1) Explain in detail how this coach integrates sports medicine, sport science and/or technology in his/her coaching.
As the primary individual who’s tasked with developing athletes and helping them achieve their goals, I can say that Mr. Samson Dubina has the working knowledge of all areas affiliated with performance enhancement. Specifically, the disciplines of sports administration, sports medicine, strength and conditioning, sports psychology and the state of the art technology. Therefore he can assist us to develop both physically and mentally. His knowledge in risk management, injury prevention, communication, nutrition, goal setting, and athlete development is very helpful to achieve peak performance of his student athletes. Mr. Samson Dubina is an extraordinary coach. I always admire his passion for Table Tennis and how hard he works to improve the sport and his students. He makes his training schedules for his athletes according to the training stages based on their age which are really helpful to achieve their maximum capacities. He always plans our yearly training schedules concerning the training intensity needed for each player, age of the player, competition schedule and the key targets. He has a very good understanding of the game of his students individually and he helps us to select the most suitable paddles and rubbers.
He always advices us about our nutrition and instructs us to have a well-balanced meal as well as the supplements and vitamins. He has a sound awareness of environmental conditions that can increase the rate of dehydration, such as hot and humid environments, and schedule water breaks at specific times during practice and the matches. He always ensures that his athletes consume extra protein and water after completing intense practice sessions.
He has a sound knowledge of potential injury risks during training sessions and he always deems to provide a safe environment for his athletes to prevent from injuries. He has a keen interest in the psychological development of the player especially on-court psychology. He uses different motivational tactics like rewarding, providing some benefits like free hours when the players overcome his challenges and various social media platforms like Facebook to encourage his athletes. When we complete a very effective practice session he uploads a video of a part of the session with a caption which motivates us to finish the next session much better. Further he always communicates with parents of his young players regarding their psychological development. He uses statistical analysis of each student to evaluate their progress.
Sports science and technology are key factors for racket games to achieve high goals. Mr. Samson has a sound awareness of the physics of the racket and rotation kinematics of ball movements. He always uses different equipments and tactics to educate us about the movements of the ball in different angles of the rackets and body movements. Further he uses robot machines and other biomechanical models to illustrate the importance of the manipulation of different racket angles, effect of the center of gravity in the racket game, rotating and spinning tactics of the ball, and other various theories. He always uses his knowledge in sports science to develop new strokes.
Every-time he coaches me, he uses a real time video playback system which is very helpful to get a better understanding of the weak points of my techniques, movements and racket manipulation. Further he uses this video playback system to analyze my strokes and tells me how I can improve my strokes/footwork. During the lesson, Mr. Samson give us a copy of the video which is very useful to study my weak points repeatedly. This allows his students to analyze the lesson even when they're at home. Mr. Samson also uses Bluetooth coaching and uses signals to coach during matches. This allows him to communicate with his students during the match and according to my knowledge, he is the only coach who use such advanced methods. Mr. Samson provides online coaching on Skype so that students can get coaching even when they're in a different state and sends us weekly videos and articles on improving our game strategies. He is very active on social media platforms like Facebook and Youtube and uploads valuable instructional videos relating to new strokes, game-play, footwork, exercises, pre-conditioning your body for tournaments and everything related to table tennis regularly. He also launched TT-Flex: a full body strengthening system that is specifically built for table tennis.
2) How has their use of science and technology in coaching directly impacted the success of the athlete or team? Include any honors/recognitions or major wins achieved as a result.
After I started getting coaching from Mr. Samson Dubina, my overall game has improved very significantly. My footwork, strokes, strategy and mental toughness during the game have improved significantly because of his advice, coaching and guidance. Because of his coaching, I won the U2100 RR Singles at the US National Championships in Las Vegas (July 2016) and I was able to lead the Ohio State University Table Tennis team to be Divisional Champions. I was able to win the Championship at America's Table Tennis Team Championships (3rd division) and the whole team consisted of Mr. Samson’s students. I have also won many events at tournaments in Ohio. I won the third place of Women’s’ Open event at the Aurora Cup Table Tennis Tournament- Chicago 2016. When I started my US Table tennis journey in 2015 I was rated 1800 and now I’m rated 2200. All the credits of this improvement goes to Mr. Samson’s proper and well-planned training. His coaching is extraordinary.
3) In what ways has the nominee contributed to the advancement of sport?
Mr. Samson Dubina is very keen on improving the sport and does his best to do so. Mr. Samson organizes many tournaments throughout Ohio every year and hold weekly Thursday night league tournaments in Akron. These help to introduce new players to the sport and keep local people active with table tennis. He also contributes to the largest Sports Festival in Ohio: The Arnold Festival and helps to organize the table tennis tournament in it. Mr. Samson perseveres for the betterment of all his students and holds table tennis clinics throughout the year that span for around 2-3 days each. He collaborates with high rated players in US as well as top rated players from other countries (like Robert Eriksson from Sweden and many more) and focuses on improving different aspects of table tennis in each clinic. Mr. Samson also holds group classes and clinics to improve and raise awareness of table tennis at the college level. For example, he holds table tennis clinics at the University of Toledo and has also helped in numerous ways to improve Table Tennis at the Ohio State University and University of Akron (to name a few) He also holds many exhibitions that promote the sport of table tennis to bigger audiences. He maintains a good relationship with the key suppliers of Table Tennis equipments like robots, tables, paddles and rackets and help players get them in a very affordable rate.
Denethi