Coaching Energy – How To Feeling Energized In Your Coaching
Coaching Energy – How To Feeling Energized In Your Coaching
If you’ve ever coached you will “get” the concept of “Coaching Energy”.
Coaching Energy is the combination of energy in training and practice sessions that comes from:
The Athletes.
The combined “energy” of the coach and the athletes and its subsequent impact on the training environment is a critically important but poorly understood element of successful coaching.
The traditional way of looking at “coaching energy” is to consider that energy flows one-way, i.e. from the coach to the athletes. The coach writes the program. The coach delivers the program. The coach does all the talking. The coach provides the motivation – the “telling and the yelling” of the program.
As a result of this one-way flow of energy, it is common to see tired, worn out, exhausted coaches who’ve given everything they’ve got to the athletes during the session, slumping out of the training environment at the end of training seemingly drained of life and passion.
I also see coaches at the end of the season who are completed burnt out and desperate for down-time as a result of giving their energy – selflessly and wholeheartedly to the athletes for weeks and months at a time.
I believe that it is this one-way flow of energy that is the primary reason why coaches walk away from coaching prematurely and turn their back on the profession often feeling jaded, disillusioned and disheartened.
There is a better way.
Firstly, engage with the athletes and teach them how to take ownership over their own practice, preparation and performance.
Second, teach athletes the power of choice – i.e. that is their choices – their decisions on how to complete the workout activities that largely determines their success.
Thirdly, openly seek and welcome two-way discussion – a “partnership” approach to coaching where athletes feel “safe” in offering ideas, suggestions and comments about how they can contribute to the greater success of their program.
The end result of these actions is that the athletes are contributing as much energy to the training environment as the coach – and the overall energy of the program – and it’s likely success – increases significantly.
I will be writing and speaking a lot more about coaching energy in the future.
Wayne Goldsmith
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