Sports training is a special process of preparation of sports persons based on scientific principles aimed at improving and maintaining higher performance capacity in different sports activities. It is a particular type of training designed to improve fitness and abilities to perform in a given sport. It includes strength in training, corrective and restorative exercises, conditioning and cardiovascular training. It also includes mental and psychological training and advise on nutritional values.
Principles of Sports Training-
1. Continuity of Training: which is the key to ensure the best outcome in a sport. The training of the sports persons has to be continuous and regular. Hence, too long a break in the training should be avoided and the condition of optimum load should be created.
2. Increasing the Training Load: there is a relationship between the load and adaptation process. Training load should be gradually increased to enable the body, to adapt higher demands progressively.
3. Active Participation: It is a well known fact that a player who is passively engaged in the training does not develop abilities and always remains totally dependent upon the coach or the physical education teacher and never develops confidence or improves performance capabilities. Therefore the teacher/coach must ensure that the sports persons participate in the training with conviction and sincerity.
4. Planned and Systematic Training: To achieve a high level of sports performance in competitions, the training must be well planned and conducted in a systematic manner for better results.
5. General and specific training: Both general and specific training of a sports person are equally important because general training creates the base and specific training helps to achieve high performance. General training needs to general conditioning of the body such as developing strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, agility, balancing, ability in general. General training is done by general exercising for the development of all the muscle group of the body whereas specific training consists of specific exercises with the aim to develop specific strength, specific muscle group and specific motor abilities required for a particular sport.
6. Clarity with respect to all aspects of the concerned sport and games more importantly, its techniques and tactics for performance enhancement is the key.
7. Cyclicity: The training can be organised in three different cycles: Macro cycle: having duration of 3–12 months; Meso cycle of 3–6 weeks; and Micro cycle of 5–10 days.
8. Ensuring results: Sports training is planned to achieve the expected results in small and major competitions or tournaments.
9. Critical training load: The training load may be increased to meet the higher demands of competition in unforeseen situations. The training load should be managed more than the general load. This critical load should be measured 4–5 times in a year.
10. Adaptability: The adaptability to the training load should be in proper proportion between the load and recovery. Then only a sports person gets adapted to the training load.
11. Uniformity and differentiation: The uniformity may be in terms of time and duration of the activity, whereas, the load may vary as per the capacity of the individual sportsperson. It is an established fact that no two individuals are alike. The sports persons participating in the training are different in terms of age, health condition, individual capacity, recovery pace and physique. Keeping these factors in view, the training must be planned as per the needs of the individual sports person.
12. Feasibility: training of the sports person should be planned and conducted to draw the maximum benefit. Too little or too much training needs to be avoided.
