Total Training for Coaching Team Sports [Paperback]

Tudor O. Bompa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2006

The approach taken for training team sport athletes in this book differs from the traditional methods used by many coaches. This innovative and scientific approach to training the energy systems and developing speed, power, agility, quickness, and endurance is designed to help players surpass their current levels of physical and psychological development. In training for team sports one thing is certain – progress is impossible without scientific and methodological advances. From head coaches wishing to learn more about model training, planning, and the physiological aspects of training to strength and conditioning coaches wanting to learn more about certain aspects of technical and tactical training, this book is for the serious coach of any team sport. Ultimately, the better your understanding of technical and tactical training, the greater your effectiveness in creating game- and position-specific drills and training methods to improve your players’ physical potential. A must for every team sport coach’s library!

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Training team sport athletes is a complex task because team sports themselves tend to be very complex. Coaches must understand the technical and tactical skills involved in their respective sports, as well as keep abreast of contemporary physiological and psychological training methods, in order to maximize their players’ potential and, ultimately, the team’s performance and success.

Although many concepts discussed in this book presume a basic knowledge of human anatomy and exercise physiology, coaches should have no problem following the material presented. My approach to training team sport athletes differs from the traditional methods used by many coaches. This innovative and scientific approach to training the energy systems and developing speed, power, agility, quickness, and endurance is designed to help players surpass their current levels of physical and psychological development. In training for team sports one thing is certain—progress is impossible without scientific and methodological advances.

From head coaches wishing to learn more about model training, planning, and the physiological aspects of training, to strength and conditioning coaches wanting to learn more about certain aspects of technical and tactical training, this book is for the serious coach of any team sport. Ultimately, the better your understanding of technical and tactical training, the greater your effectiveness in creating game- and position-specific drills and training methods to improve your players’ physical potential.

Another objective of this book is for it to serve as the official textbook for the Strength and Conditioning Expert Certification Program offered by Tudor Bompa Institute. The objective of this certification is to produce high-quality strength and conditioning coaches, beyond the level that currently exists.

The Present State of the Art

A brief analysis of the present state of training in team sports is a good starting point for the topics discussed in this book.

Training

Stated simply, training is the manipulation of training methods to induce adaptation. When adaptation reaches high levels, so does performance. Without a continual increase in an athlete’s physical adaptation, improvements cannot occur. Therefore, coaches need to search continually for better training means and methods to stimulate greater adaptation.

Training is both a science and an art! A coach’s knowledge should always be based on the best scientific information available; however, the application of this knowledge is an art, where imagination serves as a great resource. Remember the words of Albert Einstein:

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

The coach is the artist—the person who makes it all happen—and the athlete is the canvas. The coach applies scientific principles to create an art form, which manifests itself in the skills of a trained athlete.

Conditioning

The purpose of conditioning is to cope with or overcome fatigue—the number one enemy of athletes. The higher an athlete’s level of conditioning, the better his or her rate of recovery. A training session is only as good as an athlete’s ability to recover from it. Therefore, recovery after a game or between workouts is as important as the training itself. Pay maximum attention to both!

The winner of a contest is often the team who fatigues last. Therefore, it’s important that athletes train to tolerate both physical and mental forms of fatigue. Athletes who can effectively combat fatigue will perform better for the duration of a game, especially in the final moments when the game is on the line.

Training for maximum conditioning means training all the components of physical fitness required in the sport—strength, power, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, speed, agility, flexibility, and quickness—as well as training the energy systems according to the sport’s ergogenesis (the proportion of the contribution of each energy system to the overall energy demand of the sport; see Chapter 4).

The Importance of Conditioning in Team Sports

Unfortunately, this scenario is all too familiar to many coaches who fail to appreciate the immense importance of their athletes’ conditioning. Many of the technical and tactical errors that occur in the later stages of a game are the direct result of fatigue encountered by a poorly conditioned team. Fatigue affects not only the technical aspects of performing, such as shooting and passing, but also the tactical judgment of players in being able to read and react appropriately to specific game situations. Exhausted players find it increasingly difficult to precisely control and coordinate their actions, especially of the lower limbs, which has another potential side effect—injury.

At the end of a game, players do not usually lack motivation. On the contrary, most players are highly motivated to finish the game with a victory. Unfortunately, poor conditioning can inhibit their ability to cope with high levels of fatigue, especially toward the end of the game, where technical errors and the deterioration of speed, agility, and quickness can negate a good performance earlier in the game.

Each generation of training specialists seems to adhere to a given slogan that, in general terms, accurately describes the predominant training theories of the time. Many coaches still adhere to the idea that you play into shape, when in fact they should embrace the notion that you train into shape. These coaches need to understand that training, not just playing, improves an athlete’s technical and tactical skills and develops all the physical components necessary to effectively cope with fatigue. This is why I propose a new slogan:

When training is a threat, the game is a treat!

About the Author

Dr. Tudor O. Bompa, Professor Emeritus, York University, Toronto, Ontario, is regarded worldwide as the leading specialist in the areas of sport-specific training, coaching, and fitness theory, to which he has contributed several new concepts. Dr. Bompa’s theories, especially his theories of planning/periodization; periodization of strength, power, speed, and endurance; periodization of fitness and bodybuilding; psychological periodization; and periodization of nutrition, have revolutionized training in most countries of the world. Dr. Bompa has published 15 books (all best-sellers) translated into 18 languages. Most of these books are used as textbooks in universities, coaching institutions, certification programs, and continuing education courses in more than 180 countries. He has also published over a hundred research papers while at the same time making presentations in over 35 countries on topics such as training theory, planning/periodization, training methods, strength and power training, and specifics of training for team sports. Tudor Bompa has been a very prolific coach as well. In only eight years of international coaching, his athletes have won 11 medals (4 gold) in Olympic Games and world championships. He is the only coach who has produced Olympic and world champions in two different sports—track and field and rowing. He has compiled training programs for professional teams including the St. Louis Blues NHL hockey team and the Argentinean national soccer team. Moreover, he has guided individual athletes to the highest athletic achievements. In recognition of his contributions to the body of knowledge in training, fitness, and coaches’ education, Dr. Bompa has received 21 honors and awards, 18 of them internationally.

Product Details

• Paperback: 285 pages
• Publisher: Sport Books Publisher (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0920905927
• ISBN-13: 978-0920905920
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,078,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)