Asian Games 2010

The Taekwondo event for the Guangzhou Asian Games, came and gone. The Malaysian contingent ended empty-handed and the best performance was only one athlete who qualified for the quarter-final. They are supposed to be the best Taekwondo exponents in the country and yet they only rely on one athlete to contribute a medal.

The athletes took part in the India Open and Korea Open and came back with a couple of Gold medals. They went for intensive training in Korea prior to the Games. They have enough warm-up and training for the Games and yet there was no performance to show.

What went wrong?

Probably it's time to review the training program that they had gone through throughout the year. Why are the athletes couldn't perform on the big stage? Is it something to do with their physical, mental, technical or tactical? Had the coach done enough prior to the Games? How about they periodization plan? Anyhow, it's time to go back to the white board.

Open-Ended

In the last post, I've talked about closed-ended and it is just natural that I'll also talk on open-ended. Open-ended is the opposite of closed ended. It is when the training is conducted in an unstable or unpredictable environment. After going through closed-ended training, then the athletes will have to undergo open-ended training, where neither will now what techniques they will be doing.

Open-ended training is to get the athletes to be able to react the unpredictable situation just as in the competition. In the competition, nobody knows what going to happen. So by going through open-ended training, at least the athletes will get to understand the situation that they will be in during competition, so that they are able to response to it.

Closed-Ended

Closed-ended or closed-chain training is when the situation is fixed by the coach in order for the athletes to practice a certain technique in a certain situation. In this training, the athletes and their partner know exactly what each other is going to do, hence the precaution and preparation to face the situation is already set.

This type of training is usually done when a new technique or tactic is being introduced by the coach so that the athletes will be familiarized with that situation and 'hope' that the athletes know how to respond and react when the situation occur in real competition.

All of us coaches will have go through this process of coaching but a visionary coach can see beyond closed-ended training situation. How many of us had really look beyond this training in order for the athletes to perform in real competition mode?

Comeback 2

I am thinking of making a comeback to sparring competition. There will be one competition this December and I am thinking if I can still make it. I just started training but the intensity and volume are still low. Maybe it's time for me to move up a gear.

I have not been taking part in any sparring competition since 2001 and had not been really sparring except doing some techniques during coaching. Not too sure if it is a good idea. Probably should start training first and decide later..

Repetitions

Currently I am coaching my students some sparring techniques which we go over it again and again every week before introducing new technique. Every week we will go through the same techniques that we had done repetitively in order for their body to 'remember' the techniques in the situations. There is no point to coach new technique every time when they can't even master one technique that you taught them.

Introduce one technique and let them do it over and over for both side until they can response spontaneously to the situation. Then introduce a new technique the next lesson after practicing the first technique that you taught them. Repeat this sequence every lesson. Only through repetitions that the body can 'remember' the movement and response to it almost instinctively.

This is something that realized recently on why my athletes can't really spar in a competition. They train different techniques every time that they do not master or able to response in a competition. Therefore repetition is one important factor that the coach have to implement in their training in order for the athletes to master the techniques and are able to response automatically.

Comeback

It's been more than 6 months since my last post. A lot of things had been going on and I now making a comeback in blogging and also in training. I've started training again and this time, I am serious in getting back in shape.

I also have a couple of students who are making a comeback in training taekwondo. Some who had laid off training for a couple of months to a few years. They coming back into training and really much into it now than before. Probably they are more mature now or my coaching have mature through the years that they feel more fun training now than before???

Organizing A Competition

I had been chosen to organize a competition and since I am not much of a organizer, I am having sleepless night as the competition date is getting closer. There are too many things to do which I have no idea of doing. So just recently I had elected a committee which I should have done earlier to segregate the tasks on the day of the competition. But prior to that I still have things to do. Thank goodness medals are being take care of but now the concern is the participants. The venue is not near therefore, I worry there will not be many participants. I am trying my best to push my students to participate in the competition.

There is not much time left as the competition is only next week. So much to do so little time...