When we look back on our lives, I often imagine many of us would be embarrassed by what we did or said in our early years as a coach. My experience as an athlete and as a coach certainly was not an exception to the rule. As an athlete in high school and college I was a coaches nightmare, talented, thought I knew everything and often injured. Sadly my first couple of years as a head coach went along a similar progression. As I look back at those early years of coaching the one thing that keeps me sane is the fact I have grown a lot as a mentor to young people through sports. It was important for me to learn from those early missteps. As coaches, we know the route to mastery is not and should not be a comfortable experience.
One way a coach can cut down on their growing pains is to find a good mentor. A mentor coach should be someone who has success not only on the track but also off the track through management, promotion, training theory, fellowship, and recruitment. Early in one's coaching career, it is not unusual a coach for a coach to be weak in one or more aspects of elite coaching. If a single coach can't meet these high expectations, it will be critical for them to have a community of coaches that can help cover all the bases.
In the sport of track and field potentially everyone can have a successful experience on the track at the same time. The potential for shared success has allowed for the coaches in track and field to spread their knowledge more freely. In fact, I feel in the last ten years knowledge has been shared with increased in frequency and density. No doubt this a good thing, and since the sport of track is measurable, you can see the amount of improvement nationwide through records and higher levels of regional competition.
Personally, the biggest two moments in my coaching career came in the form of mentorship. The first of these moments as I stated on my previous blog came from the relationship I developed from joining the coaching staff for the Ladue Lightning (later known as the St. Louis Lightning). The experience I gained during that first summer was invaluable developing how and why we train at Parkway Central. I learned to apply science and research I uncovered into my coaching that first summer with the lightning. I became distinctly aware of how much kids could improve. It was almost like the moment in the movie the Matrix when Neo discovers the "land of the real." My brain felt as if it was about to pop! Through that relationship, my thirst for knowledge grew! I started to search for any research I could find to give my kids every legal competitive advantage!
My insatiable hunger for knowledge would lead me to my next important mentorship moment. One of my assistant coaches and I were talking about a locally successful high school soccer coach. During our conversation it was discussed he had achieved the highest certification a high school soccer coach could acquire. That information made me wonder if there was such a thing for track & field? Of course, all of us who frequent this website know the answer to that question is YES. I then made it my mission to try and get to as many of those schools and clinics I could. If it were not for my assistant coach (who used to be my teacher back in the day) pushing me to be better and discover opportunities for professional development I would not have been able to maximize my career.
Since my formal education, I have been blessed to have very talented kids and some success at my level of coaching. These relationships have opened many doors that previously were closed. It has given me the opportunity to become friends with skilled professionals in the field. I have been able to pick their brains and call on them when I need some advice. This relationship has been invaluable.
Be careful not to abuse these relationships. Remember mentorship can and should be a two-way street. If you are getting something, you should give something back. If coaches don't want anything you could provide, it's ok, but you should always offer. That is why I believe when we look at our mentorship lineage it should not be a tree. Instead, it should be a WEB. A web where information is received and returned. Many coaches are masters in one discipline or another. For example, you may be a great coach in the jumps but can't coach distance to save your life. If you have a good relationship with a coach in an event, you are weak in offer the coach your best mico-cycle of training, templates, etc. In return, they could make you a great interval workout for your 1600 stud. In fact a few years back I had that very experience with a coaching friend at who is a jump guru. Both his and my kids benefited, and it's been fun to watch the progress since that meeting!
In St. Louis County we have had the unique situation to have a strong web of coaches. We bounce ideas off of each other and have even gone one another's practices to see how we manage training on and off the track. That experience has been excellent. Another neat idea for mentorship is the "Dutch" clinic. A "Dutch" clinic is where a group of coaches get together to talk track, and your only payment is you are expected to make a presentation and share some of your secrets! Coach Matt Candrl hosts a "Dutch" clinic every winter. Stay tuned for further information on that clinic soon.
In the not so distance future, you will end up becoming a mentor to a younger coach. Don't forget your experiences and development. You could become the most influential person in that young coach's development. Being a mentor could seem like a daunting task, but this relationship can be just as fun as the bond you have with the kids you coach! Plus you never know you might learn something as well.