Day two of the UEFA A licence (part 2) was divided into the three sessions; one each in the morning, afternoon and evening. Dr. John Kremer, a Sports Psychologist from Queens University in Belfast, delivered the morning session on sports psychology in football. He covered an incredible amount of content, beginning with the premise that every time a coach opens his or her mouth, the coach impacts a players perception of his or her own performance. Depending on what the coach says to the player, this can have either a positive or a negative effect. Kremer believes that coaches are, by the very nature of their jobs, sports psychologists. The very best coaches have a high capacity to understand players; they can adapt their style of coaching, depending on the needs of each player. Kremer used this quote from Sir Alex Ferguson to explain the point, "Footballers are all different human beings. Some are self-motivators, they need to be left alone...for some, you need causes, your country, them and us...and those causes can be created by the manager." A key message that Kremer delivered was that as a coach, you need to look at who you are, what you can do, and what you cannot do. He believes that you should not surround yourself with people who are like you – you need people who challenge you, who offset your weaknesses. It was the same message that was delivered the previous day by Billy Dixon. Kremer said that players are not limited by their physical capabilities, as many players do not fully explore the limits of those abilities. The thing that limits players is their minds. An over-emphasis on results in football – especially at the youth level – limits our ability to produce players with, what Kremer called, NAch – Need to Achieve. This over-emphasis on results in turn produces an abundance of players with, what Kremer called, FF – Fear of Failure. Given the state of youth soccer in Canada, this discussion struck a chord with me. Kremers information confirmed everything that is wrong with results-driven youth football in Canada, and more important, everything that is right about the CSAs Long-Term Player Development (LTPD) plan. Kremer went on to discuss, in depth, a number of other important topics. Mental toughness, balancing the three Cs (control, confidence and commitment), IZOF (Individual Zone of Optimum Functioning) - which is the stress level at which an athlete optimally performs - and mental imagery were all explained, discussed and debated. When speaking about mental toughness, Kremer said something that resonated in the room. He said that an athlete must play their sport for themselves. If they do it for someone else, they will be mentally fragile as a result. Faye Downey delivered the afternoon session, and it was an extension of the lecture that she delivered on day one. The topic of her presentation was "Trunk Stabilization", and touched on issues surrounding stability, what the stability requirements were for elite football players, how Olympic lifting can aid the development of stabilization, as well as some practical applications of stabilization and strength training. One of the remarkable aspects of Downeys session was the topic of running. Many professional football clubs employ athletics coaches to train and develop speed in players. Yet scientific evidence proves that footballers do not run like track athletes. Downey went on to explain and demonstrate the correct running technique for football, and then had the coaches practice the technique themselves. Downey also said that SAQ (Speed and Quickness) training has little or no impact on developing speed in players. The reason is that it does not improve the players ability to generate force, which is a key component of power (speed). It was another fascinating presentation, and demonstrated yet again how advanced the game of football is becoming at the highest level. Given the years of study required to reach Downeys level of knowledge in her field, it was asked why this information was being presented to the coaches, if only at a superficial level. Her response was interesting – she said that having a broad knowledge of the mechanics of training footballers in a sport-specific way allows coaches to have an informed conversation with specialists like her when planning and periodizing their training calendar. Phil Melville, a staff coach for the Irish FA, and Nigel Best, Performance Manager for the Irish FA, delivered the evening session. There were four topics discussed over the course of the lecture: the use of statistics in football, trends in the modern game, blocking at set pieces and zonal marking vs. man-for-man marking at set pieces. I wont go into great detail about the discussions that took place. With 28 passionate, knowledgeable coaches taking the course – as well as the excellent instructors – there were plenty of ideas put forward for debate. No consensus was found on any topic, which only proves that there is more than one way to play the beautiful game. Day two is best summed up by a quote from Alfie Wylie, staff coach for the Irish FA. At the conclusion of our morning lecture, he dismissed the class by saying, "Remember, your mind is like a parachute; it only works when it is open!" Air Jordan 6 For Sale Cheap . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. Jordan Retro 6 Wholesale . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. http://www.clearanceairjordan6.com/ . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. Air Jordan 6 Clearance . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. Air Jordan 6 Retro Sale . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. RIO DE JANEIRO -- When Hans Struzyna began his University of Washington rowing career, he and his freshman teammates were required to learn two things right off the bat. One, the words to the school fight song, Bow Down to Washington. Two, they needed to memorize the names of each member of the 1936 Huskies crew that won the gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.Don Hume, Joe Rantz, George Hunt, Jim McMillin, John White, Gordon Adam, Chuck Day, Roger Morris and Bobby Moch.It was drilled into us pretty early that this is a really important part of our legacy, Struzyna said. We dont forget where we come from. As an individual rower, youre not necessarily anything special, youre part of the legacy, part of the tradition, part of the timeline, and you have to make that part really exceptional.Struzyna is doing that. He is one of four Washington alumni on the U.S. mens eight crew for the Rio Games, along with Rob Munn, Sam Dommer and coxswain Sam Ojserkis. Former Washington freshman coach Luke McGee is the U.S. mens eight coach.Those four UW alumni arent alone. There are four former Huskies rowing in the various U.S. womens boats, plus another four on the Canadian teams. That makes 12 Washington rowers in Rio.While rowing is often known as an Ivy League sport, the Huskies have won 19 national collegiate mens championships -- the most by any school since 1923 -- and 11 womens titles.More notably, 86 Huskies will have rowed at least once in the Olympics, winning 42 medals, 23 of them gold. Include those from the boycotted 1980 Games, as well as alternates, and the number of UW rowers on a U.S. Olympic team is 100.Furthermore, the famous George Pocock, who designed and built so many top rowing shells, was based in Seattle and was a prime ally with the Washington crew. He was the boatman for the U.S. crew teams in 1936, 1948, 1952 and 1956.Former Washington coaches Al Ulbrickson and Bob Ernst each guided U.S. teams to gold at the Olympics. Ernst coached the U.S. women who won gold in 1984, and Ulbrickson coached UW and U.S. teams to three Olympics, winning gold in the eight man in 1936 and bronze in the coxed four man at the 1952 Games.While other schools have won Olympic medals -- California won three in the mens eight (1928, 1932 and 1948) -- the 1936 UW team is now the most famous due in large part to Daniel James Browns The Boys in the Boat. The book was a nationwide bestseller when it was published in 2013 (and still is in Seattle bookstores), is in the process of becoming a major motion picture and inspired a recent PBS documentary, The Boys of 36.Its interesting because the 36 crew obviously happened a lot of years ago, and the sport has evolvved in so many ways since then, Struzyna said.dddddddddddd So, at first glance, you think, Thats great, but how does it apply to 2008? Or 2016? But when you dig into it a little bit, thats when you remember those are the roots you came from, and you dont want to forget about it.What Ive been inspired by is the grit and the rawness those guys had. And the ability they had to come up in this sport that was basically ruled by the East Coast, Ivy League and Cal and to have this faith in themselves and one another that they could face these guys and beat them.Germany was expected to win gold in the mens eight at the 1936 Olympics, having won five previous rowing races in those Games. Adolph Hitler was on hand for the six-team final race, watching from the terrace behind Ulbricksons wife. She told documentary maker Lenny ODonnell in the 1980s: I sat 30 feet away from Hitler. Id have shot him if I would have known what he was up to.The Washington mens eight didnt fire a bullet, but they upset Hitler, just as Jesse Owens did against the German sprinters and long jumpers. Despite rowing in a lane where wind resistance was strongest, the UW/U.S. team performed impressively, roaring from behind to beat the Germans, who settled for bronze, and the silver medal-winning Italians.The shell the 1936 team rowed to gold in Berlin also hangs in the Huskies shell house. When Struzyna saw it for the first time, he thought: Are you kidding me? Did they actually row that?It looked like it was about to fall apart. And then it was, Oh, crap. They actually rowed that. he said. Thats where my head went. Then it was, This is really cool. This is part of our history. Not some random piece of history. I will always remember my father taking me to my first Husky football game in 1979, when the 1936 Washington rowers were honored on the field. He pointed to them and told me what they accomplished and how special it was.How will the U.S, rowers fare in Rio? The U.S. women have won gold the past two Olympics, and silver in 2004, with Huskies in all three of those boats. They also had the fastest time during Mondays qualifying heats, so expect more success from them. The men have a good chance to medal as well, and also advanced in Mondays heat with the days fourth fastest time.And if they win gold like their forebears in 1936, perhaps the four Huskies in the boat will celebrate by not only listening to The Star-Spangled Banner during the medal ceremony, but also by singing the Husky fight song.Mighty are the men who wear the purple and the gold. ' ' '