Sports preparation, according to experts from many nations, is a comprehensive and multiyear process during which the athlete strives to deliver their best effort in order to compete in the most important tournaments. The essential principles of periodization are defined as the organization of the training process and competition participation into several phases, periods, and cycles, (Bompa & Buzzichelli, 2015). Periodization of the annual plan and periodization of bio-motor capacities are two fundamental principles. The annual plan is periodized by breaking it up into units to better manage the training and adaptation processes and, if necessary, to achieve peak performance during important contests. For coaches and players alike this helps them enormously for a variety of reasons; It helps coaches be more aware of what time is available for each training phase throughout a season, and athletic development staff rationally plan and develop a training plan for their athletes to adhere to, It allows athletic performance staff to appropriately plan and manage training and playing load for their players as well as managing fatigue and planning and preparing for peaks throughout a season. It also helps coaches in particular accurately plan their training phases in conjunction with the athletic performance staff, giving them certain allocated time for various technical and tactical needs that the squad may need assistance with. In accordance with coaches and athletic performance staff, various psychological and nutritional techniques can be also implemented as they all fit under the same umbrella of an annual plan, this can ensure each individual can be aware and contribute to helping and implementing the plan to the players or athletes ensuring peak performance and successful potential is achieved when needed (Gamble, 2006).
Athletes may develop their bio-motor skills (strength, speed, and endurance) to the highest possible degree as the foundation for improved athletic performance by periodizing these skills. When broken down into smaller components these performance characteristics can be certainly improved based on the following premises; Sports performance may be improved by raising an athlete’s motor potential, especially for high-level athletes in collaboration with sports psychologists. Morpho-functional adaptations, or improvements in the structure and operations of the body, take time to develop and require a cycle of activity and rest done with qualified and hard-working athletic performance staff an athlete can progress in fulfilling their athletic potential leading to a greater performance come game day or competition period as pre-planned within an appropriate periodised plan. Increasing the intensity of training stimuli progressively on the basis of previously generated morphological and functional adaptations is a progressive method that is necessary for the development of bio-motor abilities as well as the improvement of technical and tactical variables (Bompa & Buzzichelli, 2015). There are always highs and lows within an annual plan where appropriate training can take place which will best prepare the player or athlete to peak to their highest potential when it really matters (Gabbett, 2016).
A periodised plan can be broken down into many subsections. Many coaches use these for context as to what training modality should be focused on and at what time of a calendar year for their athlete’s sport based on his or her competition schedule. It all starts off with an annual plan. Dependent on the sport in question, some athletic performance coaches may need to plan out more than just one year plan for their athlete. For example, an Olympic sporting athlete may have to plan ahead or pre-plan for three to four years based on an Olympic cycle. To more effectively manage the training process for your athlete as a coach, the year is divided into phases, subphases, macrocycles, and microcycles. This breaks down the athlete’s training schedule into even more detailed subsections and can then encompass more and more technical, tactical, psychological, and nutritional techniques as it comes along. These phases are commonly described in three different terms, preparatory, competitive and transition. These subphases are made up of a group of macrocycles and can actually vary in length anywhere from 1-week cycles, up to 24 weeks depending on the athlete and the phase (preparatory, competitive, transition) that you would be in. Macrocycles can vary from distinguished monthly blocks of work that either increase or decrease in length based on the previous subphases within the annual plan. Microcycles follows this, breaking it down from monthly into weekly and or even daily blocks of work dependent on the level of detail the coach wishes to go into, from the outset it gives the athletes absolute clarity and calmness knowing his/her athletic development and sporting programmes are planned out ahead of schedule. But there is a distinction between them, Planning tools include the yearly plan, phases, and subphases, whereas programming tools include macrocycles, microcycles, and training units (Bompa & Buzzichelli, 2015).
From the outside, it seems great to be able to plan out an athlete’s schedule and training programme from an annual point of view right down to weekly or even daily. But as various sports become more and more progressive, the challenges that arise to have athletes peaking appropriately when needed throughout a season have become more difficult, for many reasons (Gamble, 2006). Like a lot of sports the need to always see the best athletes and players the majority of the time has never been greater. For sporting organisations, the prospect of increased revenue year on year from fan attendance and interactions is vital in keeping things alive. But this can have a negative effect on the actual athletes themselves. Having extended periods of playing time such as an extended season or competition block can negatively influence the athlete in question. Coaches and performance staff have an added difficulty in allowing the athlete to peak multiple times in the year, depending on the competition schedule. Alongside this, in conjunction with an increased amount of games, increases in training loads also occur. The question is often asked whether athletes should train smarter or harder (Gabbett, 2016), and in many cases when periodisation is at play it should most certainly be considered. Having extended playing seasons complicates the annual and subphases of general periodisation, not knowing when to peak 100% throughout the year can be difficult to achieve as well as maintain.
As discussed above, throughout an annual plan, many anatomical adaptations will be focused on from an athletic development point of view. But when an athlete has many athletic goals to focus on, what do you do then? That is the question facing staff working with field sports especially (Gamble, 2004). It faces athletic development staff with a tough task, which quality to focus on and when. Hence, deliberate changes in the training program are required to systematically change the emphasis on promoting these various training effects at various stages of the preparation period. This makes it aware that a periodised plan is not set in stone, it has to be fluid and able to be changed when needed. Throughout the course of the playing season, different athletes need different focuses be it injury prevention, injury rehab, or an increase in strength or power.
The effectiveness of physical preparation with regard to time is crucial given the time limits imposed by the high numbers of team practices and other skill training that are common to all professional team sports. Focus naturally changes to tactical considerations as the playing season approaches, with more team training to get ready for the upcoming games. But is this the right way to do things? Does it in fact make things more complicated and more difficult for all stakeholders? One of the foundational principles of tactical periodisation is that training should never separate the physical, tactical, technical, and mental components of readiness (Mendez-Villanueva, 2012), could that make an athletic development coach’s job more manageable and lead to a greater performance by the athlete/player?
In summary, it is clear to see the benefits that can be gained from the detailed and extremely planned periodised plan, and how it can benefit athletes and give them adequate clarity and structure for them to flourish and perform at their best. But is it serving its purpose by being so structured and rigid when the reality of being an athlete or player means you have to be fluid and adaptable to issues you often face? Examples are planning for an extended season and the pressures in terms of increased loads that brings. When players get injured or miss out on training and game time throughout a season, how important is a periodised plan at that moment, or is it a waste of time? If using a periodised plan with the hope of following it to a tee, be wary of the reality of being a sports person, being able to adapt and have fluency within your plan is vital because something unexpected can always happen and it how you still guarantee that your player or athlete can still compete at the highest level and peak at the right time in their chosen sport.
Bompa, T. O., & Buzzichelli, C. (2015). Periodization training for sports (Third Edition).
Gabbett, T. J. (2016). The training—injury prevention paradox: Should athletes be training
smarter and harder? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 50(5), 273–280.
https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2015-095788
Gamble, P. (2004). Physical Preparation for Elite-Level Rugby Union Football: Strength and
Conditioning Journal, 26(4), 10–23. https://doi.org/10.1519/00126548-200408000-00001
Gamble, P. (2006). Periodization of Training for Team Sports Athletes. Strength &
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Mendez-Villanueva, A. (2012). Tactical Periodization: Mourinho’s Best-kept secret? Soccer