Performance Puzzle

What is Performance Puzzle?

It is a process in which we help athletes and coaches piece together the optimal Puzzle for their performance development and complex advancement. Each athlete’s Puzzle is different and it changes over the course of their career. Individual pieces vary in size (importance) at different times of their career; some pieces we often do not see or cannot find and sometimes a small, seemingly unimportant piece is all we need to create an overall functioning puzzle. And it is this process where Performance Puzzle can assist your needs.

The project Performance Puzzle draws on our work experience in various areas of sport. The main idea is to interconnect the various areas relating to sport preparation and to offer these to a wide range of athletes and coaches in a form of a unique concept

There are many definitions, lessons and stories about what the most important thing for an athlete’s success is and what any sport preparation must entail. But apart from the basic pillars, such as willingness and drive to train, athletic talent or conditions for the sport, both  sport preparation and athlete’s performance are influenced by a large number of factors, their configuration and mutual interaction. One factor affects another one, we cannot separate training from everyday life. There exists no single correct template for success and each athlete pieces together their own story, their own puzzle.

In terms of fitness, it is nowadays possible to train in a highly efficient way and to measure every single aspect of any of the fitness skills, as well as any specific skills required by a particular sport. We can make movement more efficient, faster, more precise. We can prevent injuries, rehabilitate them effectively and in the correct manner. In terms of the special preparation of a particular sport, coaches nowadays, in addition to their practical experience, can observe how athletes around the world prepare, they can use modern training aids, analyses, statistics. Professionals such as coaches with different specializations, physiotherapists, sports psychologists, sports scientists, nutrition specialists, sports doctors, sports managers, etc. are involved in this process and expertise from different fields is used as well. We talk about a multidisciplinary process.

So there are many factors which influence sport performance and in the model we work with  we divide these factors into three main areas: physical, individual and social, this is known as the bio-psycho-social model. The athlete is at the centre of the process and should be developing in all these areas. If only one area, or one factor in a given area, prevails, there is a good chance that the athlete will never fulfill his or her potential. In a worse case scenario, there is a greater chance of getting injured, frustrated and other problems.

Therefore, we also look at the process of preparation of athletes as a whole (so-called Big Picture) and we identify its weaknesses. The solution can then be, for example: an improvement in a specific component of fitness preparation, a new training stimulus, a better planning of a season or a microcycle, addressing a hidden health problem, a modification of the sleep schedule, better nutrition or a different way of communicating with the athlete.

We believe in the process of constant improvement and the rule „to get a little bit better every day“. Sometimes a significant change in an athlete’s preparation is really necessary. But oftentimes all that’s needed is small improvements, small but lasting adjustments which may not seem important in the short run, but in the long run will bring about a significant improvement.

Our services range from simple solutions for hobby athletes – in the form of training plans, to in-depth sport preparation analysis for elite athletes. In cooperation with a unique network of experts and institutions, we can take a closer look at such aspects as health, musculoskeletal system, visual system, fitness, mental aspect, diet, nutritional supplements, etc. and subsequently offer coaches and athletes options as to in which areas there is room for improvement and how to go about it.