12 years & finishing 2020

 Hello loyal readers,

I apologize for the lengthy layoff between posts and I hope that your holidays began well and that you are staying safe.

First, an anniversary. This is the 12th year of the coaching blog. 12 years. It's difficult to wrap the mind around 12 years, and how much has changed since then. 

Recap:

I've been at seven different programs, gone to nationals four times, and coached a national championship winning boat. Pocock developed two shell types: Hypercarbon Comps, & the new and beautiful XVIII, and is redesigning my favorite shell ever: The K4. 

Blade and shaft trends have changed. The Fat2 came and went, as did the obsession with Croker oars. The skinny shaft became popular, and Smoothie blades are back in style. 

RP3s became all the rage, and the C2 dynamic erg went the way of the dinosaur. But RP3s are expensive, and the Model D PM5 C2 is highly popular. And they introduced the new skierg and the ergbike - I've heard the ergbike is terrible but have yet to use one.

I worked with the Junior National Team High Performance team and traveled to Club Nationals, and coached a competitive summer junior program and traveled to Canada to one of my newly favorite races, Canadian Henley. 

I've revamped my resume. 

And I've lost 30+ pounds which is both exciting, and rather embarrassing. So with that said, here's to the next 12 years.

Moving forward. 

Currently I am not coaching though I am applying. I have recently sent out several applications for both college and junior programs. I have interviewed but unfortunately did not make the grouping. However rather than get discouraged I take this as a sign that things are still moving forward.

You can either grind or quit.

I know that I've addressed this idea before, but I do not believe in dead ends. Dead ends in jobs, dead ends in careers. There are always options. Of course one of the options is the dead end, but that is not my choice. 

I believe that there are always three choices to be made and I liken it to a literal dead end on a road:

1. Whine about it, and choose to wait till someone comes and plows the new road or the rest of the road.

2. Decide that this is as close to your destination as you will get and stay.

3. Bang a U and take any number of other roads that you passed on your way to where you got stuck. 

Assuming you have a plan, you likely can see the destination that you're hoping to reach ahead of you. You'll be stuck for a long time, perhaps forever, if you choose option 1. You forfeit if you choose option 2. And you never know what options you might discover if you choose option 3. 

It's always good to have a plan, but just like training, if you're fixated on going from A to B to C, and you cannot see another way around, then you're probably stuck. While the shortest distance between two points might be a straight line, as the crow flies, in reality we only need to check how highways were builts to see that perhaps this straight line is not only not the best or quickest way, but it's likely the route that will lead to failure. A failure to adapt. A failure to seize other opportunities. A failure to see how turning left or right might lead you toward your goal more quickly.

I have a friend who wanted to be a coach. But he would only consider jobs from the top programs in the country. Needless to say, he isn't coaching. We all want to work with Yale men, UW women, etc. but the reality of that situation happening in the timeline that we'd like is slim to none. Perhaps you are good enough to get there some day, but likely not yet. You're going to have to work your way up.

I believe, firmly, that when you see programs struggle or succeed, you need to look at their hiring practices. I believe, firmly, that the programs that struggle the most hire poorly and hire coaches who have never had to build or create. It's one thing to be at a top program where athletes are falling over themselves to apply and get in. It's quite another to have to build from the ground up working with lower experienced athletes, or no experience walkons. I believe that if you want to find coaches who can build and be successful, you need to get away from the first name programs. This doesn't mean that being at a top tier program is as simple as putting names into a hat and drawing a winning combination. But it does mean that their talent level to draw from is deeper and more diverse than others. I believe that if you want to find a successful coach, look for junior coaches at smaller programs. Look for coaches who were novice coaches and were successful, then head coaches and were successful. Look for coaches coming from DIII programs or smaller DI programs. 

This is what I mean by seizing opportunities. This is what I mean about not sticking in a straight line. 

I cannot tell you the number of times I've been told, "If you go to ____ you'll never reach the point that you want to reach." And my response has always been, no, YOU won't reach that point, but I will. 

I've coached juniors, and yet I've worked for two DI programs. 

I've coached DIII, and yet I've been fortunate enough to work with one of the junior national teams. 

I chase opportunity, not money. I believe that it is entirely possible to get to where you want to go if you have a plan, and you're willing to work. 

A few years ago, a coach I know was talking to me about recruiting and they said something that stuck with me. "If you're fast, someone will come find you." I've always loved that, and I've pushed that thought into coaching. If you're good, if you're dedicated, someone will come find you.