One of the most important and exhausting things I’ve ever done in my life was coaching. I have coached high school, community college, club and varsity. My coaching career spanned nearly fifteen years. For most of the past forty-five years, I have been fortunate to interact with some of the best coaches in the world, from high school to the elite club level. Here are five tips for building confidence in your athletes, young and old:
- Always tell the truth. One of the first lessons I learned. Jim MarhainekThen, a Jesuit brother was the cross country coach at Desmet, where I attended my freshman and sophomore years of high school. Jim has NEVER told an athlete anything less than the truth. I remember him telling me that if I wanted to get better, I needed to work a lot harder and stay focused. He was right.
- Respect is earned. The coach is not a friend of the athletes. i remember Steve Pensinger, coach at Bellarmine in San Jose, California, my junior year. Steve was one of my favorite coaches. He demanded hard work and he asked us questions, good intense training. Steve told us when we did well and when we didn’t. We respected him for that and wanted to please him.
- Good setup is key. I remember my college coach Dan Durante, Paul Gyorey and I 20 times over 400 meters at the Los Gatos track. He could see, about twelve, that we weren’t there that night, so he was only 16, and added something funny. In the 14th interval he ordered us to go all out and said if we could break 62 we could do sixteen. We both went under 62 seconds, finishing the last two on 70 second pace. The following week we were focused and enthusiastic.
- Every athlete is one’s experience. I remember my fellow coach at Foothill, Joe Mangan. Joe and I had a group of athletes of varying fitness levels when cross country started. Our secret sauce was the hills. Joe challenged me with the unfit athletes, running them around Foothill on the hilly roads. The truth was, no matter what they did, they’d get a better workout. Joe took younger athletes who were more focused on more intense training. The funny thing was that by the end of the season the unfit athletes had gained fitness and confidence and turned into goals for us.
- Team building. The late one Hank Kettles was a master trainer and motivator. Hank was our head coach at Foothill for many years. On Mondays, Hank made the throwers, jumpers, sprinters and distance runners do speed drills. Here’s the thing. That challenging hour of working together not only helped everyone get up to speed, it was also a team-building exercise.
- Check out our new Podcast series, #TheArtofCoaching! Soon, soon #RunBlogRun.
