I started coaching at the age of 22 after a serious knee injury stopped me from playing football. I discovered that although a poor substitute to playing, coaching was very rewarding, I have been coaching for 30 years. I began coaching football and very quickly took an interest in running, sprinting and speed and started working with track athletes as well as footballers and basketball athlete. For many years I was doing two jobs like many coaches, a day job and coaching , I became a full time coach in 1997 when I set-up Sport Dimensions, we set up the Speed & Rehab Centre in 2001 and the Running School in 2008.
What has influenced/shaped your coaching philosophy?
How long have we got! A number of things really, I think coaching reflects people’s personalities and a good coach should be a good teacher. When I was younger, like all novice coaches I tried and teach what I was taught because of the experiences that I encountered with the people who coached me. Like a lot of coaches today I thought it was all about hard work and volume of training and the harder you work your athletes the better they get. But I know now, that the biggest influence on how I coach and what I coach was when I started learning about Rehabilitation after Injury or surgery. Having had a number of serious injuries and surgery and having had a lot of bad advice and treatment myself, it was a subject I was fascinated with and I wanted to learn so much about it. I spent years studying rehab methodologies and watching specialists work with patients and injured athletes and learned how the body and the nervous system changes and how the biomechanics can be changed and the importance of mental attitude and mental strength. This combination changed the way I coach and work about 15 years ago.
Who were your mentors?
I didn’t have any mentors when I began coaching. I made a lot of mistakes in the early years like we all do. I was disappointed by the lack of knowledge by many coaches and I read a lot about teams and coaches and went on courses to learn how to coach. I think the biggest positive influence was working in the USA and visiting a small town in North Dakota, I spent a week working in their Rehabilitation centre. That’s one of the reasons why we have an open house policy at our Performance & Rehab Centre and we allow students and coaches to visit and observe how we work and what we do.
Which UK athletes have you helped with speed and technique?
I work with many UK athletes and their coaches. Youngsters as well as elite level athletes including World and Olympic Gold medallists, I prefer to work alongside the coaches, but this not always possible as some coaches are reluctant to let their athletes work with another coach or feel threatened because of their lack of knowledge. The changes we make depend on the level and experience, with elite athletes the changes are small but can be very significant in their times and their running technique. With young athletes the changes can be enormous in just 6-8 weeks.
How do you develop speed?
Humans have been asking that question since we first started running away from animals thousands of years ago!
If you want to develop speed you need to stimulate the nervous system to work at a higher level! The rest of the components involved in developing speed - technique of the sport, functional strength, conditioning, nutrition and mental strength are extremely important, but play a supporting role. If you wan to get fast you have to train the nervous system!
How do you develop technique?
Running technique and sprinting technique are simple to learn! The problem is not many coaches know how to coach them. The basics are the same for youngsters from 8-9 years old to world champions!
If we take running and sprinting, if your arms and legs are moving efficiently going backwards, then they will generate forward horizontal momentum and maintain maximum velocity for longer, if they are not moving efficiently then the forward momentum is lost because the body is making adjustments to compensate for the vertical and lateral movements caused by the arms and the legs.
There is no such thing as perfect running technique! We are all made differently with limbs having different lengths etc, but there is a perfect running technique for each individual and body shape. Muscle imbalances and previous injury change the biomechanics of the arms and legs and we need to re-teach the body how to work efficiently again.
That is something a lot of coaches don’t coach, they focus on volume of training and intensity of training but ignore the efficiency generated by the correct biomechanics.
I was working with an elite young athlete recently who was over-striding and I was reviewing a video analysis with her coach who works with about 30 sprinters, some of them are national and international level athletes. I was explaining what we were looking at and what I thought was causing the problem and the effect of the arms on running efficiency and speed. His comment was “what have the arms got to do with running? We run with our legs!” So my point is if the coach doesn’t know what he is coaching what chance have the athletes got! By the way if you’re wondering what role the arms play in running and sprinting? They have the most important effect on the biomechanics and speed!
Who have you seen the most dramatic improvements in and why?
Youngsters! We teach them how to run from the age of 6 and how to run fast from the age of 8 years old and they pick-up the technique in just 40 minutes and their speed improves dramatically in just 6 weeks. The reason is simple - it’s easy to change their technique and to stimulate their nervous system if you know what you’re doing. With adults it takes a bit longer because of all the bad habits they have picked up, so we make the changes in about 3 sessions.
What has been your most memorable coaching moment?
That’s easy, teaching a young lady called Caroline how to run! Caroline came to me about 7 years ago, after she had undergone 2 years of treatment and surgery for bone cancer in her hip and pelvis. Her specialist and physiotherapist told her that she would be limping for the rest of her life and would need a stick to support herself. An ex international netball player she was determined to prove them wrong. It took us 12 weeks to get her walking and another 12 weeks to get her running! That makes what I do so rewarding!
http://www.soccerspeed.co.uk/
http://www.sportdimensions.com/
mike@sportdimensions.com
