see other teams doing. Just a few of the things I have our skaters do:
*Suicides and Six Strides in Hell- I combined two of my favorite high intensity endurance drills into one awesomely sadistic drill. Skaters do suicides for two minutes, then we do what I like to call Six Strides of Hell (I am sure I ripped the name/idea for this off from somewhere but I can't recall where). In Six Strides of Hell I blow my whistle and skaters are to take six hard digging strides to get up to maximum speed. Then they coast until the next whistle. (Usually I space whistle blows about 5-7 seconds apart). We will do two minutes of each one of these rotating for 16-20 minutes depending on what my practice plans for the night are.
*Lateral Jumps-Skaters load up their muscles and jump laterally on the whistle (one footed, crossover, two footed). Legs should start down in a full squat position (on one leg if doing one footed jumps) before jumping.
*Straightaway Sprints-Skaters sprint (duck footed or on toe stops) the length of the straightaway. They then slow to a stop in the turn and sprint again at the straightaway.
All of these things build not only endurance but explosiveness/quickness. I want my skaters to be able to accelerate through an opening before it closes. I want them to be able to escape a blocker chasing them from behind at the front of a pack. Good roller derby teams contain their opponents. I want my skaters to be uncontainable. I could really care less if they would lose a race, this is roller derby, you can always win if you knock the other skater on their ass before they can leave the start line.
I do not coach a USARS team so obviously my point of view in this blog post is a bit skewed towards WFTDA game play style. In USARS wide open full speed skating for extended periods is far more common so one could argue speed is important but I am not looking at that iteration of roller derby.
So how is being explosive different from being fast? Simply put, acceleration. A good example is cars. Often times you will see a high performance car listed with its top speed as well as its 0-60 miles per hour time.
Example: 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 0-60 mph 5.6 seconds/top speed 118 mph
1981 Ford Escort 0-60 mph 14.6 seconds/(for the sake of my argument let's pretend this car also has a top speed of 118 mph even though it is closer to 65mph)
Now if both cars are started, as in Nascar, at the same pace (in car racing such as Nascar all racers follow a pace car at a set speed until they pass the green flag) and if that pace is their top speed neither car will have an advantage, they both are moving at the same rate. (Yes I understand that aerodynamics and other factors play into this, stop messing with my argument!) They will constantly post equal lap times.
Now let's take the same two cars, put them on a start line stationary with a giant I-beam hanging from a crane 100ft down the track. On green both cars accelerate from the standstill and try to pass underneath the I-beam before it is dropped. Which car would you rather be in? If you value your life and your means of transportation you chose the Mustang.
Explosiveness is the ability to stop and start quickly. It is the ability to go from both feet on the ground to as high as you can jump instantly. It is the ability to accelerate your body from a stationary position through another skater to deliver a crushing hit. Explosiveness is not measured in track lengths. Explosiveness is demonstrated in short bursts.
If I had to choose between a group of skaters that can do 4 laps in under 35 seconds and a skater that can go from not moving to full speed in under 10 feet I would choose the latter every time. The fastest skater in the world can't utilize their speed if they are stuck behind a wall and unable to shoot through the tiny crevices that the best defenses occasionally leave open.
Skaters who are explosive are also going to be your hardest hitters. Good quality controlled hits can be a blocker's best weapon at times (that is when they aren't focusing on containment which is way more important but that is a totally different blog altogether). Many skaters will use speed and the geometry of the track to achieve huge hits but those are the same skaters that whiff mightily more often than not and end up off the track and out of the play. Skaters that are explosive are able to hit hard without using momentum. Think a boxer's hand, stationary, then snapping forward in a compact motion. It returns to its initial position without putting the boxer in danger. Rarely do you ever see a boxer take huge wild swings because they will put them out of position.
So how do we develop explosive skaters? Three words FAST TWITCH MUSCLES.
#1 WEIGHTLIFTING
*Lifting more than just strictly body weight trains your muscles to be able to perform movements under more load than they generally have to. Simply put, if you can squat with 150 lbs on your shoulders your legs will absolutely explode upwards when you take the weight away. Crossfit has become increasingly popular in roller derby for cross training and for good reason. The combination of Olympic lifts like the snatch, power clean, etc. with interval training is perfect for building an athletic well rounded body.
*I strongly suggest that when it comes to weight training skaters focus on big muscle groups. Squats, snatch, bench press, dead lift, and seated rows, the list goes on. The thing all of these have in common is that they work multiple muscles at once. Bicep curls, tricep pulldowns, and leg extensions are all wastes of time because they focus on one specific muscle that can be worked out while doing other things. Bench press works the muscles of the chest and back while also utilizing the triceps for stabilization. Seated rows work the back and shoulders as well as the biceps.
*Movements like the snatch or the clean and jerk force your body to exert a great deal of force through quick powerful movements. They also require many portions of you body to work together to make them happen.
*Obviously skating requires your lower body to be strong but do not neglect your upper body. Your arms and legs work together during movements like skating and jumping. A strong upper body allows you to skate faster, accelerate more quickly, and jump higher. Another added feature of a strong solidly built upper body is that with more and more people skating and blocking backwards their chests and shoulders are taking a lot more contact. Strong muscles mean a much more solid surface to take those hits or even better give them out.
#2 INTERVAL TRAINING
*Marathon runners have slow twitch muscles. You don't want those. Outside of building endurance being able to run or skate for hours on end at the same pace consistently will do absolutely nothing for you. You don't do this in roller derby so why would you train your body that way? Generally you are never going full speed for more than a lap or two , often times much less. You should train your body to work efficiently in the manner that derby requires it. In Andre Agassi's autobiography Open he talks about how he was always getting beaten in five set matches because of his training and conditioning. His first trainer had him running miles and miles a day and he never really saw improvement in his conditioning on the court. His career trajectory changed drastically when he met Gil, a trainer at UNLV that would eventually become his personal trainer and lifelong friend. Gil looked at his training and asked him how often in a tennis match he ran non-stop for miles. The answer of course was never. Gil put Andre on a training regimen that focused on interval training to prepare Andre for the stop and start movements that are characteristic of a tennis player. The thing that was his weakness, long matches, became his strength. Often times his strategy became tiring out the other player, as others once did to him. Eight grand slams tell us that Gil was on the right track. Roller derby is a lot like tennis in that stopping and starting and short bursts are common. We need to train in this manner as well.
*Interval training at its core is characterized by short bursts of high effort with small rests in between. One example of simple interval training from my youth that I still go back to is wind sprints. We would get on our outdoor track and start off by walking. At the straightaway we would sprint as hard as possible for 100 meters and then slow to a walk. At the next straightaway we would repeat. We would sometimes do 8 to 12 laps. This meant we were sprinting at full speed for a mile or more. This was far more effective in building endurance for the middle distance (400 and 800 meters) that I ran than running 3-5 miles ever would have been because during my races I never ran a pace, I was going full tilt. The key here is 100% exertion during the "on" times. For example if you were to do intervals jumping rope you might do 30 seconds as fast and as intensely as possible and then 10 seconds of rest. That 30 seconds of jump roping should be at 100% of your maximum output. If you only do 70% you are training your body to operate at 70% and it will be difficult on bout day to get it to perform up to its full potential.
#3 BODY WEIGHT TRAINING
*Never underestimate the things you can do with no equipment (or very little) at all. Burpees are a perfect example of an exercise that requires nothing but you and a floor that translates to roller derby incredibly well. We all get knocked to the ground in roller derby. Getting up quickly is key. Burpees train our bodies to spring up from the ground. They also provide a hell of a cardiovascular workout as well. They were initially developed as a way to test heart strength as the up and down motion causes the heart to have to work against the forces of gravity.
*Box jumps are very high on my list of body weight exercises as well. They pick up where the squat leaves off. Not only are your legs asked to press upward but they are also asked to explode away from the floor. If you don't have a box you can do squat jumps as well. Some dedicated souls even do weighted squat jumps! (Be careful though, can be hazardous to your knees if done improperly.)
#4 NUTRITION
*Fuel your body right. There are millions of diets out there that claim to be the best for athletes. Ultimately a balanced diet with adequate protein for muscle growth is ideal. Stay away from processed foods as much as possible and eat lots of little meals every day to keep your engine running at all times. (Funny how we both started and ended this blog with car examples!)
On skates I have numerous things that I have had my skaters do to build explosiveness. My tactics and drills evolve over time, as well they should and I definitely tweak and coop things I see other teams doing. Just a few of the things I have our skaters do:
*Suicides and Six Strides in Hell- I combined two of my favorite high intensity endurance drills into one awesomely sadistic drill. Skaters do suicides for two minutes, then we do what I like to call Six Strides of Hell (I am sure I ripped the name/idea for this off from somewhere but I can't recall where). In Six Strides of Hell I blow my whistle and skaters are to take six hard digging strides to get up to maximum speed. Then they coast until the next whistle. (Usually I space whistle blows about 5-7 seconds apart). We will do two minutes of each one of these rotating for 16-20 minutes depending on what my practice plans for the night are.
*Lateral Jumps-Skaters load up their muscles and jump laterally on the whistle (one footed, crossover, two footed). Legs should start down in a full squat position (on one leg if doing one footed jumps) before jumping.
*Straightaway Sprints-Skaters sprint (duck footed or on toe stops) the length of the straightaway. They then slow to a stop in the turn and sprint again at the straightaway.
All of these things build not only endurance but explosiveness/quickness. I want my skaters to be able to accelerate through an opening before it closes. I want them to be able to escape a blocker chasing them from behind at the front of a pack. Good roller derby teams contain their opponents. I want my skaters to be uncontainable. I could really care less if they would lose a race, this is roller derby, you can always win if you knock the other skater on their ass before they can leave the start line.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
So, what kind of coach are you?
As an athlete I have been quite lucky to have had a number of incredible coaches throughout my life time. Each and every one of them has impacted me and my coaching style in different ways. I had a soccer coach that was ex military, a karate instructor, and hard as nails. I had a baseball coach that was "just trying to make things fun for us" that was as great of a coach as you could imagine. I had a track coach who, when it came down to specifics, didn't know much of anything about track techniques but was the most motivating man you can ever imagine. All great people who devoted themselves and their time to making my teammates and myself the best we could be in their respective sports.
I had been a bench coach with my league for over a year and had also traveled with our WFTDA charter a handful of times. When the position of league coach became available I knew it was something I wanted to undertake. The league needed a coach and I felt like I was definitely the person to fill the role. Once I was appointed it the question became, "what kind of coach do I want to be?"
There are many kinds of coaches in this world:
"The Cheerleader"
This coach might not have the greatest knowledge of the game but they sure will motivate you. No matter how downtrodden you feel this coach can pick you up with their voice and enthusiasm. They achieve every high point right along with you and tell you every single thing you are doing successfully without fail, often very loudly.
"The Drill Sergeant"
This fiery personality doesn't care if it hurts, they only care that you keep going. In some ways they are like the cheerleader, only with a lot more malice. They bark instructions and don't appreciate questions. If you don't follow those instructions completely you will be doing push ups till your arms fall off or suicides until you drop. None of this is because they hate you. On the contrary, they just want you to be the best you can be. Differentiation for skill levels is not even a part of the conversation here. Work hard or go home.
"The Friend"or "People Pleaser"
"Hey guys, do you want to go hang out on skates tonight? We might not sweat or necessarily learn anything but we will have fun!" If that describes your practices, you might just be the friend coach otherwise known as the people pleaser. Your practice plan centers much more around what you think your players will like and almost never around what they actually need. That is okay though, everybody will tell you how much fun practice was.
"The Know-It-All"
Don't ever question this coach because, well, they know it all! No matter what the topic, be it strategy, basics, rules, they will always have the answer. Disagree with them and you will hear all about how wrong you really are. This coach often shares a lot with our next coach.
"The Dictator"
Whatever this coach says, goes. The only opinion that really matters is theirs and you will be lucky if they even listen to yours. Don't expect that they will actually take anything you say seriously though. If you don't follow their rules, ideas, and strategies completely and unquestioningly you will be riding so much pine archaeologists will think people of our time used logs to wipe. Speaking of that the dictator will probably tell you what kind of toilet paper you can use, what kind of bottled water you can drink, and what kind of food you need to eat for an afternoon snack. Long live the coach!
While there may or may not be some tongue in cheek happening up there many of those coaches do exist. Amazingly there are coaches out there that are able to make all of those approaches work with varying degrees of success. There are dictators out there that have gotten teams to completely buy into their ways and those teams can be juggernauts. Sometimes a team with plenty of talent and a great attitude can get by with a cheerleader for a coach.
The fact of the matter is that there really is no right answer here. There is no one right kind of coach. Some groups of athletes need a certain type to be successful and some coaches need a certain type of athlete to be successful.
This brings me back to my initial question. What type of coach are you? What type of coach am I? To tell the truth I think I am a combination of each of those things and more. Sometimes I have to be a drill sergeant, endurance work requires it. Sometimes you have to be a dictator because too many cooks and all that jazz. But ultimately when I self reflect on my first year coaching roller derby I come back to one thing. I am the coach that each skater needs me to be. Some skaters need and want to be pushed. Some skaters need that cheerleader. If I had to describe myself I would say I am a chameleon. From practice to practice my approach can change. When it comes to games I am passionate and supportive but also even tempered and calm as well. I ride the highs and steer away from the lows. I build my skaters up rather than break them down. I tell them what they can do and show them how to accomplish what they can't. Most of all I lead by example. I keep my head on straight. I don't yell at refs. I practice what I preach. I respect my skaters and they respect me for it. I speak for those that don't speak for themselves.
Want to know what the best kind of coach is? A Leader. Every great coach I ever had was just that, a leader. The best I can ever hope for is to be seen as one. Wins and success will follow.
I had been a bench coach with my league for over a year and had also traveled with our WFTDA charter a handful of times. When the position of league coach became available I knew it was something I wanted to undertake. The league needed a coach and I felt like I was definitely the person to fill the role. Once I was appointed it the question became, "what kind of coach do I want to be?"
There are many kinds of coaches in this world:
"The Cheerleader"
This coach might not have the greatest knowledge of the game but they sure will motivate you. No matter how downtrodden you feel this coach can pick you up with their voice and enthusiasm. They achieve every high point right along with you and tell you every single thing you are doing successfully without fail, often very loudly.
"The Drill Sergeant"
This fiery personality doesn't care if it hurts, they only care that you keep going. In some ways they are like the cheerleader, only with a lot more malice. They bark instructions and don't appreciate questions. If you don't follow those instructions completely you will be doing push ups till your arms fall off or suicides until you drop. None of this is because they hate you. On the contrary, they just want you to be the best you can be. Differentiation for skill levels is not even a part of the conversation here. Work hard or go home.
"The Friend"or "People Pleaser"
"Hey guys, do you want to go hang out on skates tonight? We might not sweat or necessarily learn anything but we will have fun!" If that describes your practices, you might just be the friend coach otherwise known as the people pleaser. Your practice plan centers much more around what you think your players will like and almost never around what they actually need. That is okay though, everybody will tell you how much fun practice was.
"The Know-It-All"
Don't ever question this coach because, well, they know it all! No matter what the topic, be it strategy, basics, rules, they will always have the answer. Disagree with them and you will hear all about how wrong you really are. This coach often shares a lot with our next coach.
"The Dictator"
Whatever this coach says, goes. The only opinion that really matters is theirs and you will be lucky if they even listen to yours. Don't expect that they will actually take anything you say seriously though. If you don't follow their rules, ideas, and strategies completely and unquestioningly you will be riding so much pine archaeologists will think people of our time used logs to wipe. Speaking of that the dictator will probably tell you what kind of toilet paper you can use, what kind of bottled water you can drink, and what kind of food you need to eat for an afternoon snack. Long live the coach!
While there may or may not be some tongue in cheek happening up there many of those coaches do exist. Amazingly there are coaches out there that are able to make all of those approaches work with varying degrees of success. There are dictators out there that have gotten teams to completely buy into their ways and those teams can be juggernauts. Sometimes a team with plenty of talent and a great attitude can get by with a cheerleader for a coach.
The fact of the matter is that there really is no right answer here. There is no one right kind of coach. Some groups of athletes need a certain type to be successful and some coaches need a certain type of athlete to be successful.
This brings me back to my initial question. What type of coach are you? What type of coach am I? To tell the truth I think I am a combination of each of those things and more. Sometimes I have to be a drill sergeant, endurance work requires it. Sometimes you have to be a dictator because too many cooks and all that jazz. But ultimately when I self reflect on my first year coaching roller derby I come back to one thing. I am the coach that each skater needs me to be. Some skaters need and want to be pushed. Some skaters need that cheerleader. If I had to describe myself I would say I am a chameleon. From practice to practice my approach can change. When it comes to games I am passionate and supportive but also even tempered and calm as well. I ride the highs and steer away from the lows. I build my skaters up rather than break them down. I tell them what they can do and show them how to accomplish what they can't. Most of all I lead by example. I keep my head on straight. I don't yell at refs. I practice what I preach. I respect my skaters and they respect me for it. I speak for those that don't speak for themselves.
Want to know what the best kind of coach is? A Leader. Every great coach I ever had was just that, a leader. The best I can ever hope for is to be seen as one. Wins and success will follow.
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