This week was the first virtual training session for the women’s hockey team. The team wanted to focus on strength and conditioning as well as injury prevention, therefore exercises were includes for both the upper and lower body and core stability.

Reflective Summary 

In field hockey, the literature reports that lower limb injuries (ankle, knee, lower leg and thigh) are the most common, followed by the head, upper limb and trunk (Barboza, Joseph, Nauta, Mechelen & Verhagen, 2018). Because of this, exercises were included for both the lower and upper limb as well as the core, in order to prevent future injuries when the players are able to return to hockey specific training. One of the exercises that was included in the programme was a single leg romanian deadlift. Studies have found that romanian deadlifts (RDL) maximise the activity of the hamstrings (O’Halloran,Milligan,Old, Sawaya & Bowen, 2017) however, we decided to alter the exercise by getting the participants to perform it on one limb so it would target proprioception of the ankle as well. Proprioception, specifically at the ankle, is essential for balance control (Goble et al., 2011). Balance is an ability to maintain the line of  gravity within the base of support (Hrysomallis, 2011); this relies on rapid, continuous feedback from the visual, vestibular and somatosensory systems (Turkeri, Ozturk, Buyuktas & Ozturk, 2019). Evidence suggests that players with poorer balance are at an increased risk of sustaining a lateral ankle sprain (Hassan, Aris, Bahari, Razak & Bakhtiar, 2020; Hillar & Grayson, 2017), which is the most common type of ankle injury within sport (Kemler, van de Port, Backx & van Dijk, 2011). Furthermore, as we are having to run these sessions virtually, participants may not have the suffcient load to maximise the activity of the hamstring during a RDL, so this cements why a single leg version was completed.

What Went Well

I believe that the placement students and I worked well together and kept the group engaged. We demonstrated and explained the exercises clearly and asked for feedback throughout the session, so it could be as effective as possible.

Areas for Improvement	Action Plan
Position the camera appropriately so that everyone is able to see the exercises	Next time I run the session ensure I position my camera correctly
Take time when explaining the coaching points so that they are clear and concise	Practice before the next session so I know what I am going to say and do

Closing the Loop

Since writing this reflection, I have conducted many virtual training sessions so have become more confident with explaining the coaching points to the participants and have corrected the positioning of my camera.

References

Barboza, S. D., Joseph, C., Nauta, J., Van Mechelen, W., & Verhagen, E. (2018). Injuries in field hockey players: a systematic review. Sports Medicine, 48(4), 849-866.

Goble, D. J., Coxon, J. P., Van Impe, A., Geurts, M., Doumas, M., Wenderoth, N., & Swinnen, S. P. (2011). Brain activity during ankle proprioceptive stimulation predicts balance performance in young and older adults. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(45), 16344-16352.

Hasan, H., Aris, N. A. M., Bahari, N. A. K., Razak, F., & Bakhtiar, S. (2020). Effect of Compression Socks on Postural Balance using Biodex Stability System among University Netball Players. Malaysian Journal of Movement, Health & Exercise, 9(2).

Hrysomallis, C. (2011). Balance ability and athletic performance. Sports medicine, 41(3), 221-232.

Kemler, E., van de Port, I., Backx, F., & van Dijk, C. N. (2011). A systematic review on the treatment of acute ankle sprain. Sports medicine, 41(3), 185-197.

O’Halloran, J., Milligan, G., Old, J., Sawaya, A., & Bowen, J. (2017). The use of a pre-actviation exercise for the hamstrings to optimise the amount of muscle activity present with a nordic hamstring curl. ISBS Proceedings Archive, 35(1), 923-926.

Turkeri, C., Ozturk, B., Buyuktas, B., & Ozturk, D. (2019). Comparison of Balance, Reaction Time, Attention and BMI Values in Individual and Team Sports. Journal of Education and Learning, 8(6), 119-128.