Diversity strengthens coaching

Take home message

seek a range of experiences to broaden your skill set.

For Coaches

Make a commitment to broaden your network of coaches and visit at least one a month. Make a list and start communicating.

For Athletes

Look outside your team or sport for learning opportunities to bring back to your performance and your teammates. Can you help link coaches?

A wonderful aspect of S&C is the diversity among sports and athletes.  I’ve always encouraged young coaches to work with as many different athletes as possible.  I started my career at the WA Institute of Sport working across the whole array of sports. It was a great starting environment for a coach. The next 14 years I worked exclusively with male athletes in rugby and hockey.  Between 2017 and July 2019, I was extremely fortunate to work with both male and female national hockey squads, learning new coaching techniques and communication.  However, I still work with “senior” athletes.

Tidying up the gym the other night, a colleague about to start his session with junior athletes remarked: “I really enjoy working with young athletes.  They are just so malleable and eager”.  It was a fascinating statement as I had just completed a rehab session with a senior athlete and was thinking almost the exact opposite: “I really enjoy working with senior athletes.  You can discuss options and really delve into what they need”. Two contrasting statements within moments.  This is not a piece about who was right or wrong, but the pros and cons of every athlete group and the nuances that coaches need to consider.  Also, how we can find enjoyment and specificity with any group. 

I was talking to a younger coach who saw the malleability of his younger athlete group: “I see how much mine have to learn”, he said.  He saw my senior athlete as driven and self-reliant.  I appreciated my senior athlete as someone who could tease out minor details from conversations to tailor to their specific circumstances. 

It also says something about diversity among coaches and why it is important to communicate regularly with a variety of coaches.  Our perspectives differ and we can help each other see so much more.  My advice is to make sure that you are exposed to a wide range of athletes.  So, if you work at a footy club, try to get to a session of another sport once a month.  If you work with the same one or two S&C coaches at your organisation, make sure you are having conversations with a different coach or watch them in action every once in a while, to get a different perspective.  We can always learn from the experiences of other coaches and professionals if we make the time.