Link to the above article from the greatest TV channel in the world:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/4173344.stm
Good luck to him I say, Lester is a hard task master who can motivate MLF to achieve his potential.
MLF needs to get his ass out of the UK.if i was MLF i would go to toronto or california.what chance has he got in the UK…nothing!!
break away and totally change the scenery.to be the best you got to train with the best the sport has to offer both coach wise and training partner wise
What you say is absolutely true and i completely agree, but i don’t think he has the intelligence to even realise the opportunity he has been offered by Trevor Graham and Jon Smith or maybe even Charlie if he’s interested?
Also I don’t think he’s prepared to move out of the UK as he’d be too far out of his comfort zone, and just by moving coaches, and not countries, he’s able to maintain that level of comfort.
if he is serious about his career and his future in the sport he must commit himself 100%.if he is real then he must do what i suggested…i am by no means a world class coach or athlete but my comment is true and 100%.if this guy stays in the UK he will always be just making up the numbers.
get the finger out and go for it…go for the very best if you want to be the best period!!! :mad: :mad:
Again i completely agree, but he just won’t do it. I genuinely believe he’s content being the best in britain, which is a huge shame cos he should be the best in the world by now since he’s also the same age as Gatlin!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:
I remember this story of a guy who failed to make his national 100 meter team for the Atlanta Olympics. Story goes that he sat in the stands crying, overwhelmed with not being a part of the 100 meter finals… This guy cut ties with his coach since high school, packed his belongings, drove a few thousand miles to the UCLA campus, showed up at the track and said to coach John Smith, “I want to be the best in the world.” Fast forward to a World Record, 3 World Championships, 1 Olympic 100 meter Gold and damn near 60 sub-10 second 100 meter clockings… If that Brit truely want to reach his potential, he’ll look for the best coach he can get… not the best “under the circumstances”
Its the best, easy, option if you know what I mean.
Totally agree, there are very few coaches in the UK who could train MLF to world dominance. One is Dave Lease the other is Daley Thompson’s old coach Frank Dick, and he does not coach anymore. He has made a grave mistake. He needs to go to the US period.
Training hard is not the key. Finding out MLF’s weaknesses and working on them is the key not good old British physical education techniques that deserve to be buried in the 1970s.
Coaches are not magicians. Moving to US is no guarantee… Behind spectacular results, there are always flaws, 2 comes to my mind with John Smith: Christine Arron and Angella Williams. Tim and Marion switched to Steve Riddick, what happened? So many aspects enter in sport results other than just the choice a a good coach…
Good points! There are far too many in the UK who wish to take quick fixes. What about helping the coaches in the UK to develop? Rather than employing every other ‘foreign expert’ or sending all our athlete’s abroad? No offence - example everyone of Scotland’s high performance coaches is not from Scotland - thats fine but are there developing schemes to help the upcoming coaches.
I’ve got a headache - arrhh here’s your aspirin.
Coaches are not magicians but Pierre Jean,MLF needs to try a different approach not for the sake of trying but the fact that fundamentally, there are very few coaches in the UK up to the job. I can think of two or three such as Micheal Afilika and Ayo Falola who seem to be up and coming in the UK using programs akin to Charlie’s, John Smith’s and other tried and tested methods from across the pond, they are open minded and seem to be very thoughtful in their approach. Yes you are absolutely correct that coaches are not magicians but come close to it.
British coaches have had an eternity to learn from others but they are usually very close minded and always seem to sum up the success of other countries by claiming they have better talented athletes, they are using other “methods” or they have more funding. The list of excuses is endless.
MLF needs a better deal than this. He is too talented to be wasted.
And Malcolm Arnold, CJ’s ex coach
I second that.
I also second that. It was no surprise to see that Jason Gardner was the best British sprinter at the World’s when you’ve got someone like Arnold at the helm. I hope he can stay healthy and build on what he’s achieved, i use that term very loosely, this season.
I heard that MLF put on so much weight in the six weeks leading up to Helsinki, that he could “hardly zip up” his hand made kit, I know he was injured, but I think this highlights his bad attitude.
Why do you think there is such a ‘blinkers’ approach in the uk?
Steve,
Is that a “why do you hold this opinion?” or “what is the reason for their blinkered approach?”.
Personally, I’m not sure British coaches are that blinkered but I do think they spend to much time worrying about endurance in the sprints (which we seem to think of in terms of a “marathon” style endurance rather than “how do i maintian my top speed for longer” endurance).
I think Charlie’s rant (sorry I just love the word) on the Van’02 DVD regarding the plyometrics expert illustrates this idea nicely. It isn’t about being able to run 10.2 pick yourself up and then do it again it’s about running 9.x, 19.x, 43.x once a year (ok maybe a few more times) when it counts.
With this in mind consider the implications of setting 6x150 with 3-5min recovery as a method for a national level athlete to “build stamina at the end of the race”. This is a session i recently witnessed a national level coach setting thier athletes here in the UK. And no it wasn’t a tempo session, these runs were flat out.
You don’t have to agree with Charlie but if you havn’t even read his stuff how can you consider yourself educated in track and field when he is about the only top level coach in the world who explains thier philosophy in depth?
Just my 2 pence 
Just read that article look at the medal table fro WCs
BRITAIN’S WORLDS WOE
Points based on: gold=8, silver=7, down to 1 for 8th
1993: 95
1995: 78
1997: 76
1999: 66
2001: 54
2003: 46
2005: 29
It just seems strange that results in the sport are dropping off so rapidly over the years in which more money and better facilities are put into the sport. I know we have gotten big on fair play recently but the facilities and support from EIS really should have helped compensate for this somewhat.
Perhaps we are getting to preoccupied with “science” rather than coaching?
[QUOTE=martn76]British coaches <snip>always seem to sum up the success of other countries by claiming they have better talented athletes, they are using other “methods” or they have more funding. The list of excuses is endless.
[QUOTE]
I’ve long thought that the success of the USSR in sport was partly due to the fact that excuses weren’t accepted-- only results mattered.
I’ve heard those same excuses made by US weightlifters. Guess that explains how former Russian and Bulgarian coaches go to other countries and improve their athletes, while ppl doing the same old programs get the same old results.