Written by Hannah Burgess
Article based from watching the latest international training week at Lee Valley.
Article based from watching the latest international training week at Lee Valley.
International training weeks before a big competition can be chaos. However, they can also be used as insights into training regimes from around the world. All nations have slightly different training habits. This article focuses just a few aspects of what we can learn from international training weeks.
Why bother observing, why not just jump on yourself?
The idea of learning through observation is deep rooted in childhood learning and sports coaching alike (for those who are more interested research Bandura, Social learning Theory). The basic premise is just through watching, humans as information processors encode and then later imitate behaviour. Most people will remember watching someone more skilled than themselves and then trying out a move, aiming to copy your model’s move/position/stroke placement.
This is not a new theory, anyone who has been coached by Ian Raspin may know the following story….
In 1992, the last World Cup before the Barcelona Olympics was held Bourg St Maurice. Ian Raspin, (Rasbo) had a bad neck injury preventing him from training as much as he liked. All week, instead of training, he keenly watched the other nations training sessions. By the time the competition arrived, Rasbo had gained enough knowledge and experience of the course through learning by observation that he walked away with a gold medal.
Feel
Sometimes, play is the best option!! Lots of nations appear to be running totally unstructured sessions. Coaches set courses that appear to make no sense, and that we would hope are never set in races! However, these sessions are vital for learning white water, getting flow on the boat, feeling a movement of a stopper or the force of a curl move. Today I watched the Swiss team do a fairly awkward move; down left on Big Ben (the middle drop of Lee Valley) immediately to a down left on the second wave, into the up right. I feel this is the sort of move I wouldn’t be too pleased to see in a race, it had very little run, it was a hard and tight turn to get back to the up right. However, the practice behind this was forcing the use of upstream edge, drive across the second wave, and feel of the boat running down the face of the wave, even when it wanted to run away downstream. *Apologies to Gareth Wilson for saying I wouldn’t like to see his courses in a race.
I also observed some new ways of getting into your boat :)
Training routines
The ultimate goal for everyone at Lee valley this week was to put themselves in the best possible place to win a gold medal in his or her class at the World Championships in September. So why was everyone’s training different? Training practice is defined by what you are trying to achieve.
Training methods are easy to observe during international training weeks when a whole range of training sessions and practices are here to see.
It’s easy, when training at the same venue with the same people to develop a stale training routine without even realising it. Observing another athletes practices opens up opportunity for questioning routines and developing new ideas. One example of this is a warm up, which just like all aspects of training can become stagnated. Here is a video of a Spanish flat water drills session that can easily be incorporated into a warm up.
The ultimate goal for everyone at Lee valley this week was to put themselves in the best possible place to win a gold medal in his or her class at the World Championships in September. So why was everyone’s training different? Training practice is defined by what you are trying to achieve.
Training methods are easy to observe during international training weeks when a whole range of training sessions and practices are here to see.
It’s easy, when training at the same venue with the same people to develop a stale training routine without even realising it. Observing another athletes practices opens up opportunity for questioning routines and developing new ideas. One example of this is a warm up, which just like all aspects of training can become stagnated. Here is a video of a Spanish flat water drills session that can easily be incorporated into a warm up.
One thing that stands out for me when watching foreign teams compared to the British Structure is how much less structured/competitive sessions they appear to do. This might be a skewed impression, as they are on a camp at a course with fairly pushy white water, so teams may be aiming to specifically practice white water tech for Lee Valley.
What is there to gain for doing much less practice on the clock? Potentially sessions like this, repeats and play, and even loops will a ‘feel’ emphasis give more opportunity for technical learning through trial and error.
How would you feel if your coach gave very little feedback through a session? Another habit I observed today was a session with a heavy slant towards student led learning. The Italian coach stood back from the side, barely involved, a nod here, a suggestion there. Is this approach encouraging more independent athletes and personal development? Would this work for everyone?
Our sport is pretty unique…
In gymnastics, the idea figure is this.......and in Rugby, it’s this
One of the things that fascinates me most about canoe slalom is now different everyone can be, and still rise to be at the top of their game. I mean different in many ways, body type (ectomorph, endomorph or mesomorph), height and strength. Maialen CHOURRAUT is 161 cm and weighs 55kg. She is this year’s European Champion. Fiona Pennie is 169cm and 71kg; she was 2014’s silver medallist at the Wasau World Championships.
The wide range of competitors that you may see spread across different teams shows you how skill and technique can be just as crucial as strength and power. This makes me consider: where do people draw their performances from? Is it technique or power, or a combination of both? I don’t think anyone has the answer to this, and it’s a question that will be continually asked. Whoever finds the perfect balance of both will surely be at the top of their game.
I think for any paddler to know where they personally draw their performance from will influence who they chose to watch for examples and what they gain from that experience. International training weeks present a unique opportunity to obverse a wide range of that styles, and varying balances of skill verses power.
The wide range of competitors that you may see spread across different teams shows you how skill and technique can be just as crucial as strength and power. This makes me consider: where do people draw their performances from? Is it technique or power, or a combination of both? I don’t think anyone has the answer to this, and it’s a question that will be continually asked. Whoever finds the perfect balance of both will surely be at the top of their game.
I think for any paddler to know where they personally draw their performance from will influence who they chose to watch for examples and what they gain from that experience. International training weeks present a unique opportunity to obverse a wide range of that styles, and varying balances of skill verses power.
Finally
Having the best in the world train in our home country, for a home World Championships procedures rare opportunities for movements of inspiration…
Notes from DG - Ewan was buzzing at this moment! To see how far Ewan has come have a read of his article too - using-upstream-strokes-on-the-back-of-stoppers
Really enjoyed reading this from Hannah :)
Really enjoyed reading this from Hannah :)