One of the most rewarding, and exhausting pursuits that I have done in my life was coaching. I coached high school, community college, club and University. My coaching career added up to about fifteen years. For most of the last forty-five years, I have been fortunate to associate with some of the finest coaches in the world, from high school, to elite club level. Here are five tips to build credibility with your athletes, young and old:
- Always tell the truth. One of first lessons that I learned. Jim Marheinecke, then, a Jesuit brother, was the cross country coach at DeSmet, where I was enrolled in my freshman and sophomore years of high school. Jim NEVER told an athlete anything less than the truth. I remember him telling me that if I wanted to get better, I would have to work much harder and stay focused. He was right.
- Respect is earned. A coach is not the athletes’ buddy. I recall Steve Pensinger, the coach at Bellarmine in San Jose, CA during my junior year. Steve was one of my favorite coaches. He demanded hard work, and he asked us questions, fine tuned workouts. Steve told us when we did well and told when when we did not do well. We respected him for that, and wanted to please him.
- Fine tuning is key. I recall my university coach, Dan Durante, timing Paul Gyorey and I through 20 times a 400 meters at Los Gatos track. He could see, at about twelve, that we were just not there that night, so he but it to 16, and added something fun. At the 14th interval, he had us go all-out, and told us if we could break 62, that we could do sixteen. We both went unter 62 seconds, finishing last two at 70 second pace. The next week, we were focused and enthused.
- Each athlete is an experiment of one. I recall my partner coach at Foothill, Joe Mangan. Joe and I had a group of athletes of disparate levels of fitness when cross-country started. Our secret sauce was hills. Joe had me with the unfit athletes, running them on the hilly roads around Foothill. Truth was, no matter what they did, they would get fitter. Joe would take the young athletes who were more focused on a more strenuous workout. Funny thing was, by end of season, the unfit athletes had gained fitness and confidence and developed into scorers for us.
- Building the team. The late Hank Ketels was a masterful coach and motivator. Hank was our head coach for many years at Foothill. On Mondays, Hank had the throwers, jumpers, sprinters and distance runners all do speed drills. Here’s the thing. That tough hour of working out together not only helped everyone get faster, it was a team building exercise!
- Watch for our new Podcast series, #TheArtofCoaching! Coming soon, on #RunBlogRun.
