Summit for Transformative Learning

2nd annual Summit for Transformative Learning in St. Louis, Missouri.  Created and hosted by Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MICDS), the "STLinSTL@MICDS" conference is designed to bring experts and classroom practitioners together to explore ways to enhance and maximize student learning.  This is THE conference for educators who want to continue to perfect their craft.

This year’s conference features six primary strands that will explore common questions around a central theme.  One strand particular to coaches is:

Excellence in Teaching, Coaching, and Athletic Development
A healthy body is the key to a healthy mind.  This strand will explore how to achieve excellence in teaching, coaching, athletic development, and physical literacy by exploring topics that apply to physical education, sport coaching pedagogy, as well as the development of grit.  Discover the strategies used by some of the country's top educators, coaches, and researchers to produce well-rounded student-athletes who excel in the classroom and on the field.

Sessions and Schedule

The Excellence in Teaching, Coaching, and Athletic Development strand of the Summit for Transformative Learning is literally a conference within a conference.  Below are the general Pre-Conference and Conference schedules that include the specific workshops and sessions for this strand.  Attendees can choose to register for the Pre-Conference, the Conference, or for the Pre-Conference and Conference.

Attendees can earn National Strength and Conditioning Association Category A Continuing Education Units (CEUs).  We will provide those who register and attend the Excellence in Teaching, Coaching, and Athletic Development workshops/sessions the appropriate amount of CEU credits and documentation.  One Continuing Education Unit is defined as 10 contact hours of participation in an organized continuing education event, and NSCA grants partial (.1) CEUs.  If you would like to receive CEUs for attending STLinSTL, please contact us for more information.


Sunday, June 5 Pre-Conference

Attend both the AM and PM workshops for $75

Pre-Conference Registration fee includes: Lunch for those attending both the morning AND afternoon workshop.

8:30 - 9:00 Morning Check-in

9:00 - 12:00 The "Gambetta Method" and "The Oregon Way" Part 1
In this two-part workshop, Vern and Jim will share their collective experience coaching and developing youth, college and professional athletes.  Jim will present the philosophy used at the University of Oregon to develop strength, power, and acceleration.  He will showcase drills and techniques he uses on a daily basis which are grounded in science and have proven successful for all of the Oregon athletic teams.  Participants will also have an opportunity to observe, participate, question, and explore the application of the Gambetta Method – Systematic Sport Development Model of training, teaching and injury rehabilitation. This workshop will be motivating and allow you to look into your own training design and develop proper practices with tools and techniques from Vern and Jim.
Presenters: Vern Gambetta, Gambetta Sports, Jim Radcliffe, University of Oregon - Eugene
Location: 202

12:00 - 1:00 Complimentary Lunch for Full Day Participants

12:30 - 1:00 Afternoon Check-in

1:00 - 4:00 The "Gambetta Method" and "The Oregon Way" Part 2
In the second half of this two-part workshop, Vern and Jim will continue to share their collective experience coaching and developing youth, college and professional athletes.  Jim will present the philosophy used at the University of Oregon to develop strength, power, and acceleration.  He will showcase drills and techniques he uses on a daily basis which are grounded in science and have proven successful for all of the Oregon athletic teams.  Participants will also have an opportunity to observe, participate, question, and explore the application of the Gambetta Method – Systematic Sport Development Model of training, teaching and injury rehabilitation. This workshop will be motivating and allow you to look into your own training design and develop proper practices with tools and techniques from Vern and Jim.
Presenters: Vern Gambetta, Gambetta Sports; Jim Radcliffe, University of Oregon - Eugene
Location: 202


Sunday, June 5 Conference Kick-Off

Attend Sunday evening - Tuesday afternoon for $375 individual / $1250 team of four / $312.50 per person for team of five or more

Conference Registration fee includes:
 Sunday evening social hour and dinner with Opening Keynote; choice of breakout sessions and/or half-day workshops on Monday and Tuesday; breakfast on Monday and Tuesday; lunch on Monday and Tuesday; social hour Monday afternoon; transportation between the Hilton St. Louis Frontenac and the MICDS campus.4:00 - 5:00  Check-in and Social Hour5:00 - 7:00  Dinner and Opening Keynote: Tim Rylands
Tim Rylandsa primary school teacher for over 25 years, has always maintained that in order to gain experience you need to do it. In order to do it, you need to want to do it!  With over 25 years of classroom experience, in the UK, and beyond, including four years in West Africa, Tim is now much in demand for training days, conferences and seminars around the world, presenting the results of his work in an inspiring, practical and often humorous way.  He has received notable recognition for using computer games, and Web 2 technologies to inspire children’s creative confidence in many areas of the curriculum – writing, speaking and listening, music, thinking skills, collaboration, interaction and much more.  Tim has received a vast amount of press coverage for his innovative use of ICT, and has been featured on the BBC, ‘Teachers TV’, CNN, in The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, and many others. In 2005 he won the 2005 Becta ICT in Practice Award. 

Monday, June 6 Conference

7:15 - 8:00 Continental Breakfast

8:00 - 9:00 Opening Keynote: Ron Ritchhart
Ron Ritchhart is a Senior Research Associate at Harvard's Project Zero where his work focuses on such issues as teaching for understanding, the development of intellectual character, creative teaching, making students' thinking visible, and most recently the development of school and classroom culture.  Ron's research and writings have informed the work of schools, school systems, and museums throughout the world. His book, Making Thinking Visible, has popularized the use of thinking routines to facilitate learning and engagement.  Ron’s latest book, Creating Cultures of Thinking, takes readers inside a diverse range of learning environments to show how teachers create classrooms where thinking is valued, visible and actively promoted as part of the day-to-day experience of all group members.

9:15 - 12:00 Team Building: A New Approach

Pretty much everything we do in life is a cooperative endeavor.  For an athletic team, that means creating a culture and philosophy that gets young people excited, and this is done by developing and nurturing relationships.  We are naive if we assume that an autocratic approach will create a lasting legacy. That is coaching through compliance. This workshop is all about coaching with compassion.  Learn how you can develop a philosophy that questions common practices and traditional beliefs, emphasizes the mental, not physical approach, prioritizes relationships over rules, focuses on the process rather than the outcome, and can be put into action daily.
Presenters: Clay Erro, Former Coach and Educator, and Vern Gambetta, Director, Gambetta Sports
Location: 262

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch

1:00 - 4:00 Practical Applications in Principle Based Coaching and Strength Training in the Large Team Setting
In this dual-topic session, Mark will discuss what he feels the foundations of effective coaching are, and strategic ways to implement them into your locker room, weight room, or classroom.  Coaching is teaching, and it is vital for the successful coach or teacher to have principles from which to build upon; Mark will give his insight as to what makes the great coaches exactly that...great.  In addition, Mark will use the MICDS weight room to show you how to efficiently construct, cue, and execute a training session in the large team setting.  This will truly be a valuable presentation for all coaches focused on developing their athletes.
Presenter: Mark Watts, Director of Education, EliteFTS
Location: 262

4:10 - 4:40 Closing Keynote: Vern Gambetta
Vern Gambetta is currently the Director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems. He has been the conditioning coach for several teams in Major League Soccer as well as the conditioning consultant to the U.S. Men’s World Cup Soccer team. Vern is the former Director of Conditioning for the Chicago White Sox and Director of Athletic Development for the New York Mets. Vern is recognized internationally as an expert in training and conditioning for sport having worked with world class athletes and teams in a wide variety of sports. He is a popular speaker and writer on conditioning topics, having lectured and conducted clinics in Canada, Japan, Australia and Europe. Vern's coaching experience spans 39 years at all levels of competition, and he has authored six books and over 100 articles related to coaching and sport performance in a variety of sports.

4:45 - 6:00 Social Hour


Tuesday, June 7 Conference

7:15 - 8:00 Continental Breakfast

8:00 - 9:00 Opening Keynote: Ken O'Connor
Ken O'Connor, a.k.a. The Grade Doctor, has been a staff development presenter and facilitator on assessment, grading and reporting in 45 states, nine Canadian provinces, and 21 countries outside North America.  He is widely considered to be one of a small group of leading experts on how to grade and report effectively.  His 23 year teaching career included experience as a geography teacher and department head in Scarborough, Ontario, and teaching at four schools in Toronto and Melbourne, Australia (Grade 7-12).  He also served as the Curriculum Coordinator responsible for Student Assessment and Evaluation and Geography for the Scarborough Board of Education and worked as a consultant on Secondary Assessment at the Ontario Ministry of Education.  Ken is the author of three books: A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken GradesHow to Grade for Learning, and Essentials for Principals: A School Leader’s Guide to Grading.

9:15 - 12:00 Nice is Not Enough: How to Establish a Task-Involved Motivational Climate in PE and Sport Settings
Information disseminated in this session is grounded in goal-orientation theory. This research to practice workshop provides physical education teachers and coaches with strategies so they can leave prepared to establish a learning community that is committed to improvement, personal best, and task mastery.
Presenter: Amanda Stanec, Founder, Move Live Learn
Location: 262

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch

Note: Tuesday afternoon attendees will have the option of either attending a 3 hour workshop or three one-hour sessions.

Session Option
12:30 - 1:30 Coaching the Thinking of Your Athletes

Coaches often wonder why players cannot remember a particular game plan or set play. Frustration sets in for coaches when the ideas trained in practice are not carried out during games. As a result, coaches yell, punish, or over train their players in the hopes things will improve in the future.  Studies have shown that upwards of 90% of an individual’s thoughts are unconscious. That being the case, nine out of 10 thoughts players have during games and practices will be unconscious rather than conscious. This session will examine the importance of coaching the unconscious thinking of players. Strategies will be explained and practical ideas shared on how to guide conversations in order to remain objective. The obstacle many coaches encounter when talking with players and parents is to become subjective, thus operating in a "subjective status quo".
Presenters: Mike Quante and Bill Daues, ASET – Association for Soccer Education and Training
Location: Leadership Conference Room

1:45 - 2:45 Use Your Influence

In this session we will highlight the significance of the influence that coaches have in the world of athletics. We will encourage participants to develop their athletes as players, people, students and teammates.
Presenters: Molly Grisham, Influence LLC and Jen Brooks, Ursuline Academy
Location: Leadership Conference Room

3:00 - 4:00 Sports Braining
Too often coaches use subjective and non-contextual terms such as confidence, sharp, and focus. These words cannot be trained, players find these words difficult to understand and assume responsibility for improving. Vague words, such as the ones listed above, provide players the opportunity to escape responsibility and this makes coaching more difficult. Confidence is simply the ability to think you can do something. At the heart of every issue is a players thinking.  This session will examine how to speak with players in ways that enables them to realize they are responsible for their thoughts and thus, responsible for improving. Training ideas and examples will be discussed that can be implemented regardless of sport, age, or gender.
Presenters: Mike Quante and Bill Daues, ASET – Association for Soccer Education and Training
Location: Leadership Conference Room

Workshop Option
1:00 - 4:00 Physical Literacy and the Classroom: All Teachers Should Teach the Whole Child

Physical literacy is the competence and confidence to be physically active in a wide variety of settings, to benefit yourself, others, and the community.  The research is plentiful - physical activity positively influences learning, physical, mental, and social health. Therefore, the focus of this session is to optimize delegates' ability to provide a physically literate enriched classroom for their students.
Presenter: Amanda Stanec, Founder, Move Live Learn
Location: 262

Discount Codes

Scenario 1:  I want to attend all three days.

1.  Go to the registration page which is located at the top of the web page.

2.  Enter your e-mail.

3. Choose "Conference w/Pre-Conference Options"

4.  Enter the required personal information

5.  For the Pre-Conference Workshops tab, though you plan on attending the Pre-Conference, do not click the boxes for the pre-conference.  You will do that at a later point in order to get a discount.  Just go to the bottom and and click "continue".

5.  Scroll to the bottom of the merchandise page and click "continue".

6.  On the Checkout page be sure to enter the code "invite" to the discount code box.  This will drop the registration fee to $250.  You can then submit payment information.

7.  You will then go back and complete another registration in order to get a discount on the Sunday Pre-Conference.  You can do this by choosing "Pre-Conference Only".

8.  Once again, enter your personal information.

9.  Choose both Vern Gambetta/Jim Radcliffe workshops.

10.  Scroll to the bottom of the merchandise page and click "continue".

11.  On the Checkout page be sure to enter the code "Gambetta".  This will drop the Pre-Conference fee to $60.  You can then submit payment information.  In the end it is $310 for the entire conference.  This does include food and a social.

Scenario 2:  I want to attend Sunday and Monday

1.  Go to the registration page which is located at the top of the web page.

2.  Enter your e-mail.

3. Choose "Conference w/Pre-Conference Options"

4.  Enter the required personal information

5.  For the Pre-Conference Workshops tab, though you plan on attending the Pre-Conference, do not click the boxes for the pre-conference.  You will do that at a later point in order to get a discount.  Just go to the bottom and and click "continue".

5.  Scroll to the bottom of the merchandise page and click "continue".

6.  On the Checkout page be sure to enter the code "Monday" to the discount code box.  This will drop the registration fee to $150.  You can then submit payment information.

7.  You will then go back and complete another registration in order to get a discount on the Sunday Pre-Conference.  You can do this by choosing "Pre-Conference Only".

8.  Once again, enter your personal information.

9.  Choose both Vern Gambetta/Jim Radcliffe workshops.

10.  Scroll to the bottom of the merchandise page and click "continue".

11.  On the Checkout page be sure to enter the code "Gambetta".  This will drop the Pre-Conference fee to $60.  You can then submit payment information.  In the end it is $210 for Sunday and Monday.  This does include food.

Scenario 3: I want to attend Sunday only

1.  Go to the registration page which is located at the top of the web page.

2.  Enter your e-mail and choose "Pre-Conference Only"

3.  Enter the required personal information

4.  Choose both Vern Gambetta and Jim Radcliffe workshops.

5.  Scroll to the bottom of the merchandise page and click "continue".

6.  On the Checkout page be sure to enter the code "Gambetta".  This will drop the Pre-Conference fee to $60.  You can then submit payment information.  This does include lunch.

Scenario 4:  I want to attend only Monday or only Tuesday

1.  Go to the registration page which is located at the top of the web page.

2.  Enter your e-mail.

3. Choose "Conference w/Pre-Conference Options"

4.  Enter the required personal information

5.  For the Pre-Conference Workshops tab do not click the boxes for the Pre-Conference.  Just go to the bottom and and click "continue".

6.  On the Checkout page be sure to enter the code "Monday" if you plan on attending Monday or "Tuesday" if you plan on attending Tuesday.  This will drop the registration fee to $150.  You can then submit payment information. 


ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT - THE ART & SCIENCE OF FUNCTIONAL SPORTS CONDITIONING by Vern Gambetta

 A straightforward guide to developing functional performance in and out of the gym.

AthleticDevelopment

Athletic Development offers a rare opportunity to learn and apply a career full of knowledge from the best. World-renowned strength and conditioning coach Vern Gambetta condenses the wisdom he's gained through more than 40 years of experience of working with athletes across sports, age groups, and levels of competition, including members of the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, and U.S. men’s 1998 World Cup soccer team.

The result is an information-packed, myth-busting explanation of the most effective methods and prescriptions in each facet of an athlete's physical preparation. Gambetta includes never-before-published and ready-to-use training approaches in:

sport-specific demands analysis,

work capacity enhancements,

movement skills development,

long- and short-term training program progressions, and rest and regeneration techniques.

Athletic Development explains what works, what doesn’t, and why. Gambetta’s no-nonsense approach emphasizes results that pay off in the competitive season and reflect his work at the highest echelons of sport. Merging principles of anatomy, biomechanics, and exercise physiology with sports conditioning applications and four decades of professional practice, this is the definitive guide to performance-enhancing training.

Product Features

  • Chapter 1. A Functional Conditioning Framework
  • Chapter 2. Factors Affecting Athletic Movement
  • Chapter 3. Sport-Specific Demands Analysis
  • Chapter 4. Options and Methods of Testing
  • Chapter 5. Strategies for Performance Training
  • Chapter 6. Program Planning and Fine-Tuning
  • Chapter 7. Energy and Work Capacity
  • Chapter 8. Movement Aptitude and Balance
  • Chapter 9. The Critical Body Core
  • Chapter 10. Full-Spectrum Strength
  • Chapter 11. Integrated Power Training
  • Chapter 12. Linear and Multidimensional Speed
  • Chapter 13. Multi-Phase Performance Preparation
  • Chapter 14. Recovery and Regeneration

HIGH POWERED PLYOMETRICS by James Radcliffe and Robert Farentinos

Learn how to incorporate plyometrics into your training program.

HighPoweredPlyometrics

 

Plyometrics is an essential part of strength and conditioning programs for the top athletes in nearly every sport. High-Powered Plyometrics provides the most systematic, comprehensive, and practical study of plyometrics available and can give you performance gains you never thought possible through 77 advanced exercises for explosive sports training.

 


Articles by Mark Watts

Olympic Lifting for Athletes: Using Static Holds to Improve Technique

Head Games: Training the Neck to Reduce Concussions

The Fastest Sport on Ice: Things You Don't Know About Bobsled

Tips to Crush the Combine Tests

An In-Season Training Guide for Baseball Pitchers

Individual Training in a Team Setting

Off-Season Training for Football (with 8-Week Program)

What is Really Wrong with Strength and Conditioning

How Do You Get Athletes Fast?

The Last Sports Performance Podcast

Olympic Lifting for Athletic Performance

Sports Performance Coach Education Series

WATCH: How to Find a Strength and Conditioning Job

WATCH: Becoming a Mentor to Young Coaches

WATCH: The Four-Step Coaching Process

WATCH: 5 Strategies to Perform More Work in Less Time

WATCH: Why Communication is Key to a Better Coaching Career

WATCH: A Better Way to Train High School Athletes

WATCH: How to Implement Auto-Regulatory Training in a Team Setting

WATCH: Pre-Workout Circuits to Optimize Training Time and Maximize Performance

WATCH: Hypertrophy Circuits for Athletes in a Team Setting

Coaches Clinics 

WATCH: Two Bench Press Mechanical Drop-Sets for Hypertrophy

WATCH: Two Lateral Speed Drills with Bands to Improve Change of Direction

WATCH: Adjusting the Glute-Ham Raise to Optimize Your Training

WATCH: Basic Linear Speed Acceleration Drills in a Team Setting

WATCH: Kettlebell Training for Team Sports


 Mark Watts' Articles and Coaching Log

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