I love the idea in theory, but I’m not sure that it would hold up. As others have mentioned, how can anyone tell certifications apart anyway? Nothing is truly “official”…and this would hold very limited weight in my profession (US College strength and conditioning)
However - what about the idea of online courses and discussions? In my opinion, people would take these types of classes for actual personal benefit, not just to get another series of letters after their name on a resume!
What about a 12 week course, for example, delivered via some online system, taken at the user’s pace? (I teach a few online classes as well, and have some knowledge of this). At the end, the “student” could claim that they successfully completed The CFTS “school”, or “sprint basics” (etc.) , and sell it as some kind of area of study, specialization, or continuing education.
Sorry for the ramblings - I’m just trying to see a way to tie this into education, not certification. (semantics, perhaps - but we’ll see)
Having gone through USATF Level 1, the biggest talk amongst us in the crowd was talking about program design. When asked, the presenters said “that is what networking with other people is for.” Essentially the blind leading the blind.
By far the most common question on this forum is program design. I think a “problem solving” for program design would be interesting. In SPP, Charlie briefly mentioned reaching goals etc, but never dug into specifics on fixing it at that point. So essentially, those who are students of sprints and study many coaches, are left to find common themes among these coaches and try to figure out how to organize them into a training plan for the athlete(s) we have (as coaches).
I can’t speak to Level 1 but there are some very good coaches who have been involved in the USATF coaches education programs.
I have noticed from reading Running Risks, Speed Trap and numerous posts and writings from Charlie, as well as looking at various examples of training cycles from Dan Pfaff that span over 15 years; that these great coaches design their programs based on their knowledge and intuition at the time inside their training framework. One year they may try something slightly different or change a few things here and there but their volumes will stay similar and they just tweak things. It also tells me not to be too neurotic and obsessive about every single day of training.
Just to give an example of how program design educational sessions could go, I had the opportunity to work on programs with Charlie for various athlete’s of different ability. Basically, we would sit down at the computer and he would tell me the details of the workout and I would transcribe the information. In some cases he would ask me for my opinion on specific aspects like jumps or weights. For the sprints and tempo work he would give me some background on what he was trying to achieve (i.e. progressions, patterns, etc.). I was involved in workout preparation for everyone from NFL players, to Tim and Marion, to private clients in track and field (youth athletes to masters athletes).
Part of the certification process could be a walk through these workout plans to identify the key changes and adjustments Charlie was making from session to session and week to week. I have since entered much of this data into spreadsheets so that the volumes and proportions of work can be easily totalled and tracked, and distinct patterns can be seen.
Unfortunately, Charlie was always hesitant to write down workouts in his seminars because of his fear of people simply copying them and not learning the guiding principles. In fact, one of the seminars in Vancouver was purposely entitled (by me in my naivety) “Program Planning for Speed.”. Much to my chagrin, no programs resulted from that effort. I tried. It was still a good seminar.
But this is one area where we could provide a solid contribution.
I’m definitely up for giving this a shot - realizing that perhaps it might take awhile for agreement on strategic curriculum pathways and streamlined work materials. I always thought these type of programs evolve looking back on TAC coaching certification as well as Athletics Canada.
I’m up for this and think it is an awesome idea. Would love to know more about the program design and be critiqued on this.
I know many yoga courses have a 2 week live in arrangement and then from that a 12 week semester where work is done through moodle and skype. Just an idea but it would be an amazing learning experience anyway.
And thanks to Number Two for all his work on this site.
Like everyone else I’m always up for the possibility to learn more about Charlie’s methods and the way he appraoched coaching/training.
I’m with devils on this one tho… I wouldn’t care as much about having a certification (because I dont think it would mean much for me professionally) as I would increasing my knowledge for coaching and training (which I could obviously I could gain through a certification I guess)… Probably semantics like devils said but just trying to explain why I would have interest in the certification
Even if its not a certification but some type of a program/association that you can sign up for that has monthly or yearly type of events or courses that people can take part in like seminars, webinars, online classes, etc…
To my way of thinking, this is the standout area: evaluation of individual needs and customization. Everyone gives lip service to it, but very few actually implement it with any degree of competence, and I think this was one of Charlie’s key fortes. As part of this I would emphasize that athletes do not fit neatly into the typical beginner, intermediate and advanced categories that are often seen in program design discussions. For example, there may be relatively advanced athletes that require remedial work on areas of general fitness or strength endurance, etc.
I would also suggest creating some type of adjunct program related to recovery and regeneration methods. This might help fill that gap for coaches and athletes that do not have regular access to therapists. Ideally, Waldemar would have input on it. This would definitely need to have some type of hands-on training at some level.
all good points and add to that when things don’t go to plan, an athlete isn’t progressing, gets injured (physically and mentally), other things come up etc. Its dealing with those situations that IMHO really make a difference.
I am also very interested in something like this.
How “basic” are you starting, as it doesn’t take much before I’m “overloaded” with information…some of this I learn more easily, other stuff takes time…
The idea would be to make all aspects of the program accessible to everyone, regardless of distance. In some cases, we may do in-person seminars or workshops, but this would be infrequent and the video content would be available to others or could be broadcast via Skype or some other new technology.
As far as progressions and sophistication go, the initial level would be basic (and may even be redundant to many of you) but it would be a necessary step so that everyone can demonstrate their full understanding and competence in the fundamentals.
Numbertwo- i want to do this and honestly we must all start from the begining no matter how baic it is
once we all start singing from the same sheet we can learn together. its a fantastic idea which will do great things for this site and charlies teachings
im 100% behind you on this one and again great idea
I’m very much in agreement. In this vein I also suggest having a special section of the forum that is only open to those who have at least the Level 1 certification to ensure that people posting there are on the same page and understand the basics of the system.
One of the things that made the forum so productive when it first started was that most of the initial members had read Speed Trap and CFTS and knew both books fairly well. So people tended to be on the same wavelength in discussions. A lot of the newer members that have joined over the years have not read these books (or the newer ones), and threads often get bogged down by misunderstanding or the need to get people up to speed (no pun intended).
Number Two, I am with ESTI and some others on this. I love the idea of filling in the holes in my CFTS understanding. I am not much of a certification guy per se, but I would love to learn with others from the ground up. It serves the purpose of helping many coaches become better and at the same time, help Charlies teachings survive though a broader out reach. In this day and age of so much “piss poor” training, it would be great to see a bunch of Charlies supporters have his methods reach every nook and cranny on this planet. That is the one of the most noble things about your undertaking, letting Charlies body of work live on in us, those who truly care about doing things the right way.
Like speedcoach and ESTI, Im not much of a certification guy (alot of them dont mean jack) but they look good on a resume and as we all know there’s TONS, I mean TONS of WANNA BE coaches and trainers out there. At least a CFTS certification would give even the idiots a excellent ground base.
The thing that I have trouble with is, as has been said by many, taking the overall conceptual framework and applying it with confidence to various situations.
To give specific examples, the following are a few questions that I think about fairly often.
How should a track and field program for students in grade 3-6 differ from a program for students in grade 7-8?
How should a high school program progress?
What does an acceptable level of fundamental general fitness look like, and how do I get people there?
How should I plan a masters program, (especially for athletes with average or below average genetic potential, because hey, track needs more athletes of all ages and backgrounds)?
What I’m hoping for is a program that early on, teaches understanding of the overall framework so we can get specific examples once we have demonstrated we are ready for specifics, and can understand examples contextually within the overall scope of a CFTS program.
Please keep all the great ideas and feedback coming. It will be a great help in the production of the final program.
As far as the “certification” concept goes, it will be more of a means to identify how far you have come with regard to understanding Charlie’s concepts and methodology. I don’t know if any of us will be putting it on our resumes. In a perfect world perhaps. But it would be nice if athletes could go to someone with CF-Certification and have the utmost confidence that they will be provided the best training possible and treated with the utmost respect and a positive attitude (i.e. like going to train with Charlie).
