Fosbury Flop

The labels “coach”, “researcher”, “professor”, “co-designer”… fall short when it comes to describing Maricarmen Almarcha, who was born in Murcia, graduated in Barcelona, and now living in Australia. Aligned with her authenticity: last year, she published not one, but two (!) disruptive PhDs that challenge the status quo of the education field and the one of health and exercise promotion; two fields not as different as society might think. Now starts the conversation in Spanish. The English version, in the YouTube video of the episode. Notes of the episode El Quadern Gris | Josep Pla RAÚL GIL | Rethinking the assumptions that govern sport, fitness... and the world PhD Personalització de les recomanacions d’exercici per a la salut. Perspectiva de la Fisiologia de Xarxes | Maricarmen Almarcha Cano PhD Towards an Embodied and Transdisciplinary Education | Maricarmen Almarcha Cano Leonardo Da Vinci | Walter Isaacson The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms | Nassim Nicholas Taleb Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari Personalizing the guidelines of exercise prescription for health: Guiding users from dependency to self-efficacy | Maricarmen Almarcha, Joachim Sturmberg & Natàlia Balagué PAU CASASSA | Idea Barça This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

The power of the interaction with what surrounds us. Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Gerard Encuentra is the coach of Hiopos Lleida of the Spanish Endesa League. The saying goes that the “whole” is more than the sum of its “parts”. Gerard Encuentra is the perfect example: season after season, he continues to show that he can make the interaction of the “parts” —his players— come together to form a “whole” —the team—… that few could have imagined. Now, you will hear Gerard’s lessons in Catalan. The English version is available in the YouTube video of the episode. Check the notes, other episodes and related blog posts in https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ Notes of the episode: Video Final Four Girona | Força Lleida Video Play-Off ACB | Magna Brush Victus: The Fall of Barcelona | Albert Sánchez Piñol Herr Pep | Martí Perarnau Gerard Encuentra, con MICRÓFONO | ACB VÉRONIQUE RICHARD | Adapt or die The Creative Act: A Way of Being | Rick Rubin Lo esencial: Una guía de diseño para la vida | Miguel Milá Tor. 13 cases i tres morts | Carles Porta This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

The rules state that, in football, there are only two positions: those who can touch the ball with their hands and those who cannot. Training, however, often focuses on the latter, while the former, the goalkeepers, are separated from the group with a coach that some call “trainer” and others “entertainer”. With Lluís, Diego, and Manu, we aim to integrate a player that has continuously been isolated from the team. Here starts the conversation in Spanish. The English version is available on the YouTube video of the episode. Notes of the episode JOAN CORTÉS | The coaching genius My Turn: The Autobiography | Johan Cruyff Pep Confidential: The Inside Story of Pep Guardiola's First Season at Bayern Munich | Martí Perarnau A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke | Ronald Reng ALBERT BATALLA | The art and science of teaching ÓSCAR CANO | Essential football Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder | Nassim Nicholas Taleb This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

In defense of the intervention of the coach. Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

There are coaches who seek empty forms devoid of meaning, and others who pursue functions full of purpose. Some work on “ideal” decontextualized patterns, while others encourage uncertain and adaptive behaviors. Some memorize, store, and implement drills and models mechanistically, while others explore and adapt efficiently to the uniqueness of each context they encounter. The same applies to those in charge of methodology. After all, they are coaches in a different context, with a different label. Joan Alcaraz belongs to the latter group, and he shares how he approaches this as the Methodology Director of RCD Mallorca. Now, the conversation in Spanish. The English version is available on the YouTube video of the episode. Notes of the episode Aluminosis organizacional | Xavier Marcet Radical | Cristopher Zalla The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation | Jaques Rancière Coaching meditations | Andreu Enrich Dexterity and its development | Nicholai A. Bernstein Training or Synergizing? Complex Systems Principles Change the Understanding of Sport Processes | Rafel Pol, Natàlia Balagué, Angel Ric, Carlota Torrents, John Kiely & Robert Hristovski Training or Synergizing? Complex Systems Principles Change the Understanding of Sport Processes | Rafel Pol, Natàlia Balagué, Angel Ric, Carlota Torrents, John Kiely & Robert Hristovski ALBERT BATALLA | The art and science of teaching Todo se puede entrenar | Toni Nadal This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Jorge Sanz is the Sports Director of the Cycling Movistar Team. When he was young, he went to study in Barcelona, where he was greatly impacted by a trainer of football players —not a physical coach— named Paco Seirul·lo. With Jorge, we discuss in Spanish the integration of training in a sport where fragmentation reigns. You know you have to English version in the YouTube video of the episode. Check the notes, other episodes and related blog posts in: fosburyflop.blog Notes of the episode ÓSCAR CANO | Essential football El día menos pensado | José Larraza & Marc Pons Plomo en los bolsillos | Ander Izagirre Cómo ganar el Giro bebiendo sangre de buey | Ander Izagirre El entrenamiento en los deportes de equipo | Paco Seirul·lo A TRUE RENAISSANCE: Our Tour de France 2024 - Inside the Beehive | Team Visma | Lease a Bike GoiGroup | Arturo Goicoechea This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Óscar Cano is not a football coach: he is an incredibly sharp person who happens to have chosen to make a positive impact on football teams. Óscar is one of the few who elevates our profession. The beloved Taleb says you should never read a book that can be summarized. Because then, it is not a book. This is exactly how I feel about my conversation with Óscar: it is impossible to describe it. Up next, you can listen to it in Spanish. If you prefer the English version, you have it available in the YouTube video of the episode. Notes of the episode: Juan Belmonte, matador de toros | Manuel Chaves Nogales Del Bayern de Munich al Bayern de Pep | Óscar Cano Moreno Always think before computing! | Rafel Pol & Natàlia Balagué JOAN CORTÉS | The coaching genius ÀLEX TERÉS | Thank you for doubting Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals | Oliver Burkeman JORDI FERNÁNDEZ | Questioning methodologies Óscar Cano: “El sentimiento que hay que desarrollar en el ser humano es el de utilidad, el de la inclusión.” | Pablo Beltrán La frontera invisible | Kilian Jornet La lengua de las mariposas | José Luis Cuerda This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Adaptation wits from the sideline. Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Andreu Enrich has understood it perfectly: he is a COACH, in all caps, with every letter. It does not matter the sport. Because Andreu knows that, both on and off the field, it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, that what is essential is invisible to the eye... or to the whiteboard where many draw technical-tactical arrows. Up next, Andreu shares his authentic perspective to us in Catalan. If you’re interested in the English version, the YouTube video of the episode is waiting for you. Martí Cañellas | Fosbury Flop Notes of the episode Coaching meditations | Andreu Enrich Citadelle | Antonie Saint-Exupéry The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable | Nassim Nicholas Taleb La Preparación ¿Física? en el fútbol | Rafel Pol Exploring the Relationship of Declarative Tactical Knowledge With Participation, Football Competence, and Potentiality in a Professional Club (Real Sociedad) | Rubén Sánchez-López, Ibon Echeazarra, Jon Mikel Arrieta & Julen Castellano Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari JORDI FERNÁNDEZ | Questioning methodologies ’Visualise tragedies —not commedies’ - A conversation with Andreu Enrich | The Talent Equation Podcast Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration | Ed Catmull Direct theory of perception | Gibson Theory of Cooperative-Competitive Intelligence: Principles, Research Directions, and Applications | Robert Hristovski & Natàlia Balagué Decisiones vitales | Pep Marí SMALL-SIDED GAMES: How to effectively train your players in variable and complex environments | Andreu Enrich Hockey: 50 Tips From Intelligent Players | Andreu Enrich This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Alex Sarama, Director of Player Development for the Cleveland Cavaliers, invited me to the Transforming Basketball Camp. There, I was able to know how Alex thinks about basketball performance and how Transforming Basketball, the company he leads, helps players, coaches, and organizations make sense of an evidence-based approach: the CLA, Constraints-Led Approach. What I liked the most, however, wasn’t any scientific theory or basketball task; it was Alex's constant dedication to the learning of the players and coaches who trusted him. Notes of the episode Transforming Basketball: Changing How We Think About Basketball Performance | Alex Sarama Transforming Basketball website Alex Sarama on Twitter La evolución táctica del fútbol | Martí Perarnau The Constraints-Led Approach: Principles for Sports Coaching and Practice Design | Ian Renshaw, Keith Davids, Daniell Newcombe & Will Roberts Bernstein’s Construction of Movements | Mark L. Latash JOAN CORTÉS | The coaching genius CRAIG MORRIS | Prepared, not planned JORDI FERNÁNDEZ | Questioning methodologies This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Pau Casassa is the technical director of the Barça Academy in Catalonia and around the world. They don’t coach football players, they coach kids who play football. And they do it with a playing idea that does not seek the results at any cost. The Barça idea is the one that brings a team closer to victory exciting the people who practice it, the spectators who observe it. An idea to train football that can transform lives, that makes Barça more than a Club. Pau explains it to us in Catalan. You have the English version available in the YouTube video of the episode. Check the notes, other episodes and related blog posts in: fosburyflop.blog Notes of the episode ADN Barça | Paco Seirul·lo El mejor libro de táctica y las probabilidades | Juanma Lillo ALBERT BATALLA | The art and science of teaching La evolución táctica del fútbol | Martí Perarnau Will Coello be the Fosbury of padel? JAMES VAUGHAN | Tell me where you live and I’ll tell you how you play Universal Play Grammar | Ted Kroeten The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business | Erin Meyer Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World | David Epstein The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation | Jaques Rancière La preparación física no existe | Paco Seirul·lo & Ángel Cappa This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Tactics do not exist. Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Shawn Myszka started training players of the National Football League trying to make them bigger, leaner and stronger. Everything changed the day he asked himself: Are the players performing because of me or in spite of me?  He didn’t like the answer and led him to become a Skill Acquisition Specialist for NFL players. In a sport where training is based on dribbling cones and running ladders as fast as possible... Shawn brings some sanity and hope. Check the notes, other episodes and related blog posts in: fosburyflop.blog This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

My lighthouse. Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

In training, we have increasingly accepted that we will never find the perfect technique, because it will depend on the characteristics of the player who executes it in the environment she is in; we are beginning to assume that there will never be a universal collective game model, but that its perfection will depend on the individual and emerging qualities of those who make up the group. Why, then, do we continue to seek and monetize supposedly perfect, universal and absolute methodologies that lead to success regardless of where they are applied or by whom? Isn’t this thought contrary to everything we preach? Are methodologies such as Tactical Periodization or Structured Training sources of empowerment or prisons for the coaches’ thinking and quality? We spend more and more resources on player improvement... but who cares about the coach? Or only players need to learn because we, the coaches, already know everything? Is the methodology of a club a cause or a consequence? These doubts were awakened in me by Jordi Fernández: current Methodology Coordinator of Venezia FC and former member of the Methodology Area of FC Barcelona. Next, you will find his reflections in Spanish; if you want it in English, don’t miss the YouTube video of the episode. Check the notes, other episodes and related blog posts in: fosburyflop.blog Get full access to FOSBURY FLOP at www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Ferran Adrià is one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was the chef at elBulli, 5 times chosen best restaurant in the world. In sporting terms, it is as if Barça had won 10 Champions Leagues in a row and he was the head coach. We met one evening to talk about it at a hotel in Barcelona... the rest is history. It is in Spanish. If you prefer the English version, you can watch the YouTube video of the episode. Check the notes, other episodes and related blog posts in: fosburyflop.blog Get full access to Fosbury Flop at www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

An unpopular opinion about “technique” in sport Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. Get full access to Fosbury Flop at www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Abraham Maslow said that “if the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail”. As coaches, we unconsciously carry a toolbox made up of our favorite ones that condition how we perceive and act in the reality we find ourselves in. As a result, we do not observe reality, but a biased image of it conditioned by what we want to see. Craig Morris beat the game and chose not to see reality based on his toolbox. He realized that, often, “the more you know, the less you see”, he threw away his toolbox and embraced an ethos of not-knowing to be open to what he found, not to what he was looking for. Craig is Olympic Canoe Slalom Coach for British Canoeing and at Fosbury Flop he tells us how his journey has been. Check the notes, other episodes and related blog posts in: fosburyflop.blog Get full access to Fosbury Flop at www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Lost in the search for the perfect design Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. Get full access to Fosbury Flop at www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe