Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #147: Gill1918 presents Track Tribe LIVE: (Part 2) "Simple Systems = Big Results" with Trend Deadmon hosted by Kyle Jones

Transcript

#147: Gill1918 presents Track Tribe LIVE: (Part 2) "Simple Systems = Big Results" with Trend Deadmon hosted by Kyle Jones · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
• 0:03
  coaches, for coaches powered by Gill Athletics.
• 0:06
  Think of this as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
• 0:09
  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
• 0:12
  you grow as a coach. We'll bring in the once a year
• 0:15
  track clinic straight to your ears daily.
• 0:17
  Interested in creating your own episode?
• 0:19
  Everyone's welcome to participate.
• 0:21
  Check out the show notes below For more information.
• 0:23
  Now let's get into today's topic.
• 0:27
  Are there any specific decisions that or principles, I should
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  say, any specific principles that guide you when you're
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  trying to decide, you know, this versus that because you don't
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  have this resource or you know, have unlimited time with this
• 0:46
  individual. What are the things that kind of
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  push you to make the decisions when it comes to like looking at
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  your system and things you might need to tweak, especially if
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  some of these athletes? You know, I definitely, you
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  know, we, I definitely am always trying to learn like, you know,
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  I got on Twitter, I joined this track track, but I'm always
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  trying to find more new things. But then I always got to look at
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  something and be like, I like that drill.
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  OK, what am I going to remove if I'm going to add that drill?
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  You know, like even I, I, I've, I've, I've kind of honed this
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  stuff down for over a while now where it's like we can do these
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  things in our sleep. We know this stuff in and out.
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  Like it might look like a lot and like it might look kind of
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  complicated, but we're basically doing this stuff week in and
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  week out, you know, ad infinitum.
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  We might just be changing little parts here, out here and there.
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  So, so, you know, in terms of like choices, I'm pretty
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  judicious about if we're going to add something, something
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  needs to be taken out, like that's going to have to replace
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  something. If it's so good, you know, or,
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  or, or if it's, if we're going to make time for that, it's
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  going to have to be really valuable.
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  So to, to make, to make those decisions.
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  I'm definitely trying to evaluate the athletes and and,
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  and, and that's that is where like the testing and stuff is
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  going to come in, you know, and, and using, you know, trying to
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  take the damn half methods, like using these as movement screens
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  and even telling the athletes that.
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  Like I get obsessive about the watching the warm up, you know,
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  like I'm more obsessive about watching the warm up than I am
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  watching the reps, honestly. Like I want to see video of them
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  sprinting and running for sure. But you know, I'll look at I can
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  look at the numbers, you know, I want to see how you're moving on
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  the bounding. I want to see how you're moving
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  on a quick leg or a single leg, you know, like man, you look
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  good on your left, but your right is struggling, you know,
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  Oh, that, that hamstring thing's still bothering you.
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  You know, like I'm like steps 1-2 and three of the the like
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  the the workout, like 1-2 and three of our warm up like on
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  this page that we're looking at here.
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  Like that's the most important part of it to me, right?
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  Honest, like definitely I want to get the adaptations from the
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  workout. We're going to do this 23 second
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  drill. You know, we're going to do
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  these circuits, we're going to get strong in our Isos, all that
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  stuff. It's in the program for a
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  reason. But those warmups are such
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  important movement screens to me, like for me to see how you
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  move and where you're weak or or or lacking or injured or
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  whatever. So in terms of what's going in
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  and out of the program, if I see an athlete, that's that's, you
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  know, hey, you know, we're struggling in with with these
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  hamstring movements. You know, we've got to do
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  something to to address that, to work on that, you know, is it
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  the hamstring or is it somewhere else in the chain that that type
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  of thing? I'm trying to think of something
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  specific, but but basically evaluating the athletes, what do
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  they need? I see big bucket stuff like the
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  drills and the warmups. A, these are good movements that
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  are going to provide value for you in your your endeavors,
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  whatever your events are. But B, their movement screens
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  for me to say, OK, yeah, you're struggling here.
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  You need more mobility. Let's get you over here on and
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  do some hurdle stuff. You know what I mean?
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  Like so I'm there's a lot more that's in that is maybe in the
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  program, quote UN quote, that's not on this list day-to-day,
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  because it's like, OK, I'm pulling this kid aside and we're
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  going to do knee protocol with you because you this isn't these
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  are some movements that you need more of versus another another
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  athlete. Does that make sense?
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  It sounds like it's a it's a customized approach, right?
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  Hopefully. Hopefully, I mean, like I said,
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  there's the big bucket stuff like this is this is like, hey,
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  we're all shown to practice. This is generally if I've got
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  everybody on plan A, you know, this is what we're doing, right?
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  You know, but but in terms of what goes in and out of the
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  program, it's like, OK, hey, you're a hurdler.
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  You know, we need to give you more, you know more.
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  We need to elicit more of these qualities out of you.
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  So we're going to do some of this stuff with you, you know,
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  so definitely after, you know, we get into certain parts of the
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  season, you know, we're we're we're splitting up and, and, and
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  doing event specific things, obviously, but also athlete to
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  athlete. Like, you know, you might all be
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  throwers, but you know, one of you had that shoulder issue, you
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  know, from softball. So, you know, we're going to
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  have to make some changes with that athlete type of thing.
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  Right. And it it, there's always a
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  tailored approach which makes sense.
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  So with that, you know, because you've got multiple athletes
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  doing warm ups at the same time, which, you know, we all warm up
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  together and then we split off as well.
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  What does that really look like in the long run, Right.
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  So what does long term development look like in your
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  program? And then I'm going to actually
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  add a a caveat or a second question to that you can answer
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  before or after. If you've got a brand new coach
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  that really doesn't understand a lot of this stuff that's going
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  on here, what would be the first thing that you would tell them
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  or give them advice on when developing how their programs to
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  look or how to put together a simple system that everybody
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  could follow? Right.
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  I would say, yeah, for a brand new coach, you've got it.
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  You've got to know what you value, like what what, what is
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  kind of who you are, What's your identity?
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  What's your priorities? You know, like I said, going
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  back to when I started they there, there was no identity,
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  there was no values, there's no priorities.
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  It was just like my way or the highway kind of a coach.
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  I'm just going to work you hard into the ground and if you don't
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  like it, tough. You know, so if you're a new
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  coach, you have got to identify your identity, what you're
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  about, who you are, what your priorities are.
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  And then you're the the things that you program that your
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  specifics into your program should come out of that.
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  You know, like I said, we had a lot of athletes that we were not
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  taking advantage of our, our, our strength, our speed, our,
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  our, our, our elasticity. Sorry, we were leaving a lot on
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  the table. You know, we were working hard,
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  you know, we were plenty of endurance, you know, but we were
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  leaving a lot of meat on the bone in terms of what I would
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  say performance. So we we had to have that
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  identity shift. And so that's when we started
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  measuring things and we started talking more, thinking more and
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  talking more about them with the language of performance,
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  preparing yourself to perform. You know, we're not just, you
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  know, the warm ups, not just a warm up, like it's actually
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  staged. We talked about like, you know,
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  it starts low and slow and it gets more intense as we get
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  closer to, you know, competition time, you know, that that type
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  of thing. So I, you know, I identified the
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  things that I felt were going into a meet, You know, we're
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  working backwards. You know, if, if we want to
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  hoist the trophy at the end of that conference meet, we got to
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  work back from backwards from that.
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  And what are the qualities that are going to get us there?
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  And then, and then and then we and we, we program a practice to
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  to do that. You know, we, we, we should be
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  going from, you know, a, a low performance state to a high
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  performance state by the end. So you.
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  You. Got it.
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  You, you ideally, ideally, you know and find those big rocks,
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  you know, I've there's lots of recovery and rest built into our
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  program. That's, that's something that we
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  have to value. If we're going to perform at our
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  best, we've got to recover at our best as well.
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  We can't, we can't go 100% every single day, right?
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  You know, so that, so those are important parts of our program
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  as well. I was intentional about that.
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  There's always time for the mental game.
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  We're always talking about, you know, at the beginning and at
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  the end with the quotes with, with the way that we close
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  things out at the end of our, our practices, we're intentional
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  about that stuff. So that was another thing I
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  would advice I would give is, is, is be intentional.
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  Once you've identified those values, that identity, the, the
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  priorities of who you are as a coach and what you think is
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  important to, to achieve success.
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  And you know, yeah, it's the nuts and bolts, but it's also,
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  you know, the, the mental side. Then, then, then you can start
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  programming, right? And, and, and make sure you have
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  those big rocks in there every single day, you know, like I'd
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  and, and all year round, you know, we, we definitely try to
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  period, periodize as best we can, you know, but all things
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  are in our program all, all season long, all year long,
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  especially if you're with me for cross country, because you get
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  me all year long. So we're going to Sprint every
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  single week. We're going to do something
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  distance, we're going to do resistance.
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  You know that that stuff's going to be those qualities are always
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  going to be there. They might be in different
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  values, different amounts, different emphasis, but
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  everything's always there all the time.
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  You know I'm starting. I noticed a theme and you know
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  what our in our last episode with Coach Billups, if you
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  haven't guys, check that out, make sure you go and check that
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  live out. That was a really powerful
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  session there. And one of the things, the
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  things that came out of that conversation was integrity,
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  right? And so I hear two more eyes
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  coming through your conversation, right?
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  That's the identity or the identification of who you are,
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  right? So we've got integrity, then
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  we've got identity. And it was a third one anyway,
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  I'm going to hold off on that because I think I'm going to
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  save that for later. There's a third one that popped
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  up and I'm going to, I might even put that in the track
• 10:53
  tribe. You know what, I'm going to hold
• 10:54
  that last one. I'm going to put that in the
• 10:56
  track tribe and go, hey guys, here are the three eyes that I'm
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  hearing right now from the conversations that lead to
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  programs and they they seem to be crossing all the programs.
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  So if you're really interested in learning what that third I
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  is, you have to get the track tribe.
• 11:09
  I'm going to make that trap trap tribe exclusive.
• 11:12
  I like it. I like it.
• 11:13
  I like it as it should be. So, right, yeah, you can't get
• 11:18
  everything free. No, I'm just kidding.
• 11:19
  It is free. Anyway, it's the tribe's free.
• 11:22
  Y'all come on in. It's on the school SKOL.
• 11:26
  Just look for the Trap Tribe or follow us on Twitter.
• 11:30
  So we're we're developing our long term athletes and you've
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  got the integrity in your program and you've also got
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  identifying the right things that matter in your program.
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  Your identity matters here. And so you've got a a wide range
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  of responsibility right from middle school to high school and
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  got all these different types of kids at all these different
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  levels, right. So one thing you did mention
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  earlier was that you got into a a passionate conversation with
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  someone over the athlete load, right, And what they were
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  performing on or what they working in over the weekend.
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  How do you manage that total load for your athletes,
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  especially like those multi sport athletes?
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  How do you keep them healthy and, and moving forward while at
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  the same time getting, getting the results that you really want
• 12:23
  to get from them and knowing when to push, when to pull back?
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  What things are telling you that you need to pull back on this?
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  How do you handle all that, especially with, you know, the
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  wide variety of children and athletes that you have to deal
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  with on a consistent basis? Yeah, Yeah, that's tough.
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  And, and that's, that's a good question because I mean,
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  especially when you've got those very, very talented, you know,
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  elite level athletes. I, I, I think back to the first
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  state champion we had, you know, and I, any state champion, it's
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  not me like these kids are freaks.
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  You know, they're, they, they won the genetic lottery and I'm
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  just lucky I get to work with them.
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  And and so that, and so there's a perv to answer that because
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  what's the name of the game is to try to keep them healthy.
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  You know, because you think about those good athletes,
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  they're they're probably not just in track, they're probably
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  in another sport because that other coach wants them to, you
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  know, they're probably doing maybe AAU ball or something or
• 13:20
  travel teams on the weekend. So, you know, yeah, my calendar
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  might say, yeah, you got the weekend off.
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  Their calendar says no, they got a tournament on Saturday.
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  They got a tournament on Sunday. You know, they're they're
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  traveling, you know, and they might be trying to do their
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  homework. So yeah, I, I've got to be, I've
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  got to be super upfront and clear with those athletes.
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  We've always got to be having those conversations constantly.
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  It's not just like a one and done thing of where are you at?
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  When are you there? What are you doing?
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  And we'll be the, if we need to be the ones that, that, you
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  know, reign it back. Like I'll, I'll adjust my
• 14:00
  workouts because I know you're not going to invest your
• 14:02
  schedule kind of thing, you know, like I'll be the good guy.
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  I'm not going to come down on you and be like, it's my way,
• 14:10
  the highway because I don't know.
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  You only get 4 years to be a high school athlete and I don't
• 14:15
  want these kids to make I, I wish they would choose my sport
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  and I would be the primary, but I'm a small town coach and I'm
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  used to just, I'll, I'll take you when I can get you.
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  You know, we've got a we've got girls that will come and throw
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  in their softball uniforms right before the right before the
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  meet, and then they'll go play the softball game.
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  And that's cool with us, you know, like we'll take you, you
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  know, we'll take your throws. You're still on the team.
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  Would we wish you got you? We got you all the time, you
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  know, but we're glad that softball gets you too.
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  You know, like you're a high school kid.
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  You should get to do as much as you want.
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  You know, you got your whole life to make those decisions.
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  You know, you'll you'll you'll specialize in college probably.
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  But some of these kids, they're busy.
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  And so I'm the one who'll be like, yeah, you can take Monday
• 15:00
  off or Monday's a light day or a recovery day or, you know, we're
• 15:04
  working on some, some low impact skills or something, you know,
• 15:08
  because, you know, you, you can't handle the workout with
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  everybody else. You I've, I've got to give you
• 15:13
  the rest day that you're not getting elsewhere.
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  So very, very conscious with those athletes and, and having
• 15:21
  those, those open lines of communication is so important.
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  I think. And, and I fell into that, you
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  know, like I was like with, with this kid when she was a
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  sophomore. She, we were, we were doing
• 15:35
  some, some cat jumps and I, I think I pushed her just a little
• 15:38
  too high, a little too far, a little too soon, you know, got a
• 15:41
  little too excited. She and, and she was doing AAU
• 15:45
  ball all weekend. And so, you know, she ended up
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  missing part of the season and, and she didn't get injured
• 15:52
  immediately after those jumps. You know, it was, it was a
• 15:54
  couple weeks later, but I just realized, like in that moment,
• 15:59
  you know, hey, you know, maybe I want to do these things with
• 16:03
  this athlete too, but she's, she's not getting rest anywhere
• 16:07
  else. I've got to be the one who maybe
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  pulls back a little bit. Maybe she's capable of those
• 16:12
  things, but I've got to be cognizant, yeah, of her load.
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  So that's super important, you know, with, with the athletes
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  that I, I see, you know, I, I know they're not doing anything
• 16:22
  else outside of of me. You know, I then I, I'm, I'm
• 16:24
  aware of what's going on, but especially those athletes were
• 16:28
  there in other sports. I'm, I it's just, I'm.
• 16:30
  Hey, what'd you do this weekend? How many minutes did you play
• 16:34
  for real? How do your ankles feel?
• 16:36
  OK. All right.
• 16:36
  We're taking the day off today, you know, kind of thing.
• 16:39
  Right. Maybe I want them to do that
• 16:40
  workout, but I got to be the guy that says, all right, I'll give,
• 16:43
  I'll give up my precious thing because I'd rather you be
• 16:46
  healthy and, and, and play the long game.
• 16:49
  Right. And that's the love for the
• 16:50
  kids, right? And I feel you on that, man.
• 16:53
  I'm going to tell you. I want them to quit that AAU
• 16:57
  ball come just run track for me only but.
• 16:59
  Yeah, that part, yeah. I had a young lady this year and
• 17:04
  she was, I, I got her for cross country and she didn't have any,
• 17:09
  you know, coaching the previous year and they had never really
• 17:12
  had a, a full blown cross country coach.
• 17:14
  And she was, I got her. She was like a 26 minute kid.
• 17:19
  She of course, she's a senior this year, unfortunately.
• 17:21
  And we were training. I'm getting her together and
• 17:27
  over the first couple of meets she went and dropped 3 minutes.
• 17:32
  He went from 2640 something to 23 O 3IN in less than a month
• 17:39
  because he had never had really any any training that weekend.
• 17:45
  She went and because she played a a or did not not AU, but it's
• 17:49
  like soccer, whatever, or football as they call it
• 17:52
  football, right? And and some kids slams into her
• 17:56
  and she injuries the left side of her body.
• 18:00
  Now she was on pace and I get him.
• 18:04
  She was on pace to run sub 20. That's that's how that's how
• 18:07
  much she was moving and progressing.
• 18:11
  And I think she would have broken the school record.
• 18:13
  Has she not gotten injured in that soccer game?
• 18:16
  But she kept trying to run on it and eventually I just sat her
• 18:19
  down. I was like, I love you.
• 18:21
  I can't have you trying to hurt yourself.
• 18:23
  And if your soccer coaches won't sit you down, then I won't.
• 18:26
  I'm not going to run you. And I didn't run her for like a
• 18:28
  month and 1/2 because until she like finally felt better and she
• 18:34
  ended up placing in the top ten at the county championship.
• 18:37
  Even still kind of not fully 100%.
• 18:40
  But I'm going to tell you, man, if sometimes as coaches, we have
• 18:43
  to make that decision to sacrifice what we know they can
• 18:48
  do and feel and, you know, push away as much as we care about
• 18:51
  them, but we care about them enough more to be able to
• 18:55
  protect them from themselves. Listen, I'm, I'm, I'm willing to
• 18:59
  just sacrifice this because I think that your value is way
• 19:03
  greater and I'm concerned about the longevity of your career.
• 19:07
  Yeah. Right.
• 19:09
  And so I've got a freshman now like he, he's wanting to push
• 19:13
  his mileage, you know, And I got to, I got to be the one who's
• 19:17
  like you, you got to play the long game here, man.
• 19:20
  Like you don't, you don't want to top out early, right?
• 19:24
  You know where, if you, if you hit your ceiling now, then where
• 19:26
  do you go in college? You know where you go by your
• 19:29
  senior year. Home.
• 19:31
  You go home, you go. Home.
• 19:34
  Yeah, man. So I know what you're holding
• 19:37
  down on time here for a second. So I do have just a couple more
• 19:40
  questions here and I I want to make sure we get those in when
• 19:44
  athletes start making progress, right?
• 19:46
  And it ironically gave me a great Segway, right?
• 19:48
  So when athletes start making real progress, how does your
• 19:51
  system adapt to their elevation? That's a good question.
• 19:57
  You know, and again, like with all things you like to say, it
• 20:00
  depends, you know, athlete to athlete.
• 20:04
  Ideally, you hope, you know, especially with some of these
• 20:07
  kids that you know, have these pH DS, so to speak in the
• 20:10
  program by the time they're seniors, like I said, like our
• 20:15
  jumper last year, you know. Hopefully I helped get him.
• 20:20
  We, I don't say I, we know we've got another coach who helps with
• 20:23
  jumps too. You know, we got him to where he
• 20:26
  was by his junior year and he was getting recruited, you know,
• 20:29
  but you know, between the, you know, the summer before his
• 20:33
  senior year, you know, he was going up and doing, he was about
• 20:36
  45 minutes away from the, the college he signed with.
• 20:39
  So he signed early, you know, so he was doing workouts with them
• 20:43
  and stuff and, and, and getting some, some, some, some training
• 20:48
  that he needed that I, you know, we weren't necessarily able to
• 20:51
  get him. So you do hope that, you know,
• 20:54
  you have the athletes that are a capable enough themselves to,
• 21:00
  to, to to be students and, and to learn and to take it on, you
• 21:04
  know, and, and want it and, you know, and, and the ones that
• 21:08
  make it to that level usually are that way.
• 21:12
  But then at the same time, you know, you, you still have to
• 21:17
  level yourself up, you know, like I've got a, I've got a kid
• 21:21
  right now on the junior high side who's asking me questions
• 21:25
  that are hard to answer. And I'm like, Dang, I've got it.
• 21:28
  I got to, I got to get better for this kid.
• 21:30
  Like, so that by the time he's a senior, like we can get him
• 21:34
  where he needs to be. Like I want to make sure I'm a
• 21:36
  stepping stone for this kid and not going to hold him back.
• 21:40
  So, so there, there is some of that, you know, like you, you
• 21:43
  don't want to doubt yourself as a coach, but you still need to
• 21:45
  and you got to be firm in your identity.
• 21:48
  But you still got to be willing to say, I don't know, you know,
• 21:51
  like, hey, we need we need to find some resources for you so
• 21:54
  that you can be get better at triple gym.
• 21:56
  You know, if it's not me, it needs to be somebody else.
• 22:00
  So I definitely got to not have an ego about stuff.
• 22:05
  Well, well, coach, if you ever need any help, you know I'm
• 22:07
  here. For sure, I know you guys are
• 22:10
  the jumps are the jump jump masters.
• 22:14
  That's. Something I've had to learn, you
• 22:16
  know, like I would say, you know, when people ask me about
• 22:19
  like what? What's hard to coach?
• 22:20
  Like pole vaults got to be hard to coach.
• 22:21
  I was like, yeah, yeah, it it really is, for sure.
• 22:24
  But they're still only going in One Direction.
• 22:27
  Like high jumpers are high jumpers are running a curve, you
• 22:31
  know, like a, a, a, a thrower is spinning around.
• 22:35
  Like, you know, there's, there's some, there's some technical
• 22:38
  stuff that, you know, you really got to Start learning some.
• 22:40
  You got to get back to my, my trigonometry days.
• 22:43
  Oh, yeah. So.
• 22:44
  You know what the biggest thing is to your point is, is to not
• 22:47
  overcomplicate it, right? To make things.
• 22:50
  And a lot of times I find that the, the coach, especially in
• 22:53
  the jumps, man, 'cause you could get so technical.
• 22:57
  You got to do this and you got to align with this and you got
• 22:59
  to have this particular angle. And I get all that.
• 23:02
  But a lot of the kids, they just need to understand the, the
• 23:06
  very, very basics. Because I'm going to tell you
• 23:08
  the First things first. I think you're doing it right
• 23:10
  here is if you can't Sprint, you don't have the proper running
• 23:13
  mechanics, you're not going to jump well.
• 23:15
  I don't care how talented you are, you're not going to jump
• 23:18
  very well. Then there are a couple here and
• 23:20
  there that might just kind of jump out of the gym.
• 23:22
  I call them Bunny masters, right?
• 23:26
  There's a Bunny master, right? But for the most part, you know,
• 23:30
  most kids, like 95% of the kids just need a couple of hinge,
• 23:36
  hinge moments, right? Or hinge knowledge moments as I
• 23:39
  call them, right? How do you hit the board
• 23:42
  consistently? It is an example when you're
• 23:44
  jumping, right? And maybe I'll get coach Alex
• 23:47
  from Arkansas stayed on here too, man, because he's a, he's a
• 23:51
  jump guy too. But yeah, man, it's just the
• 23:54
  basis of like I took the one kid that we had, Josiah Brown, man,
• 23:57
  he's a phenomenal kid, phenomenal athlete.
• 24:00
  He came in, he was jumping like 20 feet and some change, maybe
• 24:03
  like low 21. Now he's at like 23, five going
• 24:07
  into his senior year. He's he's on pace to go like 24
• 24:11
  mid 25. What's the school record?
• 24:16
  Our school, the school record, well, I just recently moved, but
• 24:19
  the school record is 24 and some change, I believe.
• 24:24
  But the other jumper that came out of there, who's at Florida
• 24:28
  now, Nick Cross White, he's 25 foot 2 jumper kick.
• 24:31
  So I had, I had both of them at the same time, right?
• 24:35
  So they were like, where do you get these kids?
• 24:37
  I'm like, we developed, we work. But there's also there's also a
• 24:40
  village, right, because there are some great jump coaches.
• 24:44
  My mentor in the jumps, Derek Harper from Quicksilver Track
• 24:47
  club, coach Kevin Call Foster is also Quicksilver Track Club and
• 24:51
  also the one of the coaches at links to Hughes High School.
• 24:54
  Just great individuals all the way around, you know.
• 24:57
  So when I look at that, I go, hey, what's the simplicity
• 24:59
  around this and how can he make this as easy to understand for
• 25:02
  the athletes as possible? And that's the way I approach
• 25:04
  the jumps is just trying to make the little stuff simple.
• 25:07
  So like you have your systems, those I have my systems, right?
• 25:11
  And so all you have to do is really find your system in the
• 25:14
  jumps, the things that you know or like the hinges on the door,
• 25:18
  what are the one or one to three things?
• 25:20
  Because most doors have like 1 to 3 hinges.
• 25:22
  What are the one to three things that really move the needle for
• 25:26
  all your jumps? And people think it's the
• 25:27
  landing. It's not.
• 25:30
  It's actually your consistency on the runway and then your take
• 25:33
  off, right? Those are the two things that
• 25:35
  will get you the furthest out of all those other things, right?
• 25:38
  And then you can get into everything else.
• 25:40
  But anyway. No, I like that.
• 25:42
  No, that's I like, that's such a good analogy And and that, and
• 25:45
  that makes perfect sense. And like you said, it's it's
• 25:48
  going to, it's a it's a good, it's a good one because it's
• 25:51
  that light bulb moment for them. You know, it's that hinge for
• 25:53
  them because it'll be that cue that you give them that they,
• 25:57
  they hear it and then they also can feel it.
• 26:00
  And so I think try to to try to bring it back to full circle
• 26:04
  because I don't know how well I, I made this seem like a simple
• 26:08
  system, but you know, it might be complicated on the back end,
• 26:12
  you know, to us, like there might be a lot of input in for
• 26:15
  us as coaches as we're learning it, you know, but we've got to
• 26:19
  be the funnel to break it down to them so that it so that we
• 26:24
  just give them, like you said, those three few cues or hinge
• 26:28
  moments where they get it. So like, yeah, maybe like I know
• 26:32
  that there's a whole lot of, you know, math and physics involved
• 26:35
  here, you know, but it's the same math and physics for
• 26:38
  everybody. I can, I can make it simple for
• 26:41
  this high school kid to get it, you know.
• 26:44
  So yeah, maybe, maybe it's complicated on, on the back end,
• 26:47
  but, but, but what they see is very simple and very basic.
• 26:50
  And yeah, I just do this, this and this coach told me that and
• 26:53
  I that's how I get my jump, you know, so, so yeah, it's, it's
• 26:58
  not necessarily that the, the system in and of itself is super
• 27:02
  simple. It should, you know, it should
• 27:04
  be once you establish your values and those are clear, then
• 27:08
  it should sit coming together for you simply as a coach, we
• 27:11
  hope once you know what, what, what's a priority.
• 27:15
  But for the kids, you know, we just want to show them.
• 27:20
  We want it to seem easy to them. We don't want it to be
• 27:23
  overcomplicated to them. We don't say dorsiflex, you
• 27:25
  know, they don't get that. Just say point your toe to your
• 27:28
  knee. Well, I'll say, I'll say it to
• 27:32
  over and over again, but I'll explain it over and over again
• 27:35
  too, right. And there there's a different
• 27:37
  list. If I, if I'm, you know, when I
• 27:39
  coach the little kids, I had my young ones, we were doing like
• 27:43
  from 4 all the way to 14 before I moved up to the high school.
• 27:46
  We would go, Hey, pull your toe up, point it towards your knee,
• 27:48
  right? And that that's the only thing
• 27:50
  they understood. I was like, Hey, make your toes
• 27:52
  like an L and they would go. Right, ride your bike with your
• 27:56
  toe up. That's it, right?
• 27:58
  So, and sometimes you know what I.
• 28:00
  Always look for good cues. If I hear a good cue, I'll ride
• 28:02
  it down. That's a good thing.
• 28:03
  Man, but the irony is the older we get, we try to get more
• 28:07
  complex, but we need to be even just as simple as a as a third
• 28:11
  grade education, right? And I'll tell you if, if coaches
• 28:14
  and this is a key here and I'm pulling it out for you here.
• 28:18
  Those of you are listening. Simplicity is key to success
• 28:22
  because if it's too complex, nobody's going to get it and
• 28:25
  they're not going to do it very fast or and they're not going to
• 28:27
  go very far with it. And so the the simpler things
• 28:30
  are, the easier it is to pick up, the faster people can do it,
• 28:34
  and then they can get better at it.
• 28:37
  And then you and then you can add complexity because because
• 28:42
  you've, you've made it the, the entry is so simple and so low.
• 28:45
  Like, so, yeah, like right now it's super basic.
• 28:49
  It's, it's XYZ. We're doing the same thing every
• 28:52
  single day. Like I hope they get kind of
• 28:53
  bored with it, to be honest with you.
• 28:55
  Like by the time we get to February so that then we can
• 28:58
  start adding complexity. It's like, yeah, now we can
• 29:01
  start doing like you guys have built the general prep, the
• 29:04
  physical prep in, you know, like we've, we've done the work that
• 29:09
  that work continues, but just in different ways.
• 29:11
  You know, now we can start adding some, some, some
• 29:13
  variations, you know, now we can start adding in some, some
• 29:17
  changes to those movements that you guys have learned and
• 29:19
  ingrained now. So, so you, you can introduce
• 29:23
  the complexity, you know, once, once they've learned those
• 29:28
  movements and, and, and, and, and have mastered them, you
• 29:32
  know, basically it's almost like a checklist.
• 29:35
  You know, if your, if your body can't own certain positions,
• 29:38
  well, you, you, you don't pass go.
• 29:40
  You don't collect $200 like you sorry, you don't, you don't get
• 29:43
  to do the next thing. That's not a knock on you.
• 29:45
  It's just like your body or your mind or whatever isn't ready for
• 29:48
  that yet. You've got to own a a movement
• 29:50
  before you can move on to the next.
• 29:52
  Absolutely. You know what, and I kind of
• 29:54
  wrapping up here, you know, 'cause I think we were just
• 29:56
  starting to answer that question, right, how do we
• 29:57
  simplify our programs? How do we get better results
• 30:00
  immediately? And the real answer is just
• 30:02
  simplicity, right? Coach said earlier, find those
• 30:05
  things that are a priority for you and put them in place.
• 30:09
  Things that aren't a priority, move them to an advanced level
• 30:12
  or just get rid of them all together.
• 30:14
  The simpler your program is, the easier it is to follow and and
• 30:18
  pick up and to duplicate overtime.
• 30:21
  Coach has an assistant right now.
• 30:22
  This is what you do when you first get to practice.
• 30:25
  Get your butt reset, right? Once you reset, go through your
• 30:28
  dynamic movements, get yourself warmed up.
• 30:30
  Make sure you get with your team, make sure you get with
• 30:33
  your groups. You know we're doing on this
• 30:35
  day. They know we're doing on that
• 30:36
  day. So there's no confusion, right?
• 30:38
  So the simplicity starts with here's how we start.
• 30:41
  Here's what we do next. This is what we do when we're
• 30:43
  doing this. Here's how we finish the
• 30:45
  culture, the identity right and I'm going to give that other I
• 30:48
  in the tract tribe later again. So first one was integrity from
• 30:51
  the last call this one's identity plus a bonus I that I'm
• 30:55
  going to share the tract tribe later.
• 30:56
  But simplicity is the key in in creating better systems.
• 31:01
  And if you have complexity in your system where the kids don't
• 31:04
  understand what's happening, coaches don't understand what's
• 31:06
  happening, that leaves opportunity and room for
• 31:09
  confusion. I am going to offer something up
• 31:14
  that you all may want to dive into.
• 31:15
  It's a little bit of a, an off tangent, if you will, but it
• 31:19
  does apply here. There's a book in learning and
• 31:22
  development that I've read and I've I've found it Absolutely
• 31:25
  Fabulous and mind boggling, mind boggling.
• 31:28
  It's called The Talent Code, and the book focuses on something
• 31:34
  called deep practice, and it dives into how we're able to get
• 31:41
  so much better by focusing in in the small moments to find those
• 31:47
  things that help us transcend little mistakes over time.
• 31:51
  That's the that's me explaining it very horribly.
• 31:54
  But I'm going to tell you right now, that book is phenomenal.
• 31:58
  And it actually focuses on the Brazilian athletes, the soccer
• 32:02
  players over there and how they got so good.
• 32:04
  They're like musicians, how they got so good.
• 32:07
  But it applies to track and field.
• 32:11
  And so I'll give you a prime example real quick here, like
• 32:14
  when jumpers and I have my jumpers, I make them stand still
• 32:17
  for a moment before they approach in the runway.
• 32:19
  And every time they approach the runway, I want them to feel what
• 32:23
  it's like to be in that moment and focus on every single step
• 32:28
  that they're taking down that runway.
• 32:30
  Just the steps, right? Not the breathing, anything else
• 32:32
  like that, just the steps you go back the next time.
• 32:36
  What is it about those steps that were that could have been
• 32:38
  improved? And we might take that drill
• 32:41
  just over steps alone. And so they can feel what it
• 32:45
  feels like to be on the runway and they know instantly when
• 32:49
  it's not right. And I don't even have to adjust
• 32:52
  them. Half the time they're like,
• 32:53
  coach, that didn't feel right. Let me try that one more time
• 32:55
  because I feel something's off and they'll make the adjustment.
• 32:58
  That's that's an example of how that deep focus works or that
• 33:01
  deep practice works, right? And it's amazing how how much
• 33:05
  these kids will pick up in that right.
• 33:07
  But and that and. That comes from routine.
• 33:10
  That comes from routine and and repetition.
• 33:14
  You know how many times you have like a freshman who comes out
• 33:17
  and they're like, man, I suck at this.
• 33:19
  It's like, dude, you did this your first time doing it, right?
• 33:22
  You did it. Come on, man, you got to, yeah,
• 33:23
  you did it twice. You got to Rep this out.
• 33:26
  You know, I've been doing this for 40 years and I still suck at
• 33:29
  it. Come on, you got to got to, got
• 33:30
  to Rep it out, got to keep trying it.
• 33:33
  So, yeah, you've got to teach him those lessons that, you
• 33:36
  know, you, it's not just like you look at this kid that's a
• 33:41
  senior who's, you know, winning the state championships and
• 33:44
  you're like, man, he's just, he's just athletic and talents
• 33:47
  is like, yeah, he, he won the genetic lot, no doubt.
• 33:50
  But he's worked his butt off on his technique to be able to jump
• 33:53
  that far and set that school record and win that medal.
• 33:56
  So, you know, there, there's a lot of that stuff on the back
• 33:59
  end. It, it looks simple and easy and
• 34:01
  clean and good because of all the the work that went in and
• 34:05
  the reps, reps, reps. People see the story and they
• 34:09
  don't, or they see the glory. They don't know the story.
• 34:12
  Right. Yeah, that's good.
• 34:13
  I like that, right? It's amazing stuff, man.
• 34:15
  Coach, it is, it has been great, man.
• 34:17
  I, I know I want to be respectful of your time here,
• 34:20
  man. And I, I really appreciate the
• 34:22
  dive in. I feel like there's some part
• 34:25
  twos coming up where we can dig a little bit deeper on how to
• 34:27
  write this stuff out and what this would all look like if
• 34:32
  somebody was trying to put stuff together.
• 34:34
  One thing I will caution people, man, don't just take somebody's
• 34:36
  plan and just throw it on top of your, your team.
• 34:39
  You got to understand what your team needs and know your
• 34:43
  priorities and your identity. As coach talked about before
• 34:47
  Coach, any final words before we disperse and distribute
• 34:50
  ourselves back to the the Wiles of Track Kingdom?
• 34:54
  Yeah, good. I mean, good luck with
• 34:55
  everybody, their pre season and seasons and whatnot, wherever
• 34:58
  you're at. But yeah, join, join the school,
• 35:03
  join the track tribe. Thanks Coach Jones for doing
• 35:07
  this. You guys holler at him, other
• 35:11
  coaches you should. You guys should get on and do
• 35:13
  the same. Talk to Coach Jones, it's fun
• 35:16
  and it's worth it. I hope we keep adding some value
• 35:20
  to the track and field community.
• 35:23
  Please ask questions. I know I have lots.
• 35:25
  I want to learn a lot. I don't profess to know
• 35:28
  everything by any means. I'm still still still learning,
• 35:33
  still growing and enjoying every minute of it open.
• 35:38
  Maybe I get to see some of Coach Phillips kids in the indoor
• 35:41
  season this year. I think I might get to see him
• 35:43
  out of indoor meet, hopefully try try to line that up.
• 35:47
  Probably won't make it all the way down to you coach, but.
• 35:51
  That's all good. It's all good, yeah.
• 35:54
  Someday. Someday, maybe.
• 35:56
  Well, you know what? Maybe you know, and then maybe
• 35:58
  one day we'll never know and do an indoor meet up there or
• 36:00
  something. I know we're headed down to
• 36:02
  Alabama in like next weekend. One of my kids is running the
• 36:09
  800 so I'm excited and. Good luck.
• 36:12
  What year? He's he's a sophomore.
• 36:16
  Yeah, he's a sophomore. I think he he had APR last year
• 36:19
  of about two O 5 as freshmen. Let's.
• 36:22
  Go. So we're excited for him.
• 36:25
  He just wants to get back on the track, so we're looking forward
• 36:27
  to him getting out there and running.
• 36:29
  Excited to see that. Did he do cross country?
• 36:32
  He did. He did do cross country and I
• 36:34
  think he started. I hated it.
• 36:36
  No, no, he surprisingly, he didn't hate it.
• 36:38
  He said it was tough. He had to learn some of his
• 36:41
  pacing, but he ended up doing he ended up making a sub 20.
• 36:46
  I think he actually went in like the the eighteens actually, if
• 36:49
  I'm not mistaken as a freshman. So yeah, so we're we're looking
• 36:53
  forward to he's he's really great runner man.
• 36:55
  His mom is an outstanding runner too.
• 36:58
  I think he to history one day. It was but.
• 37:01
  Indoors, indoors, fun. And for those, especially those
• 37:03
  kids that are going to, if they know that they're going to
• 37:06
  compete in college because it's, it's indoors a lot more.
• 37:09
  I feel like especially in Illinois, it's more like a
• 37:12
  college meet than a normal high school meet.
• 37:14
  You know what I mean? Like it's it's definitely got
• 37:17
  the more of the college meet vibe.
• 37:19
  Indoor meets too. Well, up north is wild anyway.
• 37:22
  So I, I try to tell people about indoor and then I, I just tell
• 37:25
  them and the kids down here just say, hey, just think about
• 37:28
  NASCAR, but you're using your feet.
• 37:32
  Yes, yes, for sure. Coach man it, it has been a true
• 37:37
  pleasure, man. I I am totally excited about you
• 37:40
  know what you guys are doing up there and if any, if any, you
• 37:45
  know, guidance or any insights, especially around the jumps.
• 37:48
  You know that's my kind of my bread and butter for the last
• 37:50
  few years. I'm willing you know, hey, let's
• 37:54
  hop on. We can do some video
• 37:55
  evaluations. We can just talk it up, but we
• 37:57
  also in the track tribe y'all, we are going to be having our
• 38:00
  coaches roundtable coming up soon yes.
• 38:02
  So if you are not in the group, in the community, you should
• 38:05
  definitely be in there as 100% free.
• 38:07
  We're on the school SKOLL app slash website and the coaches
• 38:14
  round table will be focusing on various topics throughout the
• 38:17
  year to deep dive. We're talking about sports
• 38:19
  science, we're talking about wickeds, we're talking about
• 38:22
  planning, we're going to be talking about jumps, throws,
• 38:25
  distance, cross country planning, all that kind of
• 38:28
  stuff. I'm excited about that out out
• 38:31
  of all the things that we're doing.
• 38:33
  So make sure you find as the track Tribe again, free to join,
• 38:35
  will always be free. We try to give you as much
• 38:38
  value, as much resources as we can.
• 38:41
  And of course, they're all filled with cool people like
• 38:43
  Coach Deadman. And so you'll come and check him
• 38:46
  out as well. And except because we throws
• 38:48
  coaches, we need throws coaches, you all need to get on.
• 38:51
  Yeah, yeah. Call Lee out, man.
• 38:52
  I was going to listen. Throws we need to get, we need
• 38:55
  to get both throws. We need to get the throw 1 deep
• 38:57
  out there. We need to go get all the throws
• 38:59
  coaches. I'm calling all the throws
• 39:00
  coaches out right now. You guys should be in the track
• 39:03
  time. That's called the track tribe,
• 39:04
  but track and field tribe, if you will, right?
• 39:07
  We're all together and we believe throws matter, right.
• 39:10
  Oh yeah. Absolutely.
• 39:12
  All right, Coach. It's been a pleasure, man.
• 39:14
  And I really thank you for being here.
• 39:16
  Thank you for sharing your time. Thank you family for me.
• 39:19
  Thank you Coach Beery for for showing up and, and we
• 39:22
  appreciate you and. Good to see you, Brandon, a
• 39:24
  little. Bit deeper later on.
• 39:26
  And thank you, Danielle for showing up as well.
• 39:28
  Coach, been a pleasure, been an honor.
• 39:30
  I will see you in the tribe, Sir.
• 39:31
  Yep. Good night.
• 39:32
  Take care. Thanks.
• 39:33
  See you later. Good day.
• 39:34
  Bye. Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here.
• 39:37
  Hey, I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Guild 1918
• 39:40
  Project series. It's really my mission, my
• 39:44
  passion to bring you massive amounts of value and I hope this
• 39:48
  one hit the mark. The Gill 1918 Project is really
• 39:52
  dependent on you if for you to build your own episode, to hear
• 39:55
  your voice, to have your voice heard you have something to say
• 39:59
  and teach other coaches out there.
• 40:01
  So please get a hold of me e-mail text message.
• 40:06
  Twitter smoke signals get a hold of me and let's help create your
• 40:09
  episode of the Guild 1918 Project.
• 40:11
  Hope you enjoyed a day, they will see you tomorrow.