As the year turns over from 2019 to 2020 we officially start the “Olympic/Paralympic year”. This is an exciting time for athletes, coaches and Olympic Committees. Even though everyone has been planning and preparing for this year for a long time, actually having the date say 2020 means that it is finally here.
So even though well-organized teams and coaches have been planning for several years for 2020 it is a good time to step back and take stock of where things stand in terms of your best preparation for Tokyo 2020.
At APEX Global Sport Group we have been working with NOCs and High Performance Directors to plan their Olympic and Paralympic campaigns. This month we will help them run through a checklist of items to double check to make sure everything is on track the way they want it.
We will look at health and injury status. We will double check the competition schedule to make sure the athletes and teams have the right sequence and intensity of competition at the right time. We will double-check the periodized training (and competition and recovery) plan to make sure the peaking and tapering plan is correctly aligned with the Olympic and Paralympic schedule.
We encourage our clients to review the plan for the next 10 months, as well as the plan for the final month before the Games, the final week before the key event and if possible even down to the final day and hour before the event. Where will the athletes and teams be at each of those checkpoints, who will they be with, what will the physical and mental issues be that need consideration?
We will also work with the teams to make sure the coaching and support staff have a good plan for the final few months before the Games to make sure they are also going into the biggest event of their careers well rested and physically and mentally ready. This is an area that is most frequently overlooked. We are all (usually) really good at making sure the athletes and teams have a plan that optimizes recovery and peaking/tapering: but then we overlook coaches and support staff. As the pressure increases leading up to the Games, coaches and support staff work increasingly longer and more stressful hours and often go into the Games mentally and physically exhausted - which obviously is not ideal for their own (and their athletes’) peak performance. There is an extra day this Leap Year… so why not start with that for an extra day’s recovery for the athletes, players, coaches and support staff. Obviously they will need more than 1 day… but use the extra day as a starting point and build it into the plan.
These are just some of the things we will focus on with our clients over the next few months. If you would like to talk with APEX Global Sport Group about doing a “Tokyo 2020 plan check” or using the APEX365 Model to consolidate your plan, free to contact us at info@apex-gsg.com
Happy New Year and along with great planning… best of luck for Tokyo 2020.
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