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Si Nainby deep dives with Sam Portland.

Sam is a strength and conditioning coach and performance consultant who has worked for Wasps and Ealing Trailfinders. He's consulted with Kenya 7's and many individual pro-players from NFL to bobsleigh.

Here's what they covered:

• Sam's background and why he is so passionate about speed development
• Why rugby coaches should approach speed as a skill to be developed in the same way as passing or tackling
• The basics that underpin speed and sprinting
• The difference between speed development and speed expression
• Heuristics and cues for coaching acceleration and maximum speed 
• The benefits of Extensive Plyometrics for developing a base of tolerance and teaching speed
• Programming speed training into weekly and monthly cycles of rugby training
• The importance of consistency in programming drills and exercises
• How to blend multi-directional speed with basic acceleration training
• Why you should avoid too much competition and racing in speed development
• How Sam developed Speed Golf and how it teaches players to understand "Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast"
• Common mistakes in speed development
• How Sam programs gym training to support speed development and the Rollover Principle for weekly planning
• Moving from working for a pro team to becoming a freelance coach
• Developing streams of income within a freelance business
• How Sam is using the lessons from his time in coaching to develop other coaches through his mentorship

To find out more and contact Sam:
(w) www.coachsportland.co.uk
(e) sam@coachsportland.co.uk
(i) instagram.com/Coach_Sportland 

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