The training environment in sports,  isn’t just a space to develop a specific skills of the sport, in its physical, technical or tactical aspect. It is also a space to evaluate and determinate the skills and attributes that the athletes have, in order to perform their particular sports activities.

It is also in this space, where the presence of the coach is confirmed as the main leader and responsible for the content of the training itself. Within its responsibilities,  is to create, together with its collaborators, and the athletes,  the game plan that will be executed in the competition.

The effectiveness of the of the game plan execution, depends primarily on how efficient we are in training practice. Whose main function should be to expand the physical, technical, tactical and psychological resources of the athletes, so that in competition they can have everything they worked through training.

 

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT AND WHAT BENEFITS HAVE TO MAKE A GAME PLAN

A proper planning, allows a good specific training and adapts with high levels of adherence of the  athletes who will know what to do, and how to do it. They also will be already accustomed to the stress of the competition.

Pre-defined and practiced game plans help to predict the performance of the athlete, which in the medium term, provide tools to guide the athlete correctly to the development and the execution of their capabilities and abilities at their peak performance.

When the athlete is confident of being able to execute what was planned, since he has been rehearsing previously, he knows with certainty that he can generate a positive result in the next competition.

And psychologically speaking  having a game plan: it strengthens self-confidence, helps control stress, increases motivation and controls attention.

In conclusion, an athlete or team, without a game plan or action can get to get a positive result or victory in competition? The answer is yes . and also the athlete or team that made a conscious planning and develop a game plan can have an adverse result or defeat ?, the answer is also, yes.

So why is it important to do it?

The difference is that the lack of planning and the improvised processes, have a low range of sustainability over time, in the sport the results are based on probabilities, and the role of the game plan is based immensely on increasing the probabilities of a desired outcome, and steadily increase them in time, not only the probabilities of a positive result, but also increase the structure of adaptation and training of the athlete within the course of his entire sports career.

For these reasons, two important distinctions will be made within the “game plan”, because to be successful, we must have one game plan for training, with performance objectives and one for competition, with results objectives.

How to create the game plan (training)?

The initial planning must take into account those objectives that both the athlete and the group of coaches see as necessary in their particular development in order to achieve the objectives results. We most pose it first in training, that will give the basis of the capabilities of which the athlete has and know what goals are realistic to pose to the team and each one of the athletes in the competitive scenarios.

The first thing to be able to achieve this, is to determine what series of minimum attributes are required to develop the sport in question and assign a value (numerical) to make the comparison of where one is going to reach the performance objective.

Ex: usually the cardiovascular skills are a basic attribute to be able to perform in  any sport, then, we could put a scale from 0 to 10, and raise something like that the athlete is in: cardio-(6), performance goal:  cardio-(8), against which we can make a specific program to increase these numbers. And we continue with those several basic attributes we need in our sport, and we do it in both physical (strength, speed, cardio elasticity …) technical, (knowledge of the regulation, specific ability of the movement, handling of the implements, motor memory …) and psychological (attention, management of levels of anxiety, tolerance to frustration, mental and emotional strength, concentration …)

Next step, we make a list of attributes necessary to be successful in this discipline. The simplest way to do this is to review those skills of extraordinary athletes who have achieved incredible results in that discipline, identify the athlete, and see the possibility of replicating them in training, use it as a model and adapt them to the specific traits of each athlete, and based on this, perform a training plan to improve or create these skills.

Next step will be to determine the time we have to acquire and execute the plan that will achieve the goal. Within the previous evaluation, behaviors must be seen to maintain, improve, eliminate or acquire.  On average the acquisition times to acquire a new skill are (depending on the type of training and level of complexity) of two or three per month.

Third, we must assess the real chances of success that the athlete has without leaving aside the importance of the challenge components that each of these possibilities must have, observing the needs and the existing resources for the preparation for the action plan in training and finally determine the work necessary to make it happen, the schedules and the loads that will be carried out, are essentials to the efficiency of this stage.

Take into account that the action plan must have a flexible components of the availability of times and external factors that often intervene in the training process. The ability to adapt these, is what makes the planning process by both the coach and the athlete, constant and permanent, that why, we need to plan and re-plan all the time according to the changes that are taking place.

Finally, it is important to always evaluate the process in times, according to what is expected  of the objectives, these small feedback sessions are the ones that will be seen as signs of whether or not it is necessary to readjust the process and give tools to the coach for the process of each individual as a member of the team.

It is important at this stage to evaluate not only the athlete’s attendance to the training space, but also the quality of the assistance, and if the athlete is really taking advantage of the training activities or simply attending to them, and  thinks that his or her job is simply to comply with what the coach tells them to do, without worrying about the purpose of the training or what resources are expected to develop, eliminate or strengthen.

Within this plan, the last stage that is going to merge with the game plan in the competitive aspect, will be the ability to be able to simulate the competitive scenarios as closely as possible, and develop it within practice. At this point, we will be talking about them rehearsing and not  acquiring any particular skill. It is at this point where the competitive profile and the real capacity of each athlete must be consolidated.

 

Game plan (competition)

Just as in the training phase, there must be an evaluation period first.

What to evaluate?

The results of the objectives obtained in the training phase, have to be evaluated, which ones are ready to be put into the competitive aspect and which ones of them are relevant for the specificity of the challenges that each competition demands, each opponent, each scenario in the which is going to compete etc.

According to the above, there must be micro objectives to be taken into account specifically in  competition. It is at this time, that we need to take each player or athlete and  explain what is the role that must  play according to the particularities of each opponent or type competition. What  is expected to face in each situation, what attitude must be display it  that has been previously considered and even at what times improvisation will be valid and at what moments it comprises a risk.

The game plan, not only implies a detailed analysis of the competitive demand, but also requires an exact valuation of the resources available to be able to face the competition.

Make a test plan of specific situations where the assessment of the coach will be accompanied by the athlete, and take into account the opinions of colleagues that sometimes can provide good information about the process. (it links both the protagonists and the front-line spectators, as well as the companions is a good strategy to reduce the feeling of pressure that an athlete can have when competing and doesn’t  want to disappoint his or her team, since it will give knowledge of what what is expected to be done and what is going to be achieved at the time of the competition).

It is important to remember that the closer the competition is, the training loads or must be less. since the psychological and physiological pre-competitive components will show a decrease in the effectiveness of the athlete to carry on with the action plan, which if we don’t  understand that it is normal just before the competition,we will have a devastating effect on the confidence of the athlete to carry on with  their role and meet the objectives.