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Application will close on October 12th.
Application will close on October 12th.
Coach - Athlete Relationship
Your coach plays a significant role in your athletic journey. When I was in High School, I had one swim coach for four years. Then in college, I had another swim coach (one for my Freshman year before transferring to another college where I completed the rest of my education/collegiate swimming). Eight years = three swim coaches. While some athletes may have one coach for an entire athletic journey, the majority of athletes will likely have several coaching relationships throughout an athletic career. Different coaches means different opinions, attitudes, emotions, styles of training and coaching methodologies. Whereas the high school and collegiate athlete may not have a lot of life responsibilities or stressors, a strong coach - athlete relationship is extremely important for the adult athlete, who has a lot more to balance in life than just training and racing.
In today's society, coaching rarely occurs face-to-face unless you are in a squad environment or your coach is local. While your coach may occasionally see you in action, most coaches will monitor you via an online data software program and communicate with you via phone or email. With internet-based coaching, your athletic success relies greatly on a healthy, trusting and safe relationship with your coach. Disliking the actions of your coach, not trusting your coach, feeling uncomfortable around your coach, not knowing your coach or struggling to effectively communicate with your coach are all signs that your coach is not the right fit for you.
As an athlete, you likely love to train, you have great time-management and you are probably very motivated and driven. For the coachable athlete, it's assumed that your need of a coach is not to tell you to exercise but to help guide you in a way that will allow you to improve fitness and race readiness while reducing risk for injury, sickness and burnout.
Although coaches come from different backgrounds, some with more notable credentials and knowledge than others, it's important that you see your coach as an expert and to fully understand his/her coaching philosophy and methodology. The more you know and value your coaches experience, the more trust you will have for your coach.
Trusting your coach is one of the most important components of having a great coach - athlete relationship. Since most coaches do a great job with marketing themselves, most athletes find it easy to know which coach is the "right" fit. However, don't fall victim to fancy websites, glowing testimonials, expensive fees/prices and trendy services as there are many "experts" that have poor coaching skills. Plus, coaching takes time, practice and experience. I look back at my early years and think "I had no idea what I was doing!" But thanks to mentors, years in the sport, ongoing learning and education and experience and always keeping an open mind (while being an active participant in an evolving sport), I've become better at coaching. Anyone can call themselves a coach but coaching an athlete is a lot of work and many times, it has less to do about writing workouts (anyone can be a great workout writer) but more to do about getting to know a person as a human being instead of just focusing on a person as an athlete with goals and a race schedule.
Because coaching works both ways, there are many athletes who are not coachable.
As an athlete, you have every right to ask questions to your coach. When you don't understand something or you have a concern, you should feel comfortable communicating with your coach. But to go against your coaches guidance means that you are not ready or willing to learn a different or new way of doing things. Coaching is a dialogue - two way communication. But if an athlete is questioning his/her coaches decisions to the point where the athlete is telling the coach how to train him/her, this is not coaching. Because it takes time to get to know an athlete and time to develop an athlete, you need to give your coach time. If you the athlete hire a coach and then feel there's a certain way that you need to train to feel race ready or to reach athletic goals, you don't need a coach. You need to write your own training plan. There are many successful athletes who do not have a coach (maybe a mentor or two) but instead, figure things out along the way on their own. But being resistant to the methods/workouts that your coach feels is best for you is saying that you the athlete know better than your coach. Typically, this occurs when an athlete feels he/she should be training longer or harder as athletes don't like to be told to do less or to rest.
Athletes who hire coaches do so because they need assistance, guidance or accountability and they recognize their strengths, weaknesses and limiters. A coachable athlete is willing to change. A non-coachable athlete is resistant to change. An athlete who is unwilling to deviate from what they think they need is a red flag that the athlete does not trust his/her coach. Communicating your concerns is good but a good coach should not have to change his/her coaching methods/philosophy in order to please you and to give you what you think you need. If this is the case, you hired the wrong coach. While there are bad coaches out there and sometimes coaching relationship (like in real life) do not work out, there are also a lot of really great coaches that you can choose from, that will give you what you need from a coach. Take your time selecting your coach and then put your trust into your coach so you can put your energy into your training.
APPLY HERE
Application will close on October 12th.
Application will close on October 12th.