Advice for Young Hurdle Coaches
One of the more gratifying aspects of being an older coach (yes I think 50 equals “older”) is watching former athletes take on a role as a coach, paying forward the lessons they learned from me and other coaches they may have had over the years. Sometimes, these former athletes will seek me out for advice when adapting to life as a coach. Most often, they’re seeking ideas for workouts, ideas for drills, tips for handling pushy parents, tips for dealing with unmotivated athletes, suggestions for dealing with team or school politics, etc.
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With new coaches, the ability to coach is not the issue, but a lack of belief in one’s ability can definitely be an issue. Based on some of the questions I’ve received from young coaches recently, this article will provide what I feel to be the “keys to success” (I hate that phrase, but can’t think of a better one in this context) for the young coach looking to establish him or herself in the profession. Lord knows, hurdlers need good coaches who know the event and have a passion for it. Among athletes, the most common concern I receive is that they don’t have a coach at their school who really knows the hurdles. So, for the kids’ sake, the young ones need to be encouraged to stick with it.
Go with What You Know
The most important piece of advice is simple: start with what you already know. Though it’s important to learn, to grow, to pick brains, to ask questions, etc., start with what you know. If you’re trying to figure out what workouts to use on your hurdlers, start with the workouts you did in high school and college. If you’re trying to figure out what drills to use to improve your hurdlers’ technique, start with the drills you’re already familiar with that worked for you. If you participated in other events or other sports during your competitive years, incorporate the knowledge you gained from those experiences into your coaching style. Before you can grow, before you can expand, you need to have a starting point. And the starting point is you. A lot of young coaches assume that because they have yet to accumulate a large volume of knowledge, they’ll steer athletes in the wrong direction and make fatal errors in their athletes’ training regimen. But I always say that you can’t learn from your mistakes if you don’t make them, and if you can’t trust your instincts then no amount of knowledge can compensate.
Be Yourself
Next, along the same lines, I would say, be yourself. If you’re not a crack-the-whip type of coach, then don’t try to crack the whip. If you’re not a not a laid-back type of coach, then don’t try to be laid-back. Athletes can see right through any façade, and they won’t trust you if they feel like you’re pretending to be someone you’re not. Let your personality shine. If your fiery by nature, be fiery on the track. If you’re meticulous by nature, be meticulous in critiquing technique. If you have a gregarious, outgoing personality, then don’t be afraid to share laughter and humor in your interactions with your athletes. I’ve been around coaches who were very rigid and borderline anti-social on the surface, but their athletes loved them because they knew they could trust them. Athletes don’t respect certain personality types; they respect sincerity, and consistency, and open lines of communication.
Learn from Your Athletes
The most important and reliable sources of knowledge for a coach are the athletes themselves. This may sound a bit crazy, but it’s true. They’re the primary source of knowledge not because they know a lot, but because the issues they face in their hurdling will force you to learn and grow. I remember when I first started coaching, I was adamant that all 100/110m hurdlers need to 3-step. No 4-stepping, and certainly no 5-stepping. If you can’t 3-step, you can’t be competitive.
And while that still holds true at the higher levels of competition, it doesn’t hold true for kids running in the 18.0 to, say, the 15.0 range. My first year of coaching, way back in 1995, I had three girl hurdlers on my team, none of whom could 3-step. I did all kinds of magic tricks in designing workouts and drills to facilitate the 3-step. But to no avail. I grew frustrated with them, and they felt like they were letting me down. Practice sessions were becoming tense. Then one day a new girl came along who wanted to try the hurdles. I told her to hop in the lane with the other girls and take her turn going over the flight of four that I had set up. This girl, without knowing what she was doing, alternated lead legs and four-stepped all the way down the line. Well I’ll be damned.
The other girls saw it and asked, “Why can’t we do that?” I had no answer. I let them try it, and they picked it up pretty quickly. And now they were able to run competitive races. Later – the following year – one of them was able to 3-step consistently. But if she hadn’t 4-stepped first, the 3-step never would’ve happened.
So, the first step in moving beyond the knowledge you gained from your own competitive days is to troubleshoot the problems your athletes face. You may have had a problem with your lead leg swinging to the inside; one of your athletes may have the problem with swinging the lead leg to the outside. What do you do? You figure it out together. Your own experiences as an athlete cannot help you, cannot serve as a reference point? I say, figure out it with the athlete. Before referring to a manual, before calling up an old coach, troubleshoot the problem right there on the track. If you’re afraid of making mistakes, you will transfer that fear onto your athletes. I’ll often tell an athletes, “This might not solve the problem, but we’re gonna try it. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.” Such communication frees me from the feeling that I have to know everything, and it lets the athlete know what we’re in this thing together.
Never Stop Growing, but Don’t Rush It
As you gain more experience coaching, you learn to trust yourself more, and you gradually let go of the fear of leading your athletes into the ditch. While I do feel it is important for young coaches (and coaches of all ages, for that matter) to pick the brains of other coaches, to attend clinics, to read up on the latest training methods, etc., I also feel that a young coach can become overwhelmed if attempting to absorb too much information too soon. The goal is to get better every year, not to get better all at once. If you attend a clinic and learn a whole lot of new things, don’t try to incorporate all of it into the next practice. Some of it might have to wait until the following year or even later, depending on what your athletes are ready to handle. To this day, I still have ideas in my head that I’ve yet to have the opportunity to use.
Have a Plan, Even if You Don’t Stick to It
Of course, it’s impossible to stick to a training plan for the simple reason that unexpected things always come up. A snowstorm in March, a lacrosse tournament in May, all-day Pop Warner games in November. The day before prom, girls can’t come to practice because they have to get their make-up done. Athletes get injured and miss time. Athletes become apathetic and quit. Midterm exams, final exams, AP exams cut into training time.
Despite such obstacles, it really helps to have a mapped-out plan of what workouts you want your athletes to do on a weekly basis, and to know what the short-term and long-term goals are. Deviating from a plan, or adjusting a plan, can usually be fairly easy. Not having a plan to deviate from can create chaos. Consulting with an experienced coach to help formulate such a plan is a good idea, but always be ready to add your own touches to it based on your own vision of what you want your athletes to accomplish.
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