Be an Elite Coach, Build Elite Athletes

Things to develop your coaching and have a greater impact on your athletes. You define what your “elite” is!

By Isaac Leung, Athletic Skills

Hey reader,

This is one that still bugs me and is driving me towards changing this for 2025.

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2025: The Year Coaches Transform Athlete Development Through Movement Skills

Ever felt like your athletes struggle with technical drills or hit a plateau in their development? The solution might be simpler than you think: mastering movement skills.

As coaches, it’s easy to focus on the technical and tactical side of sport, but too often, the foundations of athletic success—movement skills—are overlooked. Without them, athletes face barriers that hold them back:

• Struggling to perform technical skills under pressure.

• Increased risk of injuries.

• Long-term development that plateaus instead of progressing.

How can we be approaching 2025 and still not prioritise these fundamentals?

Why Movement Skills Are the Missing Link

Movement skills are the building blocks of athleticism. Running, jumping, landing, turning, and balancing aren’t just “basic” skills—they’re what make elite performance possible. When athletes master these movements early, they:

1️⃣ Perform Better Under Pressure: Confident movers adapt more easily to high-intensity scenarios.
2️⃣ Stay Injury-Free: Strong, coordinated athletes absorb and redirect force more effectively, reducing their injury risk.
3️⃣ Achieve Long-Term Growth: A solid foundation accelerates skill acquisition and creates well-rounded athletes ready for the next level.

The good news? Building these skills doesn’t require a complete overhaul of your sessions. A few small adjustments can create massive results.

Simple Ways to Start Prioritising Movement Skills

1️⃣ Athletic Skills Warm-Ups
Start every session with engaging, movement-focused preparation. A 10-minute warm-up with drills like skipping, bounding, or quick changes of direction builds the coordination and mobility athletes need for technical work.

💡 Quick Tip: Keep it fun and dynamic—warm-ups should energise your athletes and set the tone for the session.

2️⃣ Combine Athletic Skills with Technical Drills
Why separate movement from technical skills? Merging them allows athletes to build better mechanics in realistic scenarios. For example, integrate jumping and landing mechanics into heading drills for football, or use lateral agility work in defensive footwork exercises for basketball.

💡 Quick Tip: Think about the movement demands of your sport and incorporate them into skill-based activities.

3️⃣ Extra Sessions
Even 15–20 minutes of focused movement training outside regular practice can make a huge difference. Use these sessions to hone specific skills like acceleration, deceleration, or balance.

💡 Quick Tip: You could earn extra money also by delivering more sessions to your athletes rather than the, going and paying for a PT.

4️⃣ Educate Your Athletes
Empower athletes to take ownership of their development. Share simple movement drills they can do at home or in their local gym. Even 5–10 minutes of work per day can lead to noticeable improvements.

💡 Quick Tip: Use video calls or checklists to make it easy for athletes to stay consistent with their movement training.

Why 2025 Is the Year of Movement Skills

Across the UK, more coaches are beginning to prioritise movement-based training, recognising it as a critical part of athletic development. Those who embrace this shift now will set their athletes up for long-term success and stay ahead of the curve in coaching practices.

Still unsure? Think about this:

What if one small change could mean fewer injuries, faster skill progression, and more confident athletes? That’s what movement skills offer.

How One Coach Made It Work

One coach I worked with introduced a 15-minute movement-based warm-up into their rugby sessions. After three months, their athletes showed:
✅ Athletes moving with greater speed.
✅ Fewer soft-tissue injuries during high-intensity training.
✅ Greater engagement and enthusiasm during sessions.

Simple changes. Big results.

Take Action Today

2025 is your chance to elevate your coaching and give your athletes the edge they deserve.

DM MENTOR to learn how to incorporate movement skills into your sessions and unlock the true potential of your athletes. Let’s make 2025 the year we prioritise what really matters.

I have some workshops planned for 2025 so let me know if you are interested in coming to one of these!

Hope you have a good Christmas!

Speak soon,

Isaac