Athlete Development Pathway Developing the Whole Athlete Over the Long Term Version 16.1 / May 27, 2015 a Special Thank You to Our Contributors
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ROWING CANADA AVIRON ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY DEVELOPING THE WHOLE ATHLETE OVER THE LONG TERM VERSION 16.1 / MAY 27, 2015 A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS ROWING CANADA AVIRON STAFF CANADIAN SPORT INSTITUTE PRODUCTION CORE CONTRIBUTORS CORE CONTRIBUTORS TRANSLATION Peter Cookson Ashley Armstrong Julie Thibault Michelle Darvill Kirsten Barnes LAYOUT/DESIGN Paul Hawksworth Nick Clarke Julianne Mullin Chuck McDiarmid Danelle Kabush Colleen Miller SUPPORTING CONTRIBUTOR Terry Paul Ed McNeely John Wetzstein SUPPORTING CONTRIBUTORS CANADIAN ROWING COMMUNITY Donna Atkinson CORE CONTRIBUTOR Sarah Black Roger Meager Howard Campbell SUPPORTING CONTRIBUTORS Dave Derry Colin Mattock Steve DiCiacca Brenda Taylor Annabel Kehoe Phil Marshall CANADIAN SPORT FOR LIFE Martin McElroy CORE CONTRIBUTORS Jacquelyn Novak Colin Higgs Peter Shakespear Richard Way SUPPORTING CONTRIBUTOR ROWING CANADA AVIRON Carolyn Trono COACH EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE CORE CONTRIBUTOR Volker Nolte TABLE OF CONTENTS OUR CONTRIBUTORS 2 FORWARD 4 ABOUT THIS COACH RESOURCE 5 OUR VISION: WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? 5 ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY 6 ROWING CANADA AVIRON AND CANADIAN SPORT FOR LIFE 6 ROWING AND THE EARLY YEARS 7 EARLY-ENTRY/ LATE-ENTRY ATHLETES 7 MASTERS ATHLETES 7 GOLD MEDAL PROFILE AND PODIUM PATHWAY 8 UNDERSTANDING THE ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY 10 DELIVERING THE ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY 10 SPORT TECHNICAL AND TACTICAL SKILLS 12 PHYSICAL CAPACITY SKILLS 20 MENTAL (SPORT PSYCHOLOGY) SKILLS 25 LIFE SKILLS 29 APPENDICES 37 NG TH PI E W LO H E O V L E E D A M T R H E L T E T G E N F LO OR THE ROWING CANADA AVIRON ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY 3 FORWARD DEVELOPING, EXCELLING IN, AND FOSTERING ABOUT A LOVE FOR THE SPORT OF ROWING THIS DOCUMENT Rowing Canada Aviron was one of the first national sport organizations to This document is the successor to An Overview: embrace the Canadian Sport for Life initiative and adopt a sport-specific Long Term Athlete Development Plan for Rowing, Long Term Athlete Development program. This approach aligns with Rowing 2012. We have built on the foundations of this Canada Aviron’s goals to: earlier document to further the development of our coaches and ensure that athletes succeed right WIN GOLD MEDALS out of the gates and throughout their career. The achieve excellence in the sport of rowing 1 Rowing Canada Aviron Athlete Development Pathway supports this education by providing the framework INCREASE PARTICIPATION that details the newest innovations in rowing 2 build the sport of rowing at all levels knowledge and sport science to support the whole athlete. BUILD A SUSTAINABLE ORGANIZATION 3 develop a self-sustaining foundation for coaches, WE WOULD LIKE TO athletes, officials and volunteers ACKNOWLEDGE The Canadian Sport for Life Long Term Athlete Development approach has The successful development of this Athlete emerged as the defining benchmark for sport delivery and physical activity in Development Pathway is the result of the many long Canada. hours our contributors have given of their time, expertise and knowledge. Without this valuable Working with our provincial partners, our efforts are focussed on rolling collaboration and teamwork, none of this would be out a seamless transition of the Athlete Development Pathway, to all rowing possible. We would like to thank all those involved organizations, Canada-wide. for their insights, leadership and generosity in helping us build the very best pathway to develop the very best athletes. 4 ROWING CANADA AVIRON ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY Rowing Canada Aviron recognises that athlete development is a long term process. There are no short cuts. ABOUT THIS COACH RESOURCE At Rowing Canada Aviron, our aim is to provide valuable, educational, and relevant information to our coaches. We make every effort to collate the most OUR VISION up-to-date information related to the development of our athletes. WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? This document provides: The purpose of this document is to produce an » Essential information to coaches so that they can effectively teach key Athlete Development Pathway that is comprehensive foundational skills to ALL new athletes. and progressive in its approach to developing the WHOLE ATHLETE with a focus on excellence at » Approaches that are progressive, so that no matter whether you are every point in an athlete’s career. teaching a first-time athlete or working with an athlete at the highest level of competition, this resource will meet the needs of athletes wherever Our goal at Rowing Canada Aviron is to continually they land on the development spectrum. strive in advancing our knowledge and innovate to improve our sport. This document will continue to » Practical, step-by-step skill progression to help develop the whole athlete evolve and capture future world leading information in all four realms; mental, physical, tactical/technical and life skills. that will serve our coaches and clubs to continue in » A framework so that coaches can plan training, competition and recovery developing excellence in rowing. programs that work best to develop all athletes… whenever they enter the sport. NG TH PI E W LO H E O V L E E D A M T R H E L T E T G E N F LO OR THE ROWING CANADA AVIRON ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY 5 ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY FIGURE 1 ATHLETEROWING DEVELOPMENT CANADA AVIRON PATHWAY FRAMEWORK ROWING CANADA AVIRON LONG TERM ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK AND CANADIAN SPORT FOR LIFE TRAIN TO WIN 2 Canadian Sport for Life is Canada’s system-wide movement to COMPETITIVE FOR LIFE ACTIVE FOR LIFE improve the quality of sport in Canada. It is based on the most current scientific findings integrated with the experiences of TRAIN TO WIN 1 world-leading coaches and experts. Rowing Canada Aviron leads the way in adopting and delivering this framework. At its heart, Canadian Sport for Life’s Long Term Athlete TRAIN TO COMPETE Development is designed to enable every person, from youth to senior, to engage in lifelong healthy physical FIT FOR LIFE activity and sport, and, for those on the excellence pathway EXCELLENCE LEARN TO COMPETE to reach their full potential and deliver peak performance Rowing’s Athlete Development Pathway framework (figure 1) is divided into three major components: TRAIN TO TRAIN » PHYSICAL LITERACY: Building the Foundation » EXCELLENCE: High Performance Sport » FIT FOR LIFE: Competitive and Active for Life LEARN TO TRAIN / LEARN TO ROW / BEGINNER In addition, there are two Getting Started stages; Awareness and Initial Involvement which, while important for all participants, take on additional importance for FUNDAMENTALS INITIAL INVOLVEMENT athletes with a disability, our future para athletes, who may not be aware that rowing opportunities exist. PHYSICAL LITERACY PHYSICAL ACTIVE START AWARENESS GETTING STARTED 6 ROWING CANADA AVIRON ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY Athletes enter the sport of rowing at a wide range of ages. As such, each athlete’s pathway through rowing is unique. ROWING AND THE EARLY YEARS Children need to build fundamental movement and sport skills, by Athlete Development stage. While they will require some participating in a wide variety of physical activity when they are fundamental skills unique to rowing (Learn to Row), where young. A solid foundation of movement skills and physical fitness, they fit in terms of other capacities will depend on their known as Physical Literacy (Active Start and FUNdamentals) is previous athletic experience, training, and developmental age. critical for athletes in late-specialization sports such as rowing. » The athletic backgrounds of late-entry athletes can vary. Getting started in the sport of rowing assumes that athletes have These athletes benefit from training programs that assess a fundamental baseline of physical literacy. their capacities and provide individualized training to compensate for gaps in development. EARLY-ENTRY/ LATE-ENTRY ATHLETES » For athletes with a disability, depending on the nature of the While some athletes enter the sport of rowing before the disability, coaches are encouraged to ensure there are no adolescence growth spurt (EARLY-ENTRY), most enter the sport gaps in the athlete’s fundamental skills. during or after they have reached full adult stature and physiology (LATE-ENTRY). MASTERS ATHLETES The key stage for developing the athlete’s “engine” is the Train to Masters athletes thrive either on racing (Competitive for Life), or Train stage. In early-entry athletes, they will be developing their row for personal health and enjoyment (Active for Life). Masters “engine” from within the sport of rowing; however, in late-entry athletes may have previously been in high-performance rowing, athletes, they have developed their “engine” outside the sport of or may have taken up the sport later in life. Those with prior rowing. As a result: high performance racing experience have likely learned most » Coaches might be inclined to “rush” late-entry athletes. of what they need to know about the sport, while those who Caution must be taken to prevent skill/capacity gaps which take up the sport in their 20s, 30s, 40s or even later, will benefit could adversely affect an athlete’s success. from mastering the skills, and developing the capacities, outlined » Late-entry athletes will not fit neatly into one Long Term in this document for the Learn to Train and Train to Train stages. ROWING CANADA AVIRON ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY 7 GOLD MEDAL PROFILE AND PODIUM PATHWAY In addition to identifying the Long Term FIGURE 2 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CANADIAN SPORT FOR LIFE, ROWING’S Athlete Development stage of the athlete, ADP STAGES AND THE GOLD MEDAL PROFILE/ PODIUM PATHWAY Rowing links its LTAD stages to its Gold CANADIAN SPORT FOR LIFE ROWING CANADA AVIRON ROWING CANADA AVIRON Medal Profile and Podium Pathway (figure 2). LONG TERM ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT PATHWAY GOLD MEDAL PROFILE / PODIUM PATHWAY The Podium Pathway is a series of results ACTIVE START (times) which covers the 8 years prior to planned peak performances by National Team members for World Championship, Olympic FUNDAMENTALS or Paralympic Games Gold Medals.