A dream is to fulfill
one’s deepest desire. The dream for coaches of professional athletes is to see them win. For some it may be the
Olympics; for a tennis player the ultimate prize is a championship at Wimbledon. The question is how does one get there?
Sports coaches have the
unique ability to impact lives and to make dreams a reality. Some coaches have tasted this success on
their own and wish to share it with others. Others have only dreamt of this
success for themselves, but strive to support those more talented to achieve
their goals.
Coaches love to teach
athletes with heart, desire, fight and most importantly the motivation to
improve and excel. However, in order to
be successful, coaches need to be able to help their athletes to achieve
success on many fronts: emotionally, physically and technically. Knowing how to coach an athlete to success in
itself a carefully learned art.
The question remains though,
how does a coach go from good to great?
Often it is their athletes that challenge them to be the best in the
game. At the top coaching levels
coaching is less about teaching and more about facilitating success.
The answer really is that like
an athlete, great coaches never stop practicing and continuing to learn how to
be better. In his latest bestselling
book, The Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that it takes 10 000 hours for one to become master their
passion whether it be sport, art or science.
If this is true, this theory could then be applied to coaches as
well.
Preparation for success in
coaching mirrors that of an athletes’, coaches must challenge themselves to
learn more, practice more and consistently evaluate their own performance.
Great coaches:
·
Ask questions
and listen
·
Read all types
of materials including biographies
·
Observe
matches, players and other coaches
·
Work with
executive coaches
·
Never stop
learning
Executive coaching is an
excellent tool that coaches can use to become the best that they can be. “Coaching
is recognized in business, in teaching, and in sports as a positive and
empowering strategy for performance and leadership development.” (Witherspoon
& White 1997). An executive coach works with their clients to determine
what they want, who they are and then develop a strategic plan for navigating through
the obstacles along the way.
Your executive coach might
ask you questions like: What is your coaching philosophy? What are your professional values? What special coaching tools do you have to
help unlock the success of your athletes?
They may seem like simple
questions, however, very few people actually think about them. Executive
coaching opens the door to dialogue that you may already intuitively know about
yourself, but have never actually spoken out loud or written down. Every single
person holds the key to their own success; a good coach helps them to unlock
it.
What are you doing to
become a masterful coach?