In just over 120 days the Olympic Games will be coming to London, United Kingdom. It seems a long time since the successful bidding and the preparations are well on their way to completion. Come the Summer, athletes from all over the world will descend on London, in search of glory.
What would it take to be an Olympian if coaching was on the list of sports that we were going to take part in this Summer?
Olympian Ideals
Well, firstly we would need to sign up to the notion of ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’ which is the Latin version of the Olympic motto that translates to ‘Faster Higher, Stronger’ – pertinent for athletes but I’m less convinced it is directly relevant to coaches.
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However, the founder of the Modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin put forward the Olympic creed, which suggests it is important to accept the idea that taking part is more important than just winning. Now, this is something that resonates for many of us, whether we are coaches or not.
The idea is that the journey is more important than any specific destination. For a coach, enjoying and immersing ourselves in the journey that each coaching conversation represents becomes an ideal that I for one, can sign up to.
The Olympiad
As the spectacular closing ceremony in Beijing ended, athletes would have been straight into a macro-cycle of four years of training, broken down into goals for the major competitions they will enter during the period between the Beijing and London Games, a span of time known as the Olympiad.
Their training needs would be analyzed based on current strengths and areas that would need development. Athletes and their coaches would further break down their training into various components including:
a.Physical training: such as work in the gym, speed work, and flexibility.
b.Technical skill: improving the elements of their sport that allow them to complete more complex skills more easily.
c.Mental: managing stress under difficult situations; focus; motivation among many others, are topics that athletes would concentrate on.
d. Lifestyle: You can’t divorce lifestyle and sporting success. Nutrition, rest, social life, and support networks are all considered important for elite athletes. Any gaps here are addressed, in order to help bring some vital balance.
Coaches would recognize the idea of continuous professional development, in the same way, athletes do. Here’s what you might want to consider to become an Olympian Coach:
Physical:
I am keen that my last client of the day gets the same high level of service as the first client of the day. I work on my physical fitness in my own time, in order to improve my coaching. I’ve got no proof it helps, but anecdotally, keeping in good shape certainly helps me help my clients.
Technical skills
There are an enormous number of opportunities for coaches to engage in professional development. Whilst you don’t have an objective measure that tells you that you are making progress with the technical elements of your coaching approach, i.e. no stopwatch, no tape measure, you can still access feedback from your own reflections in addition to external sources, including clients, about how effective you are being and what skills are working well and which need further development.
Mental skills
Concentration is key to coaching. The more coaching you do, the more this skill is likely to improve. I have found that meditation is also great for developing this key skill. A little written about skill is the cognitive ability to analyze the details of coaching conversations with the same client over a number of weeks or months.
I think this is incredibly helpful to you and your clients. Practise seems to improve it as does writing brief reflective notes after each coaching session.
Lifestyle
Life throws challenges at us all the time. The better managed your life is outside of coaching, the better you are likely to perform when it comes to working with your clients. Your health, your relationships, and your support network all have an important part to play. What are you doing, on a regular basis, to balance your life in order to help you perform at your best?
You can’t “win” coaching because it isn’t a competition but you can enjoy the journey to becoming an outstanding, high-performing coach, just like those athletes you’ll see in the summer.
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