Coaching and Care of Athletes

CHAPTER X BUILDING TRAINING SCHEDULES THE first question one would like to ask the coach is what he is aiming at in preparing his training schedule. The obvious answer will be, "Success in the competition for which the training is being undertaken." That, however, is but the climax of the story. The introduction and the all-important middle part, besides the leading up to the climax, have yet to be discussed. Apart fmm attainment of the best physical condition into which it is possibli'to get a man, the coach may have also to inculcate the spirit of good sportsmanship-but that, perhaps, is another story. Before the coach can get his team, or an individual athlete, up to the maximum physical condition and into the right mental attitude for the winning of a competition he must build up many attributes to future success. What these attributes are I shall explain in a moment, when I set out my scheme for dividing the whole schedule of training into four definite periods. What the length of the training period should be is debatable. Lawson Robertson bases his theory of training upon the assump– tion that its duration will be from eight to ten weeks, and that in that time a man should :reach his maximum physical condition. He suggests, further, that the first half of the total training period should be devoted to building up the athlete's strength and teaching him the fundamentals of the event in which he is going to compete. During that period a man should not be allowed to take part in any subsidiary competition. The American · chief coach suggests that the athlete's trial runs or field-events efforts throughout training should be done at about three-quarters of his maximum effort. He cites the case of a miler, and proposes that a man who is training for the mile should test himself at three-quarters of a mile, instead of at the full distance. The theory is that if a man does sufficient distance work to build up his strength and stamina the excitement of the race will carry him through the full mile on the day of competition. I do not find myself altogether in agreement with this theory. Some years ago I wrote a book called Teaching and Training 122 /