Expert | Rob Gray on The Gap Between Researchers and Coaches (Part 1)
Rob Gray is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University, host of The Perception & Action Podcast, and a Skill Acquisition Specialist for the Boston Red Sox. He’s been studying movement and publishing research on it for 25 years. In this Part 1 of 2, Kris and Rob discuss the limitations and challenges of using sports science research for coaches and practitioners, as well as some ways both coaches and researchers could do it better.
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CHAPTERS
(0:00) Intro
(1:31) Guest Introduction
(3:20) Topic Explanation
(5:18) Accessibility
(6:13) Impenetrability
(7:33) Generalizability
(8:43) ANNOTATION: Don’t Discount Small Studies
(10:49) Researchers Asking the Wrong Questions
(11:49) How to Make it User Friendly
(19:34) The Value of Case Studies
(22:19) Studies Lack Real World Variables
(24:23) ANNOTATION: Functional Movement Variability
(26:44) What is it We Should be Looking For in Studies?
(30:49) Coaches and Researchers Meeting in the Middle
(33:48) Limitations of Using Studies From Other Sports
(37:24) ANNOTATION: Constraints and Self Organization
(40:54) ”Evidence-Based” Elitism
(43:27) Wrap Up
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A climber since 1994, Kris was a traddie for 12 years before he discovered the gymnastic movement inherent in sport climbing and bouldering. Through dedicated training and practice, he eventually built to ascents of 5.14 and V11.
Kris started Power Company Climbing in 2006 as a place to share training info with his friends, and still specializes in working with full time "regular" folks. He's always available for coaching sessions and training workshops.