Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES My final, and in some respects, perhaps, my most important, piece of advice on the matters which are the subject ofthis chapter is that the coach, when he goes out to teach a certain phase of an event, should stick to that phase, and criticize form only jn so far as it affects the phase he is teaching. If he attempts to criticize, or analyse, all the faults shown by a novice in the performance of a single jump, throw, or vault he will succeed only in confusing his pupil, and may thereby destroy a great deal of the youngster's confidence. A boy is apt to feel very depressed if he has a long list of his deficiencies hurled at his head when he is already tired and suffering the disappointment of not having done so well as he expected to do when he pulled on his spiked shoes for that afternoon's period of training. · I have said earlier in this chapter that the coach must insist upon his pupils limbering up properly before both competition and training. This is quite a normal procedure, designed to lower the viscosity of the muscles and to adjust the heart-rate and the depth of intertidal breathing. It is equally important for the athlete to slow down at the end of each ·training session, or at the end of each training practice. If an athlete has run a mile the coach should insist upon that athlete's trotting on for a further furlong, or even for a quarter of a mile, to let his organism settle down again. Similarly, at the end of a whole training period, whether track or field events are involved, the coach should give his charges a few set exercises which are likely to tone them down and quieten their nerves. If a masseur is available his services should be taken advantage of after the athlete has stripped and taken his shower-bath. It is a good thing then to give an athlete a period of relaxation and rest before he goes in for whatever meal is in prospect.