Philosophy of Training

Personally I consider the instruction of the coaches and I do not doubt that you also consider it, as one of the most determinative activities for a correct intervention in the training and specially in the training of young.

In the biggest part of the cases the training of young is attributed to volunteers who for several reasons don't stay many time in this activity, which leads to failure in the continuity of the formation of the athletes.

The act of training young athletes, can also be a wood with two tips. If it is done in the right direction, can provoke extremely positive effects, however if it is used in the wrong direction, is obvious that it will prejudice greatly the athletes.

It is very important that the coaches have a correct Philosophy of Training. The word philosophy is seen by many as a concept takes that has nothing to do with the practice and is usually understood as a set of theoretical knowledge. However if we observe it with more attention, we will not only verify its great connection to the practical side as also the strong orientation that gives to each one of us in our life. So following this thought I consider very important that all the trainers should build a personal philosophy concerning what they will do while practicing this activity. The philosophy of the coaches is constituted by the certainty and the principles that guide their acts. This passes mainly for a good self-knowledge and for the honesty that they show while they are working.

The main goal then is to know which one of these three situations is the most important and which one of them constitutes the biggest concern while the coach is in activity. Many times these situations enter in conflict with each other. Many times we see coaches that have said that the third reason already pointed is the most important for them and later we go to the hall and we verify exactly the opposite situation, while observing the work methodologie.

We have no doubts that the correct philosophy of intervention in the training of young can be summarized in the following sentence: "FIRST THE PLAYERS, THEN THE VICTORIES"

What we try to say with this expression is that, while coaches, the first decision we will have to make is do what is the most correct for the young players and only then worry about winning. We are not saying that winning is not an important thing. The effort to reach the victory is without doubt essential in practice of the sport and ... NOT TRYING TO WIN IS BEING A DISHONEST COMPETITOR.

I think that all the coaches must always have present the three reasons pointed, but as a coach in the formation of young players the purpose in the long run is always more important.

To Communicate

Another determinative problem in the performance of the coach, is the communication. We all know that the communication is a decisive element. Not all people have present that communication is speaking but also hearing. Many times the coaches only speak and hear nothing. But the communication is not only verbal, it can also be transmitted by expressions or even by acts.

Training is mainly a communication process. Many times we verify that the coaches fail due to some errors of communication, with the players, with the families of the players, with the agents of the same sport and with the public.

Motivation

Now let's observe another problem that is becoming bigger in the process of the training. The Motivation.

We all know how important it is to understand really well the concept of this word. Probably all the coaches have already lived the frustration of seeing a great player, an enormous talent not to strengthen the sufficient or not to perform correctly his job. This frustration appears due to the inability of the coach to make the athlete do what it is in his possibilities.

When the coaches look for an answer to this problem, they finish always with this question: What can I do?

The answer is not easy. Many times it even seems as a mystery or a secret of gods. But it passes mainly by knowing really well the human being with whom we are working. The psychologists can give a precious help here, but the time and the experience are fundamentals. As the player needs some exercises to improve his technique, the coach needs some observations to improve the capacity to motivate. However a common principle exists: " the people motivate themselves to make what allows them to accomplish their needs ". The problem is in finding these needs, that as we know are different from person to person. The coach has the obligation of knowing and try to know better his athlete. The motivation is a problem that can be solved gradually and individually.

The young athletes have an enormous necessity of feeling appreciated when they practise sport, which will have to constitute one of the most important concerns of the coach in the exercise of his function. We can want to do a lot for the athletes, but if we will be against this feeling, we will verify that they will do all they can to protect themselves of this aggression.

This necessity to feel estimated, in the practise of a sport, can be fulfilled through two components:

• Feeling competent;
• Living situations of success.

The success concept needs a reflection. We verify many times that the players with bigger success, meaning those that can stay longer with shining careers, do not define their success only by the number of victories. On the contrary, their purpose in this concept is to improve their own performances. They are conscious that they will compete with other athletes, but they built their self-esteem with base on their own references and their established personal purposes. This is an example to follow and to try to apply in a global form. The self- esteem improves if we concentrate more in this type of aims and less in the results of a competition.

It is a mistake to transmit to the athlete the notion that if he try enough he will be able to win because even when he played at his best level and tried the maximum, if the adversary is better than him or the referee makes an error he can loose the game and a bad result appears. Neither a player or a coach have in his hands the total control of the victory. However if we concentrate in our own performance, besides being more realistic, we will be able to have a stronger control of the situation.

For the players define realistic aims of performance is not an easy task, once they are citizens that can be easily influenced by other people, as for example by the coaches, who can establish extremely difficult purposes or for example to another level, they can be influenced by the media, that sometimes are waiting for results that exceed the players and their capacities.

One of the main tasks of the coach in the field of the motivation is to help his athletes to establish realistic aims of performance, working specially on the reduction of the anxiety and to allow them to live situations of bigger pleasure.

Quality

Today we talk a lot about quality. Quality of life, quality at work, product of quality... quality of training. This reflection suggests to us the contradiction that we verify many times between the development of the physical potential during the formation of an athlete and the specific performances of the same athlete later when he is requested to show higher incomes.

If we look for explanations to this situation we find in the biggest part of the cases the application of really heavy sessions of training, that as you know promote fast developments of the performances in the initial phases, but have as consequence a premature exhaustion of the income capacity.

The increasing number of youthful international competitions brought as consequence in some cases, a significant reduction in the time of training, which will provoke serious damages in the basic structures of the learning process in its different phases, so then the coaches want to specialize, but with no reasons for that.

We also verify that in the Clubs; the second level of the development (considering the school the first one); the continuity of the work with young is something irregular. The coaches are in the maximum 3 years with the same group, passing then the same group to other coaches. A Global Technique Coordination or an accompaniment with gradual integration during the formation of the player, having in mind the long run, is necessary to impose. The request to the young sportsman of relatively high performances, can condition the development of the performance in the high income. As we know the preparation of the athlete with high level does not allow to much freedom, on the other hand with the young athlete we can use higher strategies of preparation and guided to the purposes of this sport.

The quality of training passes for a better and continuous improvement of the theory of the sport training. But also through the acknowledgment of a performance of high level and which elements could be influenced.

The quality of the trainings passes for the experience of the trainer, for the multilateral training, the diversified training (an aspect still little explored). Diversity of contents - application of different exercises, diversity of methods - application of different methodological solutions, diversity of organization - application of different variants of organization.

The Physical Preparation

Basis of all the teaching-learning process, the physical preparation conditions the attainment of sport results as well as the formation work.

Without removing importance to the technical and tactical preparation, what determines the level of the gestures and movements is with no doubt the physical component. It becomes necessary to have in account this primordial aspect that must be reflected in the content of all training lessons. The physical preparation is the base of all preparations and must have a significant place in every period.

Physical Preparation is the level of development of the motor possibilities of the player, obtained through the systematic repetition of the physical exercises. It means the improvement of the motor qualities, the domain of a wide variety of abilities and the development of the morphologic and functional indices of the organism in compliance with the requirements of the game.

The development of the process of physical preparation is conditioned by a serie of determinative factors, as the state of health, the physical development, the motor aptitudes and the psychic qualities. As we all known the technique and the tactic as well as the psychic features are a result of the basic motor qualities. If these are deficiently represented in the biological structure of the young, even with a good preparation process, we will never exceed a bad result. Therefore, the first step of the physical preparation is the choice of the players.

The physical preparation is worked of two ways, the general physical preparation and the specific one. The first one tries to enrich the motor luggage of the athlete, its aim is to increase the functional capacity of the organism and to develop the motor qualities imposed by a certain level of preparation of the players. It is mainly a multilateral preparation. The second one is the process of selective handling of the great functions and the motor abilities , in accordance with the features of the specific effort in handball and with the requirements of the competitive results. It makes the connection between the motor qualities and the automatism of the sport and between the functional morphologic development and the technique and tactic of the game.

The Charge in the Training Process

The question of the charge on training will also have to be pointed. A special attention to the periods of rest should be given. The preparation for high charges, this means the effective continuous charge rise, must have in account that the young athlete can support only high charges if he has been prepared for this, meaning if he had time and conditions for such. Therefore the increase of the charge must be related with the development of the athlete so that the domain of the same one happens. Currently we see that this has less to do with the practice of sport, but more with some lack of time.

The concerns to this level must be settled in the continuous increasing of the difficult rate of requirements and specially in the development of the speed and fast power.

We will have then to consider that the physical preparation of the young players must have in consideration two basic aspects:

1. The orientation of the charge of training;
2. The defined methodological aims in function of the orientation of the charge.

About the first point the charge of training will have to be defined in function of the characterization of the athlete respecting:

• genetic factors;
• growth;
• maturation;
• stages of formation;
• stages of development of the motor capacities.
  
  • of the characterization of the sport, in the motor, psychic and metabolic demands.
    of the characterization of the competitive schedule.

About the second point, and resultant of the characterizations behind displayed, result three methodological aims:

1. The systematisation of the training in the long way, with a deep identification of the contents, of the ways, the methods and the processes of control and evaluation;
2. An adequate organization of the development of the motor capacities, defining the relations between volumes, intensities and densities of training;
3. The respect for the principal of progression of the charge as one of the most important holds of improvement of conducive functional adaptations of the organism to the improvement of the sport income.

About the young player, it becomes important to know some features of his development, we consider for characterization in this work the young player between 14 and 19 years:

Integated Training

As we can infer of the explanations behind displayed, the planning of the training must be done according to the specific purposes and these must have in account the existing conditions. The purposes will always have to respect two factors: Age and Phase of Learning (initiation, improvement and training).

The specificity of the training must respect the individual features of each player and the tasks that he must play without forgetting his integration in the group.

The competitive board in collective sports determine many times special programs, as well as the increasing of the professional system and the increase of the number of competitions.

Then we will have in many cases to look for formulas of training that allow us to reach double aims. The solution is not easy, specially in the high income where the obligation of success enters in contradiction with the phases of formation and growth of the athletes, a very common situation in young national teams.

In any sport does the physical condition constitute the integral content of the training. In the collective sports, the technique and the tactic have also a great importance and it is necessary to dedicate them a good part of the time of training.

In handball, the physical condition is only a way to reach the final purpose. We have three different possibilities to train the physical condition:

1. integrated training
2. specific training
3. backing training

We understand the Integrated Training as the combination of physical, technician, tactic, psychological factors that are influential in the income of a team in the same moment of work, every time that we intend as principal aim the immediate influence of a content of the training on another one. In this perspective the technique or the tactic are the main priorities, but in such conditions that the necessary increase to the development of one or several determinative factors of the physical condition are imposed.

In the second possibility the training should be done through technical and tactical handball exercises. The main aim is always the development of the physical condition and the exercises will pretend the improvement of the intended factors.

In the third possibility the only aim is the development of the physical condition, the exercises do not have obligatorily nothing to do with the technique and the tactic of the game. Its only relation could be connected with the fact of being able to work the most important physical qualities to the practise of this sport.

The integrated training, allows in some cases to save time and to speed up the preparation. The ideal moment for its application as well as the percentage to consider is still discussed. However I think that it has greater application in high income and real situations of competitive periods with small intervals of preparation between each game.

In the planning and accompaniment of the integrated training it is important that all the elements of the technical teams participate. A previous and exhausting planning is necessary, as much of the unit of trainings as of the cycles of trainings where this work is inserted. In a certain way it is an innovative model of trainings, although we find already different contributions to the problem in authors as Bayer, Román, Antón, Tschiene, Chirosa. This is useful for competitive periods when it becomes necessary to increase the capacity of income without losing the competitive rhythm and where we demand a high concentration and participation of the players.

The integrated training in handball has to respect the fact of this sport being characterized by a great complexity of movements, with and without ball, executed under variable conditions, determined by the contribution of the partners and by the fight with the adversaries. It must have in account that the requested specific effort is submaximum and maximum, under the point of view of the intensity, variable with interruptions on the point of view of the duration, diversified and complex, mixing, and with aerobic and anaerobic moments.

In my perspective the integrated training, is able to respect some principles of the intervaled training, specially to explore its great advantage that inhabits in the possibility to intercalate small periods of rest, between intense work hours, resulting of this form a bigger total time of work that almost simultaneously works two or more factors, as well as the continuous training where we should involve in the effort the biggest amount of possible muscular mass. Its combination will allow:

• better circulation of blood;
• better production of energy in the muscle;
  
• better holds of oxygen in the muscle;
  
• better capilarization of the involved muscles.

Practical Example

Handball is a sport where we use a lot the force capacities and speed. Each time we plays in quicker form and with high speed and with better indices of force in speed of shooting, power of impulse, breakings, starts, etc. We verified always, shares that request, of special form, a composite physical capacity, where these components are allied. The requirements of the competition and the morphologic features of the athletes have also taken the coaches to be more worried each time about the capacity force. In handball the fast force is for example determinative. We understand for fast force the capacity of an athlete to win submaximal resistence as for example its proper weight, with one raised movement speed. In this case the coaches come close many times collated with two big problems: to magnify the force and speed and at the same time to perfect coordinative capacities and dexterities techniques. Each one of the capacities can be worked separately and until out of the context of the sport. But it has enormous advantages if we work in association that is integrated under specific forms. The game of handball does not make appeals to the capacities force or speed a pure and isolated form. As behind already we saw we will be able to use some methods of trainings for example working the fast force - trainings in circuit, trainings with identical exercises to the ones of the competition. In the first case it is basic to define:

• Number of replications
• Number of series
• Speed of execution
• Time of backup between serie
• Form of execution of the exercises.

As an example, a circuit with 8 stations can be constructed, 30 second of work in each, 1 minute of rest between each station, 3 turns to the circuit and 3 minutes of rest each turn. Ex: work with medicinal ball, skip 1 foot, movements of arms with weights, skips on obstacle, closing with medicinal ball to the wall, sprint of 4 meters front and backwards.

In a second example we look exercises that correspond to the specific features of the movement applied in the competition or approach to it. For such it is necessary to effect this movement appealing the different variations of the charge and to look exercises that have similar situations of game. In the case of the fast force all the movements must be correct in its execution and all the exercises will have to be executed to the maximum speed.

Ex: .pass and reception with sprints, movements in defensive attitude, pass and reception with skips on 1 foot, multijumps and shoots, sprint breaking change direction and shoot.

This method of trainings does not produce resulted so fast how much the method in circuit for example, for that it will be necessary have a bigger frequency to the long of the season, at least 2 trainings per week.

Also already we saw behind some of the main concerns of the training with young. In the case of the example that we present, the fast force is very influenced by the levels of maximum force. This last one however and as we know, is limited in training due the physical robustness of the motor development, however the fast force it can be trained through varied forms and allows the development of the maximum force.

As example we remember that from the 15 years of age, we can work with charge up to 60% of the corporal weight of the athletes. From the 17-18 years, we can will develop charge of gradual form until we will reach the maximum force if necessary it will be.

The training integrated can be applied in all the sessions of training, in connection with tactical and technical work.

I think is an adjusted training system in the physical preparation of youth players.