I mean WTF!!!...I have been around a loooooooong time and have never heard of such activity/behavior from a coach. Secondly, given the climate of the last 20+ years, what coach would even consider this even if trained in massage?? Mind boggling.
I mean WTF!!!...I have been around a loooooooong time and have never heard of such activity/behavior from a coach. Secondly, given the climate of the last 20+ years, what coach would even consider this even if trained in massage?? Mind boggling.
I was thinking the same thing. He almost can't even have an excuse for this. He has no training or expertise in this area, and it's just universally acknowledged that it'd be a bad idea for a male coach to put his hands on a female runner.
Let's be honest: like 50% or more of the guys you see coaching running at any level are very, very weird dudes. The fact that Alberto is in this camp shouldn't be surprising.
Its the only way to keep the circle of people who know what is being rubbed into your athletes small - fewer chances of leaking that info.
Raysism wrote:
Let's be honest: like 50% or more of the guys you see coaching running at any level are very, very weird dudes. The fact that Alberto is in this camp shouldn't be surprising.
definitely true
I see a lot of coaches "stretching" athletes. That shouldn't be done either. Teach kids to stretch themselves.
oldJelly wrote:
I mean WTF!!!...I have been around a loooooooong time and have never heard of such activity/behavior from a coach. Secondly, given the climate of the last 20+ years, what coach would even consider this even if trained in massage?? Mind boggling.
You've never heard of a coach massaging an athlete? You're just hindsighting.
The sports med world is so bad at dealing with soft tissue injuries in the distance running world that a lot of coaches are forced to become PTs on the fly so they can help their athletes. it doesn't take years of training to learn how to feel a bump on an achilles tendon or to test an athlete's hamstring strength, etc. But those coaches are operating in programs that have little or no resources.
AlSal had every resource available to him. AlterG treadmills, water running facilities and every sort of PT, physio, massage therapist. There was absolutely no reason why AlSal would need to put his hands on an athlete when Nike would provide him with the top soft tissue practitioners in the industry.
snowdays wrote:
Raysism wrote:
Let's be honest: like 50% or more of the guys you see coaching running at any level are very, very weird dudes. The fact that Alberto is in this camp shouldn't be surprising.
definitely true
Amen!
coachy wrote:
I see a lot of coaches "stretching" athletes. That shouldn't be done either. Teach kids to stretch themselves.
+1
That should be banned. Self-stretching is more then enough.
Athletes, even non-athletes, should taught them how to use resistance devices, such as a curb to stretch a foot. And tell them to report any "coach" who wants to grab them to stretch them.
thereverend wrote:
snowdays wrote:
definitely true
Amen!
Sadly, there are guys who get off watching women stretch.
Did Al also clean their teeth and check their eyesight rather than have them see a licensed professional? It's beyond mind-boggling, especially with the resources he had.
I have a ballet dancer daughter.. I learned to massage just so I could keep her upright. It's not the most ideal thing but we both want her able. at home, free is just more convenient.
She will say so many of the teachers now won't touch the kids but really.. most of the time, the kids need it. Athletes don't necessarily know how it is suppose to feel. It's an over time, gradual thing. Our private teacher would touch a lot more.
Trust is so hard in the world right now. In a perfect world, athlete complains about tightness. Coach drops and irons it out right then and there. Publicly with transparency. But, we can't trust the coach, even the patient, and both have to able to communicate clearly what's goin on.
No. Its not a new concept or a "woke" thing either. It's just plain sense. We knew this in the 60s and 70s: only a very naive or creepy coach would lay hands or anything else on a student/runner. Lots of them laid their respective trips on them about training, diet, health and some religion (a heinous offense in my mind, but a not unusual occurence.) but you do not do that. We also avoided being alone with a student. Not paranoid: healthy caution. Like getting the t.b. shot: odds were you wouldn't get "caught" but a wise adult doesn't gamble with such things.
I’m not sure if this was supposed to be tongue in cheek, but given his history there might a bit of truth to this.
hm we were are male cycling youth team with a male coach and he would massage from time to time. we did not have the money or manpower to have someone dedicated to massaging. very strange you have never heard of such a thing. makes me believe you actually only do sports alone or no sports at all.
What if they are married?
Over the course of decades I learned how to keep myself, my friends and my athletes healthy and out of surgery or long downtime with deep tissue bodywork. Back then very few practitioners knew the proper techniques.
The solution for working on the opposite sex is to have their spouse/significant other/good friend be present, and explain what you are doing as you proceed. Transparency is everything here. Today I generally outsource to trusted commercial bodyworkers, which are more available today.
I used to run with a great group in Santa Barbara, 'Santa Barbara Running and Racing." It is run by an excellent coach and talented runner, Rusty Snow. Rusty also does sports massage. He does massage for a number of recreational athletes in town in various sports, including some of the people in the running group. I have gotten massages from him many times, which I have found helpful. There is nothing weird or inappropriate about it at all. I acknowledge that in some circumstances it may be a little more edgy, such as a male high school or college coach massaging a young female student runner. OK, but to say that any coach massaging any runner is weird and inappropriate is way off base.
smd wrote:
Did Al also clean their teeth and check their eyesight rather than have them see a licensed professional? It's beyond mind-boggling, especially with the resources he had.
He was able to ascertain that some athletes had undetected thyroid issues by means of observation and clairvoyance. He just sent them to Dr. Brown because he could not write a valid script accepted at Walgreen's.
zbt wrote:
I used to run with a great group in Santa Barbara, 'Santa Barbara Running and Racing." It is run by an excellent coach and talented runner, Rusty Snow. Rusty also does sports massage. He does massage for a number of recreational athletes in town in various sports, including some of the people in the running group. I have gotten massages from him many times, which I have found helpful. There is nothing weird or inappropriate about it at all. I acknowledge that in some circumstances it may be a little more edgy, such as a male high school or college coach massaging a young female student runner. OK, but to say that any coach massaging any runner is weird and inappropriate is way off base.
Ok, so where do you draw the line? Is it strictly based on the sex of the coach and athlete? So female coach can massage female athlete and male coach can massage male athlete? Is it a matter of where this massage is happening? Out in front of others as opposed to in doors? Is it a matter of anatomy, so middle of your quad is ok but inside on the groin is a no?