Elements Of Athlete Success: Employing A Coach - Triathlete Europe

• By Matt Dixon
• Published July 23, 2013
• Updated 1 day ago

Access to information and coaching opportunities is not an issue. The issue is filtering the good from bad, and the athlete getting on a long-term journey of progression that is effective for them. What does an athlete really need from a coaching programme? This is a good question and one that I have spent a great deal of time thinking about. It would be easy to create a massive laundry list of components of a good programme, but I think we can bucket together the key components of a coaching programme that make for successful performance evolution. No matter the level of competition, athletes are typically successful if they can access what I list below.

Smart training plan: This is typically the cornerstone of any coaching programme but unfortunately this is where it often ends. This ?bucket? should include a long-term vision or roadmap for the athlete, a seasonal roadmap of training progression and ongoing review of this progression. The actual daily training plan should facilitate consistent application of training load and a smart progression throughout the racing season. This plan also needs to be flexible and specific enough to allow training to integrate into an athlete?s life and create positive training and performance adaptations. It all sounds pretty simple.

Education and guidance: All of the above is pretty useless without a strong element of ongoing education and guidance. Coaching is as much about mentoring and tutoring, as it is about planning and workouts. Athletes need to be armed with the knowledge and tools to allow them to evolve their ?athletic IQ? and begin to make their own smart decisions. This is a never-ending process of guidance around all aspects of performance including season planning, nutrition, skills, mental approaches, race strategy, sleep and travel. The list is endless.

The depth of education and guidance increases as the relationship with the individual or group evolves. If a coach commits to this, the result is that athletes begin to develop a stronger ?filter? for the great amount of information available in the endurance space, especially since much of it has potential to harm progression and performance. It actually makes the coach?s job easier in the long run because athletes become smarter and more self-sufficient in the supporting components of performance.

Feedback and support: A smart plan and all the education in the world doesn?t automatically create great athletes. As an athlete takes their journey there is a great need for ongoing feedback, support, guidance and mentorship to help them learn, make smart decisions and apply the training plan as intended. This is the tough part for athletes who are self-coached. Without a strong mentor or guide who can maintain an objective lens and help make smart decisions, it is challenging to create an ongoing successful career. Athletes need mentors and support, and a coach is a good option for many.

Community: The final element is the X-factor but some form of community, belonging and camaraderie is a powerful addition for many athletes. Whether it is being part of a club, a swim programme or simply having training buddies, community and belonging creates a great sense of accountability, enjoyment, reward and support. ?Suffer together, succeed together?, should be the mantra. Few can live in a bubble and thrive. It takes a unique character and some form of community can help accelerate an athlete?s progression.

If you are reflecting on your progression as an athlete, or thinking about seeking outside advice or guidance, the above elements should act as a framework to look for a successful set up for yourself.

To apply these elements of coaching there is little doubt that the optimal environment is daily interaction and ?on-deck? guidance from your coach. In San Francisco we have a series of daily swim, bike and run sessions for our training group. So much can be gained for the local athletes from the daily interaction, feedback and guidance. This is not always possible and many of my elite athletes are geographically dispersed around the world. This makes communication all the more important, and for the elite athletes we bridge the periods of separation with frequent training camps to allow ?real coaching? to occur. For amateur athletes, it is not always possible to find a quality coach that delivers the above elements (at least well) close to home, so the athlete needs to make small compromises and understand how to help themselves within a longer-distance relationship. There are a few things that athletes can do to make a longer distance relationship more effective:

Own their sport: It sounds simple but creating ownership around your own training and progression is both empowering and beneficial. Rather than viewing the coach or programme as simply spoon-feeding a plan to success, athletes can succeed if they shift their lens to using the coach as a strong resource and technical guide for programming and information. Collaboration is better than a dictatorship, and so I would urge athletes to be wary of coaches who use terms such as ?because I said so? or ?because it worked with X?. Own your sport and become an active participant in your own process.

Commit to a path: Understand that the coaching process is a journey and can often take a while, so committing to the path and maintaining a ?healthy skepticism? throughout is likely a good thing. Of course, while it is good to question sometimes, a certain level of belief and trust is essential.

Do your homework: To truly commit to the above points it is key that you first find a coach that is the right fit for you. We all have different personalities, needs and approaches. I have turned down world-class athletes, not because I didn?t like them, but I felt I was not the best coach for them. Take time to consider the approach of the coach, talk to some of their athletes if possible and look at more than one option. Like buying a car, you don?t simply buy the first one you find. Instead, you test-drive a few, look at the reviews and choose one that fits your needs. Do the same with a coach.

To follow on from the last point I guess this begs the question, ?what makes a good coach??. The easy answer to this would be someone who creates champions, but I am not sure if I agree with something this simple. When I think about great coaches, I think they succeed in (note, I am using examples of more elite coaches below, but the lessons and components relate to all coaches who help athletes of any level) in the following:

Making ?champions?: If you have a history of developing athletes who become world-class this is a strong indication of coaching success. With this comes a word of warning and a story. If a coach leads a group of 25 athletes in their careers, and one of their athletes has massive success, but the story of the other 24 is injury, deep fatigue, short careers and destruction, are they are great coach? Did they make a champion or did they destroy the many other potential champions? I think it is important to look beyond any single athlete results, and look for the trends and history of all the athletes the coach develops.

The art of development: True coaching includes taking an athlete with potential and developing them throughout a career toward their own excellence. This journey is complex and shows the coach?s ability to not only provide a plan, but create vision, a career roadmap, be a strong teacher and mentor, and empower athletes to success. Most coaches agree that stories of development are the ones that provide the biggest source of pride and satisfaction.

Range of assistance: While some coaches have, understandably, types of athletes they specialise in, great coaches have the ability to lead, develop and improve a wide range of athletes. This is less about gender or race distance, and more about the coach being dynamic in leading different personalities, body types and athletes who respond to different training approaches in different manners. A ?one size fits all? approach seldom leads to a great coach, rather, it often leads to ?one size fits some, and the others fall to the side?.

Sharing: The last one is an X-factor, but I think it is worth inclusion. Any coach who is willing to open their book of coaching approach is normally one who is confident and has thought through their approach and reasoning. For me, it is a sign of confidence, and something that should be embraced by more coaches. There are exceptions, but many coaches who claim secrecy or refuse to share that training, often lack the confidence in what they are doing, or perhaps even the substance and understanding of what they are actually prescribing. Good coaches understand that coaching success is not about the workouts. Sure, workout design is important, but a good coach could give a year?s worth of workouts to any other hopeful, and the chances of the hopeful achieving similar results would be slim. It is the recipe, and the execution of that recipe, that makes a coach or programme successful.

As you go on your journey of self-improvement, take note of the lesson of great athletic success. Whether it is from trusted friends, a local coach with all the tools or a coach from further away that feels like a good fit, ensure that you set up your training and performance approach to suit you and your needs. Take ownership of your journey, and don?t simply look for the ?flavour of the month? and think that they are the right coach for you.

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Source: http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2013/07/23/elements-of-athlete-success-employing-a-coach

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