Simplicity key to strong athletic development

I am the father of a 22month-old daughter whose favorite television show is Elmo. She knows all of the characters on the show and can say all of their names. There is one character in particular by the name of Mr. Noodle. Mr. Noodle has a hard time grasping simple tasks at first, but over time, he eventually figures them out and succeeds. He then proceeds to jump up and down with excitement acknowledging his accomplishment.

This principle of starting with the elementary principles and mastering them is very important in the field of athletics. We recently started working with the McCoy High School women’s volleyball and basketball teams. Their coach, Janice Laing, mentioned in our initial meeting that she sees the importance of mastering the simple tasks before moving onto the more complex tasks. She is a coach who has it figured out. It is very important for athletes and coaches to not get ahead of themselves and try to master something before they are ready.

At the Alberta Sport Development Centre – Southeast, we start our athletes out in their first year in our program with the basics. We teach them the elementary principles of strength and conditioning, mental skills development, and sport nutrition. For example, one of the first things we do with our athletes is to teach them how to squat properly. This seems like a very simple task, but it is amazing how many people squat improperly. It is particularly important to establish and master the squat before moving on to more complicated movements.

I would like to make particular mention of one of our Athlete Enhancement Program athletes. Quintin Unreiner is a classic example of an athlete who has embraced this principle of mastering the simple tasks first. Quintin is finishing up his first year in our program and is moving forward in leaps and bounds. He came to us as a typical 13-year-old athlete with improper movement patterns. We taught him the basics first, and he spent a lot of time mastering them. From there, he moved on to more complex movements, and at this point, I can confidently say that he is in the process of mastering the most complex movements that are done in a weight room.

Quintin was and is dedicated to the process and understands that it takes time to become a movement master. He is patient and knows it takes a lot of hard work to become a master of anything. We are very proud of the accomplishments that he has made this past year.

We are now in the process of our Athlete Enhancement Program intake. We accept 30 athletes per year into the program. They get full access to all of our services, which includes full access to our strength and conditioning, mental skills and sport nutrition experts. This is an all encompassing program and develops the athlete through an all encompassing approach. Applications are due on August 5 and can be found on our website mhc.ab.ca/ASDCSE.

Cory Coehoorn is the coordinator of the ASDC-SE at the Medicine Hat College and would love to chat with you or anyone who knows an emerging athlete that could benefit from our services. The ASDCSE offers services to emerging athletes regardless of their financial circumstances. He can be reached via phone at 403-504-3547 or via email at ccoehoorn@mhc.ab.ca.