"I only race for fun."
Some thoughts on the role of the coach for the working athlete
As a coach, I often talk to people who have some small notion that they might, they just might want to utilize my services to improve their abilities. Invariably, I am told, “I only race for fun,” or, “I just want to do this (insert an event)---just to see if I can. Just to challenge myself.” Their fear is that if they hire someone to help them improve, then they are being too serious and the fun will disappear from their sport.
The fact of the matter is, that asking for help can make competing a heck of a lot more fun! This is the very genesis of the KSP philosophy. Having been a business executive, I completely understand the demands of a full-time career (plus commute) and home life. It’s a balancing act to stay fit and to progress, thus, if large goals and/or races become stressors then they are simply not compatible with everything else in your life. The coach should use your time wisely, no matter what that time might be, and to understand that training is a tool for personal achievement.
Because of my professional, educational, and athletic backgrounds, I have spent a lot of time considering what it means to coach people; particularly those that represent the majority of people that participate in sport:
- A great coach sees you as an individual, not a person to be molded by a pre-set training system.
- A great coach understands your personal needs and interests, your self-perception, and works with you to help you reach goals.
- A great coach sees a busy lifestyle as their professional challenge, not a limitation to a person’s ability to achieve.
- A great coach works hard to understand who they are working with, and how to help that person cope with the psychological side of participating in sport.
- A great coach considers that you like to do certain things (such as a weekly group run or ride) and does not take those things away from you, but works to integrate them into your training in a meaningful way.
- A great coach is always willing to explain why you have certain workouts, or why they recommend you approach your training in a particular way.
- A great coach does not evaluate you with respect to your opponents, and base training off of promises about what the coach can make you into. Instead, he/she takes you, the individual and helps YOU to improve, and knows that improvement is the only path to desired results.
- A great coach enhances enjoyment of a sport.
- A great coach never believes he or she has achieved a standard of greatness, but is constantly working to better themselves professionally and add value to their clients.
Having a competent, highly trained professional on your side makes things much simpler with respect to your daily life and the goals you set for yourself athletically.