Seminar Season

Wow, what a week! I've just got back from Lilleshall where I spoke at the Football Association's Fitness Trainers Course. I've spoken at their national conference several times and have also delivered on their courses so it was great to be back in my old home town working with a great group of coaches. I delivered a practical session on speed and agility training and it has been interesting for me putting the session together to see how my own thoughts on this area have been shaped during the past 12 months. Sspending time with Robert Dos Remedios and listening to Marin Rooney speak at the UKSCA conference have certainly influenced my thoughts on speed and agility development.

The use of CHAOS training drills and the emphasis on the ability to apply the brakes are featuring more and more and it just seems to make sense when you are developing programmes for athletes taking part in a wide range of different sports. It just goes to show that you can always learn something new!

With a quick turn around I'm just putting the finishing touches to a presentation for a two day event looking at shoulder rehabilitation. I spoke at the same event last year and I'm back again to present a theory and practical session on rehab and return to sport for athletes with shoulder injuries. The Wrightington Sporting Shoulder Conference is a fantastic event run by Lennard Funk (great name for surgeon!) and I find it very humbling that me, as an S&C coach is invited back each year to speak to a room packed full of medics, surgeons and physio's.

My final speaking enagement for the summer is on Saturday 4th July at the County Durham Sport Coaches Conference. This should be a really good event and you can download a booking form from wwww.countydurhamsport.com.

I'm going to be delivering two seperate sessions. The first will look at fitness monitoring and how to use simple tests to monitor your training progammes. The second session is going to look at programme design and how to put together an integrated training programme.

It's a busy couple of weeks but I'm looking forward to getting out and about and meeting the delegates and presenters at each event, as well as having the opportunity to pick up some new information myself. Fortunately I've got a short break in between so I can spend some time away with the family!