COACHING SKILLS

In the spirit of the holiday season, I want to share experiences and anecdotes about the
coaches who have given to me much of their time, energy, knowledge, patience, resources,
stories, and honesty. I want to take the time to thank those who have been so generous
with their time and hopefully, in the near future, I can pay it forward.

After serving as an assistant coach for ten seasons, including the past seven at Chapin High
School, I now have the opportunity to lead the girls’ program. As our high school team
enters the spring semester and begins to train for the upcoming 2017 season, the stories
below serve as a guide that significantly impacts my daily coaching duties and my ever-
evolving coaching philosophy.

Latif Thomas: Mentor

Last season, Latif guided me for an entire season and undoubtedly has had the biggest
impact on my coaching philosophy. I’ve shared my experience with Latif in a previous
article: <a href="https://simplifaster.com/articles/changes-made-teams-sprint-training-
program-help-mentor/">"Changes I Made to My Team’s Sprint Training Program with the
Help of a Mentor." What I didn’t include in in that article was how I first met Latif in the
summer of 2015 at his CTF Track and Field clinic at Harvard University. At the clinic, coaches
are encouraged to roam around to different event groups and seek out information freely
by talking to the other expert coaches leading the groups. Keep in mind that hundreds of
athletes attend the clinic as well as dozens of coaches, so it’s safe to say Latif stays busy.

During a stop at the horizontal jumps session, I introduced myself to Latif and bombarded
him with question after question thinking I needed to get every single one answered on the
spot. And what did the guy hosting and responsible for the entire clinic do? He answered
every question in detail for almost an hour, gave me his cell number in case I needed
anything during my stay in Boston, and invited me to the “coaches only after-hours clinic.”
Throughout the remainder of the clinic, he stopped by during small encounters to continue
our previous conversations. Regrettably, I was not able to attend the after-hours coaches’
clinic because I had a 36-hour drive back to Texas with only two days to travel.

Months later, when I bombarded Latif with the idea of mentoring me, he replied to every
email and agreed to be my mentor (I was relentless in asking him). Here’s the kicker. Latif is
a coach first, but also an extremely savvy business guy. I offered to pay Latif along the way
for his time and guidance, but he always brushed the payment suggestion aside. Latif has
been paid several times to speak at clinics but never once did he charge me for his time and
depth of knowledge. I’m an extremely loyal CTF customer because it has transformed our
program. Latif continues to be a mentor, but more importantly, a peer and friend.
Best nugget of wisdom from Latif: His constant message is about getting kids to believe in
themselves using what he often refers to as “Jedi-mind tricks.” Coaches must truly
understand what is deeply important to each of their athletes. Only then can they have a
true impact on their kids. Building this kind of genuine coaching relationship with athletes
motivates them and allows them to grow and become their genuine selves.

Tony Holler: Generosity

Earlier in the same summer I met Latif, I started reading about this innovative “be activated”
system (now called Reflexive Performance Reset) that allowed athletes to perform in an
optimal state. Moreover, the more I read Tony’s articles about speed, timing, and sharing
results with the world, the more I became intrigued with his teachings and philosophies. I
quickly decided to attend the first Track and Field/Football Consortium in Chicago.

We all know people who post messages or thoughts on social media or preach a certain
lifestyle, but their lifestyle doesn’t quite reflect their message. Read Tony’s political beliefs
and messages on social media and add my experience with the man, and you’ll understand
that he is a man of character and principle.

I arrived at the consortium ten minutes before it began because it was my first time in
Chicago and I have a limited directional sense. Tony unexpectedly met me at the entrance,
greeted me, introduced me to local coaches, and welcomed me into the auditorium. After
the event had ended about 8:30 p.m. on a Friday, I was supposed to travel back to South
Chicago for the night. But I was invited to eat dinner and talk shop with the coaches
afterward. The event was held about 30-40 minutes away from where I was staying. When
he heard I would have to go back at that late hour, Tony offered his spare bed in his rented
hotel room for the night so I wouldn’t have to make the drive and could hang out with the
coaches that night. Here is a man I had never met, never previously had a conversation with,
who had zero knowledge of my background, and he allowed me to stay at the hotel he
rented.

The next day, Tony and I had breakfast. I offered to pay, he refused. I offered to pay him
back for the hotel. He again refused. He hooked me up with one of his PN Track speed camp
shirts and, at the end of the consortium on Saturday, gave me a ride to the train station to
Chicago and paid for my ticket because I didn’t have cash on me. I was the worst guest,
having prepared poorly for my trip, and here was an Illinois track and field hall of fame
coach displaying a form of humility and acceptance I was so fortunate to encounter.

Best nugget of wisdom from Tony: His athletes warm up explosively. Other coaches have
often stated that nobody performs these dynamic warm up drills better than Tony’s
sprinters. I preach to our sprinters every single day the importance of performing our warm
up drills with purpose and intensity. Tony loves to feed the cats and then let them rest. Our
sprinters now have every Wednesday off.
Gabe Sanders: Enjoy the Process

Gabe is currently the sprints/hurdles coach at Stanford University. I met Gabe at the 2015
CTF clinic and sat down to talk to him for about an hour in the hotel lounge. Gabe is a really
smart guy, and the conversation was enlightening. What made the conversation valuable
was that Gabe didn’t use fancy terminology or speak over me. He used terms and made
references that made sense to me. As an educator, I appreciate a knowledgeable coach who
can explain complex material in a manner which is easy to understand.

"Coaches and athletes need to focus on the process and enjoy the experience."

While he was moving cross-country from Boston University to Stanford, Gabe took the time
to return a call and gave me another hour of his time to help me with some training
questions I had that evening. Since taking the coaching position at one of the most
prestigious universities in the world, Gabe has continued to offer advice. During the day, I
will read a study or an article, and I will ask his opinion on the matter or his advice on a
specific topic, and he usually responds within minutes. I consider Gabe to be one of the best
collegiate coaches in the country. To have the opportunity to bounce ideas off of a track
guru like Gabe is a huge blessing.

Best nugget of wisdom from Gabe: “Focus on the ride, don’t get caught looking at the
horizon.” I learned from Gabe that athletes need to focus on the process, but I sometimes
fail to do so myself. An athlete may have an off workout, an off day. Listen and be patient
with athletes and their progress. Enjoy the experience and allow the athlete to do the same.

Ron Grigg: Pay it Forward

Ron, the director of women’s cross-country and track and field at Jacksonville University, is
friendly, timely, and very open to sharing information. I attended Ron’s presentation at the
CTF clinic two times because I was so intrigued by his use of so few drills, yet the athlete’s at
Jacksonville have been very successful under his guidance. After viewing his “Horizontal
Drills Simplified” presentation, I knew immediately that I had to share what I had learned
and wrote my second article for SimpliFaster specifically based on these
https://www.freelapusa.com/these-three-simple-jumping-drills-are-the-only-ones-you-
need/ > jumping drills.

When I cold-called Ron, he didn’t hesitate for one moment, and he answered every question
I had for the article. Earlier this season on my way to my son’s tee ball game, he returned
my phone call after I left a message, and we talked track and field for over forty-five
minutes. Near the end of our cross-country season, I again called Ron at an agreed upon
time, and we chatted for about ninety minutes going over long distance and mid-distance
program design. He has returned every single email, sometimes within minutes, because as
he stated, he is “simply paying it forward.”

Best nugget of wisdom from Ron: He is not an event coach, he is a track and field coach.
Recently he emailed the following to me: “When we had two long jumpers at Olympic Trials,
they called me a jumps coach, when we had two 800m runners at NCAAs, they called me a
middle distance coach, when our 4x1 made NCAAs, they called me a sprint coach; but I just
think of myself as a track and field coach. I like all events and the challenges they present
with similarities and differences, and I like coaching all athletes who have similarities and
differences in their physical and mental characteristics.”

Giving Back

These are the best of many nuggets of wisdom several coaches have provided me through
the years. I’ve learned so many lessons from so many coaches—not just the ones I’ve listed
here. Over the past few years, these fine men have truly ignited my passion for being a
better coach and, more importantly, have shown how to be giving with time, think deeply,
reflect candidly, enjoy the process, be kind, and pay it forward.

Changes I Made to My Team’s Sprint Training Program with the Help of a Mentor

https://simplifaster.com/articles/changes-made-teams-sprint-training-program-help-
mentor/

girls-relay

Why do we coach? This is a question I ask myself on a yearly, monthly, weekly, and
sometimes even daily basis. There are times when I feel confident in my abilities, and there
are times that I feel like a complete failure. Failure is ok, not learning or growing from failure
is unacceptable. Following a dismal season last year, I committed to learn from my
experience.

At our district championship last season, our girls’ 4x1 was DQ’d. Our boys’ 4x1 was also
DQ’d. Our male jumpers, who just the week before PR’d with jumps over 20 feet, didn’t get
a mark over 17-6. Both our 4x2 relays placed outside the two and therefore did not qualify
to the next round. Our best female jumper set a personal best, but still didn’t qualify for the
next round.

We qualified the fewest number of individuals to the next round since I began coaching
track and field at Captain John L. Chapin High School in 2010. I’m responsible for writing the
daily workouts for our short and long sprinters, relays, and horizontal jumpers. I felt
incompetent and, at that moment, reacted like one too. After reflecting on the disastrous
results, I knew I had to make changes to our training program and overall methods.

The traveling I did this summer was documented in a <a

href="https://www.freelapusa.com/category/articles/mario-gomez/">previous article. After
returning, I felt like I still had more to do. I reached out daily to coaches of high school,
collegiate, and professional athletes and all of them helped me. Coach Tony Holler from
Plainfield North High School, Christopher Glaeser of Freelap USA, Coach Gabe Sanders at
Stanford, Coach Ron Grigg from Jacksonville University, Coach Rueben Jones from Columbia
University, Coach Anthony Veney of Ventura Community College, Coach Kenta Bell, former
Olympic triple jumper, and Cody Bidlow of Athletex, a former intern at ALTIS.

All highly successful coaches with individual philosophies that helped me rethink my
coaching abilities in a worthwhile manner. And, out of sheer desperation, I emailed Latif
Thomas, owner and founder of http://completetrackandfield.com , to see if he was willing
to serve as a mentor.

I have been purchasing Latif’s programs since 2011 when I started writing the workouts for
our program, and I’ve transformed how we coach our athletes. The majority of his
programs are designed for high school athletes, and I consider him a great asset. It’s one
thing to communicate with a mentor by email or direct message, but it’s another to
communicate weekly by phone and be able to ask very detailed questions about specific
athletes, progressions, and any topic an obsessive coach like myself can think of. Latif
receives hundreds of inquiries daily, and I felt as if I won the mentorship lottery when he
agreed to mentor me for the entire season.

"Coaches mentoring coaches can impact one’s outlook on the entire profession."

This article is about more than the gains, marks, and personal bests we set this season. This
article is about how mentoring a coach can change someone’s outlook on an entire
profession. How we need to start sharing what we know as coaches for the benefit of our
athletes and sport. And how we need to stop trying to hide our training secrets because of
our oversized egos or any other detrimental reasons.

These are my top 10 “Latifisms” based on what I learned from Coach Thomas.

Coach the Athlete, Not Your Opinion

Our job is to make sure an athlete performs to the best of their ability, and more
importantly, maintain a safe environment in which they remain mentally and physically
healthy. We take great pride in knowing why we do a specific warm up, drill, workout, and
stretch. We encourage kids to ask <em>why</em> about everything we do during practice.
If we can’t give them a response that makes sense to them, they aren’t obligated to perform
that activity or exercise. We want our athletes to become students of their events and to be
curious about everything related to the sport.

This type of relationship builds trust and develops an athlete’s confidence. With so much
information readily available in this digital age, it’s easy for an athlete to discover whether
what is being asked of them in practice repeatedly is total nonsense or legit. This season, we
had several kids ask why we warm up differently on certain days, why we only do voluntary
yoga on Wednesday and not a full practice, and why we haven’t practiced blocks two days
before the first meet. And many other questions only teenagers ask. And you know how
many athletes skipped an exercise, practice, weight room session, etc. because we couldn’t
answer their questions? None. Yes, we are encouraging kids to question adults and in doing
so, they make us better coaches while they become better student-athletes.

This lesson extends to several outdated coaching methods. We are entitled to coach as we
see fit, but don’t coach in a specific manner because that’s the way it’s always been done. I
don’t mean that stuff considered old school doesn’t work anymore. I only mean that if
you’re too hard headed about your opinion and research is punching you in the face telling
you otherwise, do something about it.

Before this season, I believed Wednesdays were recovery days. Recovery included core
work, general strength, and hurdle mobility. This year, we changed Wednesday to voluntary
yoga day. Or sometimes we gave them an entire day off. Was it weird? Yes. Was it
uncomfortable? Absolutely. But who am I to argue with science over the importance of rest,
recovery, and time away from the track. This gave our athletes time to socialize, attend
tutoring, and live the lives of high school students.

"I stopped coaching my opinions and started coaching my athletes."

Last year, if someone disagreed with me about the importance of Wednesday practice, I
would have said they had no clue what they were talking about. Then I stopped coaching my
opinion and started coaching the athletes.

Progress the Athlete Based on Skill, Not Time of Year

At the state qualifying meet, I witnessed a female hurdler from a competing school win the
100 hurdle finals without using blocks. I commend her coach. Our top female jumper set her
personal best of 37’7” this year with a 13-step approach. She never performed bounding at
practice because she can’t land heel to toe during bounding. This year, she performed skips
for height, skips for distance, hurdle gallops, 6-step short approaches, and a lot of speed
work on the runway. She had 2 jumps over 37 feet and several 36-feet jumps, by far her
most consistent year. Why? Because we only progressed based on skill.

Blocks can give an athlete an advantage if used correctly. But the majority of high school
sprinters shouldn’t use blocks. If used properly, a sprinter can hit 50% of their full speed
after two steps and 80% after 8 steps. But most kids pop straight up, spin their wheels, take
cute tiny baby steps with no violence, bend at the waist, or do other indescribable actions
out of blocks.

At the high school level, we have to work bad habits out of dozens of athletes. These include
bad posture and foot strike. Yet everyone wants to use blocks, fancy bounding drills, eye-
popping hurdle drills, and other elaborate social media finds. Again, these serve no purpose
if done incorrectly. Whatever the skill, let athletes feel the position, watch themselves on
video, receive feedback, and work toward improving skills before progressing.

Give 2, Take 2

In a recent Freelap article written by Nick Newman, https://www.freelapusa.com/the-

horizontal-jumps-technical-training-for-the-long-jump/ “The Horizontal Jumps: Technical
Training for the Long Jump,” he mentioned, “Fouling is a psychological choice,” referring to
jumpers who constantly foul, even by an inch, at every level. The same can be said of relay
handoffs. The “give 2, take 2 approach” is a way to develop handoffs with your relays,
specifically the 4x100 relay. With this method, the incoming runner (1st/3rd leg) will only
give 2 handoffs during practice, and the outgoing runner will only receive 2. (We practice
3rd to 4th exchange on a different day.) If both fail, so be it. We only get one chance at a
meet.

The psychological training is extremely effective because it forces athletes to focus from the
very beginning. They don’t have any reps to waste. Generally, we practice sprint relays
handoffs twice a week, and each athlete knows they must get the job done within the
allotted reps.

Athletes will beg, plead, and argue for an extra rep. Don’t give it to them. Halfway through
the season, we changed our 1st leg to our anchor, and we handed the baton outside the
zone 2x this season in competition during the final exchange. We failed. But at practice, we
never changed our philosophy. Our anchor was often frustrated that we wouldn’t practice
until we achieved the perfect handoff. Now, if they (3rd to 4th leg) get the exchange on the
first try, there’s no need for a 2nd rep.

By season’s end, our female team ran their best times of the season, including a state
qualifying time of 48.25. Were the handoffs perfect? No. But psychologically, our girls
understood they had only one chance at the meet because in practice they got it right or
they didn’t. These are the same four girls who dropped the baton at district last year. This
year they earned our school’s first regional sprint relay title.

Our boy’s sprint relay squad earned a 2nd place at district, finishing with a season best time
of 42.55. They also mishandled several handoffs during the season, but by focusing during
practice, they became focused during competition and important meets. They improved
their time by an entire second at the championship meet.

One final note about the “give 2, take 2” approach. We don’t perform any reps at 50% or
75% because that never occurs during a meet and because perceived efforts among athletes
differ. What one athlete thinks is 50% may be faster or slower to another athlete. I would
much rather work on stationary hand placement drills that transfer much more effectively
to the race.

Peaking Starts on Day 1

At our first day of practice this year, a mass of kids pushed and drove themselves up a steep
hill, placed themselves against a fence to feel specific body positions, and pushed sleds
down a football field. We resembled a summer football training program. We were trying to
develop acceleration mechanics.

In the middle of the season, some of our kids were using resistance belts to continue to feel
acceleration mechanics. During our final meets, coaches filmed our remaining athletes
accelerating out of blocks or during handoffs. Our practices have not changed much
regarding volume and intensity during our push (acceleration) day.

I don’t know the magic workouts for peaking. We don’t have a fail-proof formula for peaking
our athletes toward the end of the season. I don’t think either exists, and I’ve asked
everyone including Latif. If someone knew the secret formula or workout programs for
peaking, they’d be super rich by now, even in track and field.

Yet 95% of our athletes ran their fastest times this season when it mattered most, during
championship season. We followed the basic principles of championship phase workouts:
kept the intensity high, lowered the density, and continued with recovery as needed. For us,
however, championship season starts on the first day of practice. What does this mean?

We don’t wait until the end of the season to address speed, posture, form, health, and
everything related to performing. Whatever training philosophy you believe in--short to
long, long to short, a mixture of both, plyos or no plyos, lifting only during the off-season or
lifting all the way through the end of the season--I learned that peaking is a process. If we
believe and trust the process, the end result will take care of itself.

Plan backward from your last meet toward your first meet, write down which energy
systems and skills your athletes should work on during specific times of the season, and
remain flexible. Latif helped me write workouts one week at a time, sometimes on the first
practice day of the week. Does that make me lazy or unprepared? Of course not.

We must remain flexible, taking into account two-day meets, how athletes feel, travel, high
school social lives, and unexpected circumstances. We all want the golden ticket, the perfect
set of circumstances for peaking, but that doesn’t exist in track and field. The coach and the
athlete must develop a process, follow it, and trust it.

Sprinting Resembles a Gymnastics Routine

Just like a gymnastics routine, sprinting has a certain tempo, rhythm, cadence, and timing.
When a sprinter has a great race in the 100, 200, or 400, it’s truly a thing of beauty. Athletes
need to feel the positions of sprinting and then express those movements during sprint
performances. Acceleration should be violent and aggressive, but it also requires patience,
timing, and synchronization. Coach Sanders describes it as a blend of aggression and
extension. The beginning of every sprint event requires an effective and explosive
acceleration pattern. Gymnasts wouldn’t dare skip the beginning of a rehearsed routine, and
track sprinters should know how the beginning of each sprinting event should feel.

At the high school level, our coaching staff doesn’t talk about a transition phase, max
velocity phase, holding speed endurance, or a decelerating at the end of a race. Each aspect
of the race is addressed in training. Max velocity is addressed through fly runs, wickets, and
sprint-float-sprint sessions. We focus on speed endurance by sprinting at high intensities
between 15 to 30-second efforts. And we race model at practice, from the first week to the
end of the season. Like gymnasts, we prepare for each aspect of a specific sprinting event.
Sprinters need to become aware and feel each aspect of their event, train it, feel it, and
perform it, just like a gymnast.

Don’t Chase Speed, Let Speed Come to You

This was the first season we used the Freelap timing system to help develop our sprinters.
We timed accelerations and fly runs and ensured our sprinters maintained effective
mechanics. High school boys, especially, love using Freelap because of the competition and
the instant feedback. However, we kept having to repeat phrases like “You don’t get any
medals for winning the first 10-30 meters” and “Try easy.”

The irony of using a timing system is that times are generally slower at the beginning
because athletes strain so hard to run fast times that they unintentionally and haphazardly
develop terrible mechanics.

Speed, like many aspects of life, is something we don’t want to chase. Let it come. At the
high school level, we often use the relationship analogy. The harder you chase someone you
like, the faster they will date someone else. Specifically not you; someone drastically
different than you. That is the PG-13 version, of course.

Another analogy we use is the harder you chase popularity and other peoples’ approval, the
faster your real self will slip away. Granted these aren’t Thoreau style quotes that will blow
you away. But for high school athletes, the quotes put into perspective the concepts of
patience with acceleration, floating, and relaxing at the finish. We must be able to speak our
athletes’ language and help them understand how speed comes together during a race.

Don’t Marry Your Workouts to Volume

A recent conversation with a collaborating coach began with the question, “How much
volume did ‘x athlete’ perform this week?” My response, as respectfully as possible: “We
don’t care about volume.” This coach went into a three-minute explanation of why volume
was so important, specifically in the 400-meter sprint. I honestly remember zero about his
defense, not because I wasn’t listening, but because it was the same philosophy I’ve heard
during clinics and presentations. His words, not mine: “If you want to be great, you have to
be willing to run what the great ones run as professionals and in college. And they run a lot.”
I just don’t see it.

Our long sprinters know the hardest workout they’ll face will be 5x200 with a 5-minute
recovery at race pace or 4x300 with a 4-minute recovery also at race pace. We never
deviated from this plan. Once we started running in track meets, we let the races take care
of specific performance in all sprinting events. Our long sprinters did between 1,000 to
1,200 meters of specific work on a given day. That’s it. They didn’t have to hit <em>x</em>
amount of meters before they were declared fit enough to continue to the next phase of
training. They didn’t run <em>x</em> amount of meters just because “the great ones” do
it.

Follow the math. Our male 4x4 had three sprinters consistently record sub 50 splits. We
broke the previous school record and ran a season best of 3:20.28. Unfortunately in Texas,
qualifying can be unpleasant. We placed 3rd in our own district after running 3:23.1 and
were unable to advance. We live in a cruel world. The irony is, we were beaten by two
teams that wholeheartedly believe in voluminous training. It was a bittersweet conclusion
for our 4x4. Would I change anything about the small amount of volume our long sprinters
ran? Absolutely not. Our opponents were the better teams on that day. And I know we
achieved a lot without an enormous concern paid to volume.

Divorce yourself from volume requisites. Free yourself from unnecessary worry. Liberate
yourself with the knowledge that sprinters can run fast times based, not on volume, but on
specific event work during a season.

Speed Creates Endurance, Endurance Does Not Create Speed

We go fast on day one and, as our season concludes, we’re still training fast. We do want
our athletes to have a base, but it’s a base of power and speed. All our sprinters, from 100
to 400 meters, trained fast the entire season. The only long endurance day was actually a
recovery day and, even then, we used many general strength circuits to get away from
endurance runs.

What kind of endurance does a 100-meter sprinter need when they sprint from 10 to 14
seconds? What kind of endurance does a 200-meter sprinter need when they are on the
track from 22 to 30 seconds? They need short speed endurance and speed endurance.

What kind of endurance does a 400-meter sprinter need? The smartest coaches describe
the 400 meters as a race where speed is extremely important. Kebba Tolbert, Associate
Head Coach at Harvard, surmised the event like this: “The 400 is a race of controlled
deceleration, where speed and strategy are of vital, yet often neglected, importance.” Vince
Anderson of Texas A&M said, “The 400 is a sprint…the longest submaximal sprint contested
in global track and field.” Is endurance needed in the 400-meter sprint? Absolutely. It’s a
very specific endurance that can be developed with speed and not slow, agonizing, painful,
pointless runs.

Our program is not short to long. Nor is it long to short. Our program is based on developing
skills and improving athletes’ strengths. Unfortunately, endurance and volume-based
programs often work because the program has phenomenal athletes. A phenom athlete at
the high school level can hide many glaring weaknesses during an entire program. I have
witnessed this year after year. I’ve been a part of it.

Asking your athletes to go out for aimless timed runs, repeating 500s, 600s, 700s, and 800s
is abuse. Using the phrase <em>recovery day</em> to describe a speed session is absurd.
And it’s too easy to coach this way. The goal of every sprinter, including long sprinters,
should be to develop speed, proper sprinting mechanics, specific endurance, and an overall
understanding of the race.

Little Things Add up to Big Things

This takes patience. This aspect of coaching is hard. This is where communication is key. This
is where feedback and expectations matter. The ability to identify an area where an athlete
will benefit the most is difficult. For example, working on feeling and expressing explosive
positions during acceleration can take an entire season. It’s easy to put kids in blocks and let
them do an endless amount of starts. Identifying the little things during acceleration,
specifically during the first two steps, takes analysis, appropriate feedback, strength
training, individualization, and patience.

Our best 100-meter male sprinter finally broke through the 11-second barrier in his final
meet by going 10.95. A member our girl’s 4x1 meter relay broke through the 13-second
barrier by sprinting 12.8 in her final open race. This resulted from filming and breaking down
their sessions, cueing and communicating in a way that made sense to them, and
performing appropriate strength and supplemental exercises that contributed directly to
their success. Together, these little things added up to big things and eventually brought
season and personal bests.

From the way athletes warm up to the way they cool down and everything in between, it’s
vital they understand that the little things play a significant role in their overall success.

Kids Love Fair and Authentic

As a coach, my biggest struggle is to work athletes hard and still allow them to have fun. I’ve
strived to develop meaningful and deep relationships with many of my athletes. I firmly
believe in out-working other coaches by reading more, attending more clinics, questioning
mentors, and reviewing what has worked and what hasn’t. We expect athletes in our
program to attend practice, work hard, recover, eat right, and be positive. These
expectations are realistic. As coaches, we should talk to an athlete about life, smile, laugh,
tell stories, and be genuine.

In my second year coaching, I essentially forced by best 100-meter hurdle female athlete to
run the 300 hurdles. I promised her that, if she didn’t try her best during the race at an
unimportant meet, I was going to take away the 100-meter hurdles or kick her off the team.
She essentially sprinted for 150 meters and then jogged her way into the finish. I was an
unrealistic and terrible coach.

Throughout the years, I’ve argued with athletes in front of their teammates. I’ve suspended
and kicked athletes off the team because I didn’t consider them coachable or they didn’t
listen to my explicit coaching instructions. It happened this season, more than once, but
then I changed.

We must communicate with athletes. We must let them know our expectations. We must
constantly remind ourselves we are coaching 14- to 18-year-olds. And we must treat them
how we want to be treated. Recently, Coach Sanders stated, “Walking to practice should
never feel like walking to death row.” It sounds severe, but I used to make athletes feel this
way.

Latif reminded me, “You must find what is important to people and use that to motivate
them.” Every athlete has a trigger point, a story, a background, a circumstance. These are
not excuses, they are real situations. I can’t yell at everyone. Not every athlete cares about
school records, qualifying for state, winning district, and earning a bunch of medals.

"Being fair and authentic requires a coach to be a good listener."

Teenagers have a great BS detector, and they can smell a fraud. Being fair and authentic
requires a coach to be a good listener, patient, nurturing, understanding, honest, and most
importantly, genuine.

This is, by far, the most important aspect of coaching I learned this year.