Kelvin Giles Comment on the Female Athlete

Kelvin Giles sent me the following excerpt from one of his manuals after reading the last post on the female athlete:

The following information illustrates the differences between the male and female during these ever-changing periods of maturation. It must be pointed out that these are simply differences and in no way should anyone think that this means that we treat the female athlete differently to the male athlete. They can train hard and they can adapt to all the physical, psychological, technical and tactical facets of their chosen sport. They can be exposed to and reach the highest standards in attitude, commitment and discipline. The differences should be viewed as being subtle and should be treated respectfully but not used as an excuse to lower expectations. Without personalising this issue too much I have been honoured to coach several world class female athletes to Olympic and World Championship heights and in each case my approach was no different to that with the male athlete. In each case their mental toughness, discipline, ability to tolerate high intensity work and their total lack of complaint when things got inconvenient and adverse were exemplary.

Go to Kelvin’s website http://www.movementdynamics.com for more information. Also read the article on his website about coaching Generation Y, it will make think.

Comments

[Jonathan Hewitt ATC]

Vern,

I have had several of my female athletes express concern about the ol' myth about bulking up. I've educated them the best I can but it still is a concern for a few. Any recommendations?

Jonathan Hewitt