🏃‍♀️ Plotting for Q1, tactical periodization, + more

What’s up y’all? Cici here.

Welcome back to More Her Speed, a weekly no-BS newsletter all about women in coaching.

Sharpening the Saw

This week I’ve spent a lot of time with the team as we finish building for the upcoming year.

With a ton of different pieces and obligations, it's so important to map it all out.

Having everyone on the same page in terms of schedule, programming, and responsibilities is extremely important.

We always find that we do the best and most productive work when we’re all together, so we really prioritize that during this time of year.

And, of course, with a fire playlist in the background.

Tactical periodization

This week I dove deeper into a topic I’ve been researching lately- Tactical periodization.

I came across a great Simplifaster article with Fergus Connelly.

Fergus has been involved in some way with many different professional and high level sports leagues.

He’s also someone I got the pleasure of spending some time with back in 2021 during our draft prep training. He came to the field and gave us some amazing insight on training and how he views it from a high level.

Fergus recently wrote a book called Game Changer: The Art of Sport Science.

He outlines his approach for training from a tactical standpoint and the article above goes in depth about his philosophy as well.

He also touches on the psychological aspects of sport, which is super valuable to understand when working with athletes and coaches.

Tactical periodization is something that I have been learning more about as we bring on new teams that integrate different strategic pieces and his perspective has been a really key factor for our structure.

He also has an incredibly in depth “Team Sport Masterclass” that I am currently in the process of going through. Major recommendation for anyone working with team sports.

Female Coach Spotlight

On the topic of game changing, this week I would like to highlight an amazing coach and person… Michelle Toy.

I met Michelle a few years ago and have had the pleasure of having her out to observe and help out at a couple of our sessions, as well as both being presenters at a conference together last January.

The conference was an NHSSCA regional conference, and Michelle has recently been nominated for National High School Strength Coach of the Year by the NHSSCA.

After finishing her undergraduate program in athletic training, she took an internship at Stanford University with the sport performance staff. She now has been working for the past 10 years at an all-boys private high school in San Jose, CA called Bellarmine College Prep.

She has traveled from Hawaii to Boston (and seemingly everywhere in between), shadowing other strength coaches and speed coaches to learn from the best in the industry.

She brings that information back to her athletes at the high school level to help them develop those skills.

Having worked around Michelle, you can really feel the energy that she has and her desire to rise in the industry to help other female coaches have more opportunities for success and recognition.

Quote of the Week

“Stay away from those people who try to disparage your ambitions. Small minds will always do that, but great minds will give you a feeling that you can become great too.” — Mark Twain

Appreciate y’all,

Cici

See you again next week!

In the meantime, here are 3 ways you can stay tapped in:

1. Get access to more free game here.

2. Join a group of badass women here.