Pay it forward
I've done a quick search of my blog and I didn't see a post regarding this, but if I've said it before, it doesn't hurt to say it again:
Pay it forward.
Or give back. Either works.
What I mean by this is that your experience and knowledge as a coach began somewhere. Someone took you under their wing and gave you advice on how to begin, where to begin. You read a book, found some ideas, saw some things, did some digging. In short, the knowledge and experienced you've gained as a coach is your work, but the fruits of this began as a seed planted by someone else.
Hopefully you've been able to thank this person or those persons in person. I have not. Not yet.
My inspiration and the person I have tried to model myself after is my high school soccer coach. He was an incredible coach, and if you wonder why I do or don't do some of the thing I do/don't do, it began with him.
I don't have coaching mentors - I have coaches I admire - simply because I've only ever had two mentors in my career. It's something that I wish were different because I often feel as though I jumped into the deep end without knowing how to truly swim. I would argue that it wasn't without trying on my part, and many of the jobs I accepted, I accepted on the promise that mentoring would be part of my compensation though it almost never happened.
I became a head coach much too early in my career, and that is something that if I'd known it was going to happen, I would have chosen a different program. I wasn't ready to be a head coach.
These two experiences, my incredible head coach, and feeling as though I was in over my head, have influenced how I view my own career, and the impact my experience and knowledge can have on others who are wanting to be coaches.
I still feel a bit too young to have anyone looking to me for advice, but that is where I find myself this summer, director of a couple of camps as well as leading junior men with two assistant coaches. Ready or not, this is where things are.
Coach Teti said something years ago on the excellent...documentary, "A Fine Balance," that has stuck with me. I'll paraphrase, but he said, "I don't know what to do. But I know what not to do."
That is one of his quotes that has always stuck with me. It keeps me pushing to learn more as a coach because if an excellent athlete turned excellent coach can say that, then I most certainly can say the same. It also keeps me grounded when it comes to working with assistant coaches. I've technically only ever had one assistant, though I suppose two assistants is more accurate. But I've been an assistant for some excellent coaches - Ted Murphy, Jamie Crowley - and some less than excellent coaches, and I've learned from both.
In terms of paying it forward, I want to be as good a resource as I can be for the coaches I'm working with this summer. I want to share the knowledge I've gained, the experience I've gained, and the mistakes I've made - and oh boy, have there been mistakes - as well as some of the successes that I've had.
For the Jr. Learn to Row camp, I have three assistants, and I've decided - perhaps unwisely - to have them do all the training plans. I'm not abandoning them to the wilds, but I believe that they will get more out of the camp and training if they plan the day to day workouts and scheduling rather than sitting around and watching me run the camp.
I believe coxswains and athletes could improve on their technical abilities in the summer by coaching rather than simply rowing, and that belief influences or inspires this approach. I'll sit with them, talk with them and help out, and offer advice, but I want them to come up with the framework for the training.
I've also made myself available for the more experienced coaches. Today I put together a general, "How to Rig" guide based on my own knowledge and experience. I'm not entirely certain what to call it - manifesto feels a bit odd - but I hope to spend time with a couple of the coaches who've expressed a desire to learn to rig, and use this as a way for them to understand the fundamentals of general rigging.
And finally, I have shared the books I brought with me as resources for the program in general.
I refer back to the Coach Teti quote, where I'm not certain that this is the best approach, but it's an approach that I've based on my own experiences.
Pay it forward.
Or give back. Either works.
What I mean by this is that your experience and knowledge as a coach began somewhere. Someone took you under their wing and gave you advice on how to begin, where to begin. You read a book, found some ideas, saw some things, did some digging. In short, the knowledge and experienced you've gained as a coach is your work, but the fruits of this began as a seed planted by someone else.
Hopefully you've been able to thank this person or those persons in person. I have not. Not yet.
My inspiration and the person I have tried to model myself after is my high school soccer coach. He was an incredible coach, and if you wonder why I do or don't do some of the thing I do/don't do, it began with him.
I don't have coaching mentors - I have coaches I admire - simply because I've only ever had two mentors in my career. It's something that I wish were different because I often feel as though I jumped into the deep end without knowing how to truly swim. I would argue that it wasn't without trying on my part, and many of the jobs I accepted, I accepted on the promise that mentoring would be part of my compensation though it almost never happened.
I became a head coach much too early in my career, and that is something that if I'd known it was going to happen, I would have chosen a different program. I wasn't ready to be a head coach.
These two experiences, my incredible head coach, and feeling as though I was in over my head, have influenced how I view my own career, and the impact my experience and knowledge can have on others who are wanting to be coaches.
I still feel a bit too young to have anyone looking to me for advice, but that is where I find myself this summer, director of a couple of camps as well as leading junior men with two assistant coaches. Ready or not, this is where things are.
Coach Teti said something years ago on the excellent...documentary, "A Fine Balance," that has stuck with me. I'll paraphrase, but he said, "I don't know what to do. But I know what not to do."
That is one of his quotes that has always stuck with me. It keeps me pushing to learn more as a coach because if an excellent athlete turned excellent coach can say that, then I most certainly can say the same. It also keeps me grounded when it comes to working with assistant coaches. I've technically only ever had one assistant, though I suppose two assistants is more accurate. But I've been an assistant for some excellent coaches - Ted Murphy, Jamie Crowley - and some less than excellent coaches, and I've learned from both.
In terms of paying it forward, I want to be as good a resource as I can be for the coaches I'm working with this summer. I want to share the knowledge I've gained, the experience I've gained, and the mistakes I've made - and oh boy, have there been mistakes - as well as some of the successes that I've had.
For the Jr. Learn to Row camp, I have three assistants, and I've decided - perhaps unwisely - to have them do all the training plans. I'm not abandoning them to the wilds, but I believe that they will get more out of the camp and training if they plan the day to day workouts and scheduling rather than sitting around and watching me run the camp.
I believe coxswains and athletes could improve on their technical abilities in the summer by coaching rather than simply rowing, and that belief influences or inspires this approach. I'll sit with them, talk with them and help out, and offer advice, but I want them to come up with the framework for the training.
I've also made myself available for the more experienced coaches. Today I put together a general, "How to Rig" guide based on my own knowledge and experience. I'm not entirely certain what to call it - manifesto feels a bit odd - but I hope to spend time with a couple of the coaches who've expressed a desire to learn to rig, and use this as a way for them to understand the fundamentals of general rigging.
And finally, I have shared the books I brought with me as resources for the program in general.
I refer back to the Coach Teti quote, where I'm not certain that this is the best approach, but it's an approach that I've based on my own experiences.
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