If it can be made easily accessible then I’m up for it. Don’t think a certificate would mean anything to most people here in the UK but I would be proud to have it, but more importantly a chance to increase my knowledge of Charlie’s ideas is a chance not to be missed. Thanks number 2, your efforts are always appreciated.
Derek,
You know who might be of help in regard to this is Ian King. Ian has KSI University where he has King coaches. Bascially deeply knowledgable people in his methodology. He has differing levels of proficiency and milestones that need to be eclipsed to move to next level. People have the choice to stop where they see fit. Obviously this forum has some solid out reach even if Charlies teachings are not mainstream. The beauty of this system is that due to regionality of athletes, peoplecould be referred to a CFTS coach, therefore further strengthening the justification to follow the program. It incentivizes the investment and gets CFTS spread further. Just a thought. I did some intensive work with Ian and it accelerated my career path by at least a decade. I just want to see Charlies extrodinary work live on and also help Angela and James solidify the business they have been a big part of forming.QUOTE=NumberTwo;246147]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).[/QUOTE]
Getting back to course content, in the case of planning and especially adjustments, if possible I would love to see examples of how Charlie dealt with interruptions in training (e.g., illness, weather, access to facilities) while maintaining or reestablishing the planned progression. And it might not necessarily mean all training is interrupted. For example, you might have four or five days of thunderstorms (or severe cold/snow, etc.) and no indoor facilities, which precludes speed work. How would you compensate with other high intensity components so that speed work can be resumed with minimal disruption to the progression? The indoor tempo videos provide an excellent example of alternate approaches to tempo and general fitness, but it’s easier to compensate in the case of general components by their very nature. What are some ways to handle disruptions to the specific stimulus?
Even full time athletes have to deal with occasional interruptions. Therefore, anyone else with additional responsibilities such as school, work, families, etc., have to deal with this all the time.
I just went to a strength and conditioning clinic this weekend at Michigan State and talking to several College & NFL coaches, they knew or at least heard of Charlie Francis. So in my opinion, Im like Flash, if they can do it Charlie most definately can.
. With that being said, why not put it on a resume?
I think the resume value of the certification will rise as the coaching results begin to speak for themselves.
I would be interested in attending something like this. As a BC teacher who mostly coaches teenage school & club track, I can also partially subsidize my travel/registration costs using professional development funds available. It would also be nice in that I’d have confidence in the instructor(s), as opposed to when I did my level 1 nccp certification a few years back and the the instructor was very good with throws, but not very good with sprints.
Something I mentioned to NumberTwo privately: for right or for wrong Charlie Francis is pretty polarizing in the track and field world for what should be obvious reasons.
In their own ignorance, many still think of him as nothing more than a d**g coach even if we know the truth.
And that means that the unfortunate reality is that association with Charlie’s name has as much potential to backfire as anything else. that might be one reason not to put it on a resume.
Imagine presenting yourself to a school as a Charlie Francis certified coach for example: if you get a dingleberry head of the department, you’re likely to get dismissed out of hand because they’ll figure you’re just a d**g pusher.
And no, I’m not saying that the above is ‘right’ by any stretch. But I think it is the reality in which we live.
Lyle
Unfortunately, Lyle has a perfectly valid point, especially in the case of schools. On the other hand, in the general S&C community, it seems like everyone and his brother has tried to take credit for Charlie’s work or claim to know more about his methods than they really do (e.g., Ben squatting before the Seoul 100 final). It depends on who your target clientele are. Successful marketing depends on knowing your customer base.
When I think of Charlie Francis, I don’t think of certification in the traditional sense. He wasn’t “certified”, and pretty openly regarded this fact as an advantage.
I think the word certification implies something official, and seems almost anti-Francis in nature. Is there a different word that could be used? I see a Francis education as asking the question, “Do you want a certification that will impress people, or do you want to impress people with their own results?” I think we all know what Charlie would say.
In a similar sense, I don’t think many of those interested in learning Charlie’s methods are necessarily interested in trading on his name to gain clients. I think they are interested in getting results, and may or may not put their Francis certification on their resume, but would surely not hesitate to tell those they helped get fit in a hurry where the training methodology came from.
When my elementary school kids smashed all previous results in track and field last year despite a distinct lack of talent, I was constantly telling parents that we were using Charlie’s methods. Most people may be misinformed, but reasonable. Show them results, and they get even more reasonable. All they needed was to be educated.
Another thought is that it can be very limiting to restrict a certification to the uber-nerd track coaches. This kind of training needs to reach the mass market, and therefore it is worth considering creating a highly prescriptive version of his programs for certain markets (education, personal training, etc). Yes, the teacher / trainer may not know why they are doing what they are doing, but you can be damn sure they will be into anything that shows obvious results.
For example, I teach a highly successful (and very structured and prescriptive) reading program to grade 1 and 2 students, and even though I had no clue why I was teaching the things I was teaching them at first, the results were phenomenal (kids going from grade 1 to grade 4 reading level in 16 weeks). This created huge buy-in. I have no doubt a Francis program would do the same. I would love to see this philosophy built at a variety of levels.
T-Slow, Valid point about the whole certification thing but unfortunately most people aka those who dont know look and see what type of “CERTIFICATION” you have. Meaning it looks good on a resume. I’ve met a ton of CSCS guys and alot of them dont know JACK, but because they have that piece of paper, people think they know something.
The most important thing is education and learning. The certification is simply a way to establish some structure to the process and needs to be kept in that perspective. Too many people (both buyers and sellers of services) become focuses on credentials for their own sake rather than what those credentials should ideally represent: competence. This is true of many professions.
T-Slow,
Would you please PM me any info you can re: the Reading Program
Thanks.
No kidding me too.
NEVER undervalue the benefits from life long learning.
Flash has successfully captured my thoughts on this topic.
it would be the best idea for remembering Charlie and all its precious work he did during his life in earth.
in my opinion it would be very interesting in level 1 just explain the Course and help the students to achieve together the goal.Only in level 2 and over I’ll introduce final examination because,after you’ve understood the choice only then we are ready for examination (and I suggest to “work” on all sports because there are sports in your forum which are “undergraduate”)
If Tyson is successful over the next couple of seasons, would spiraling implement itself into the program in some way or another?.
Nobody is telling you to stop spiraling your arms. You are free to do whatever you want.
In fact, please keep doing it, video yourself, post it on the site to show everyone how successful it is and put us all in our place. I am being perfectly frank when I write this.
In the meantime, science and a wealth of experience has shown us that it is not a valid technique. Thus, the majority of us will choose not to implement spiraling.
Regardless of how well Tyson Gay performs from here on in will be irrespective of the arm spiraling technique. It will have about as much impact as Lyoto Machida claiming he drank his own urine every morning.
And, for those of you who claim, “Tyson Gay must know what he’s doing. Why else would he try this technique?” If you have ever worked with elite sprinters, you will quickly find out that they have little to no clue why they are doing what they are doing. They may be nice, interesting people who run fast – but that is typically where it ends.
I have used it as a means of getting athletes to concentrate on something irrelevent so I could fix what needed fixing.