A personal statement
When assigning practice pieces or weight sets, I'm often asked by my squads to demonstrate or in some cases part take in what they're doing just to show them that I can do it. Occasionally I'll satisfy their request when they're on their rest period but often I laugh and tell them that after years of rowing and coxing, I earned my pass.
While this is a joke between me and my teams, one thing that I don't believe is a joke is lending a hand and understanding that just because you're a coach and not an athlete, it shouldn't make you above helping out. At each stop I've made at least once and in some cases more, the point has been made that the athletes should be doing a majority of the work with work being carrying oars, carrying boats, carrying shoes, loading and unloading the coaching launches, etc. At my very first stop the athletes were supposed to carry in tandem, the 75 lb engines down to the launches each day and then back up at the end of practice amongst their other responsibilities.
It's never failed to amuse me listening to co-workers comment about the time it takes for athletes to do something or how there are jobs they simply won't do believing that it was their team's responsibility to get it - whatever it is - done. I've been at end of the regatta meetings and listened as some have berated the team about having to lift a finger to do something because there are "countless" other responsibilities that we as coaches have to do.
I have two thoughts on this sort of attitude.
The first is, yes regattas have additional responsibilities when you're a coach. You're either at the meeting, making sure that boats are set up properly or rigging or checking the rigging on your boat, looking at line ups, etc. I could go on but the bottom line is, there's a lot of stuff to do.
That being said, I believe that as a coach you need to show up at the regatta with your guns loaded meaning you're line ups are set, you've taken the time to write down the set up you want for each boat/rigger, you've got secondary line ups set just in case something interesting happens and that if you've done your job, barring the unforeseen hiccups, you aren't so busy that you cannot be bothered to help.
The second thought - and this ties into the title - is this saying that I learned a while back and that is, "Never ask someone to do something that you yourself wouldn't do." I cannot remember where I read that or who I heard that from and I've taken some creative liberty and altered it slight to, "Never ask someone to do something that you yourself wouldn't do or haven't already done." A small change but I believe that you should have already done the job several times prior that you are now asking someone to do. That means carrying oars without complaint, jumping in to carry a boat, carrying shoes or coming down early and loading all the coaching launches.
I strongly believe that you as a coach are a leader and if you simply see yourself as someone who assigns work then you should not be coaching because you're a task master and interested in delegating, not coaching. I believe that respect is earned, never given and that if you want something done, do it yourself. I have never had a problem with athletes not doing their jobs - though there are times they don't do it as quickly as I'd like - and I believe that a part of that stems from the fact that they see me more than willing to pitch in and help out. The coaches I've heard complaining about their athletes being "lazy" or "unmotivated" are more often than not the coaches that complain loudly about having to carry a set of oars, or help walk up a boat. Not surprisingly they are often the coaches that say, "Well I did this in college/high school and so I don't need to do it" or say "I'm a coach therefore I don't need to do it" as though their status makes doing this sort of work below them.
To wrap up my soap box, \perhaps things are different if you're a program director but I don't believe that there is a single job that should be below you as a coach. When you take on the title of coach, I believe you've simply added to your responsibilities, not necessarily changed them.
While this is a joke between me and my teams, one thing that I don't believe is a joke is lending a hand and understanding that just because you're a coach and not an athlete, it shouldn't make you above helping out. At each stop I've made at least once and in some cases more, the point has been made that the athletes should be doing a majority of the work with work being carrying oars, carrying boats, carrying shoes, loading and unloading the coaching launches, etc. At my very first stop the athletes were supposed to carry in tandem, the 75 lb engines down to the launches each day and then back up at the end of practice amongst their other responsibilities.
It's never failed to amuse me listening to co-workers comment about the time it takes for athletes to do something or how there are jobs they simply won't do believing that it was their team's responsibility to get it - whatever it is - done. I've been at end of the regatta meetings and listened as some have berated the team about having to lift a finger to do something because there are "countless" other responsibilities that we as coaches have to do.
I have two thoughts on this sort of attitude.
The first is, yes regattas have additional responsibilities when you're a coach. You're either at the meeting, making sure that boats are set up properly or rigging or checking the rigging on your boat, looking at line ups, etc. I could go on but the bottom line is, there's a lot of stuff to do.
That being said, I believe that as a coach you need to show up at the regatta with your guns loaded meaning you're line ups are set, you've taken the time to write down the set up you want for each boat/rigger, you've got secondary line ups set just in case something interesting happens and that if you've done your job, barring the unforeseen hiccups, you aren't so busy that you cannot be bothered to help.
The second thought - and this ties into the title - is this saying that I learned a while back and that is, "Never ask someone to do something that you yourself wouldn't do." I cannot remember where I read that or who I heard that from and I've taken some creative liberty and altered it slight to, "Never ask someone to do something that you yourself wouldn't do or haven't already done." A small change but I believe that you should have already done the job several times prior that you are now asking someone to do. That means carrying oars without complaint, jumping in to carry a boat, carrying shoes or coming down early and loading all the coaching launches.
I strongly believe that you as a coach are a leader and if you simply see yourself as someone who assigns work then you should not be coaching because you're a task master and interested in delegating, not coaching. I believe that respect is earned, never given and that if you want something done, do it yourself. I have never had a problem with athletes not doing their jobs - though there are times they don't do it as quickly as I'd like - and I believe that a part of that stems from the fact that they see me more than willing to pitch in and help out. The coaches I've heard complaining about their athletes being "lazy" or "unmotivated" are more often than not the coaches that complain loudly about having to carry a set of oars, or help walk up a boat. Not surprisingly they are often the coaches that say, "Well I did this in college/high school and so I don't need to do it" or say "I'm a coach therefore I don't need to do it" as though their status makes doing this sort of work below them.
To wrap up my soap box, \perhaps things are different if you're a program director but I don't believe that there is a single job that should be below you as a coach. When you take on the title of coach, I believe you've simply added to your responsibilities, not necessarily changed them.
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