As long as the profession exists\nthis question is asked by the general public and coaches alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question is simple, the answer\nis not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One has to suppress the logical\nanswer that a good coach is the coach whose athletes or teams win the most\nmedals and competitions or break the most records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The truth is that even \u201cbad\u201d\ncoaches are able to make their athletes win. Sometimes a coach only has one\nsuperior athlete in his career and somehow this athlete is doing very well and\nthus, according to this definition, this is a good coach. As one of my\ncolleagues once remarked: \u201ceven a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some coaches and athletes are\nwilling to pay any price in order to win medal or break a record, I am not. I\nam willing to pay a high price, but not cause any mental, physical damage to my\nathletes or myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Often I ask my athletes where that precious\nmedal is. Many of them have to think hard and the common answers are: gave it\nto my children, is hanging on a wall or even somewhere in a shoe box. And the\nrecords? Those records have been broken by others \u2013 in the end that is what\nrecords are for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the medal or the record is\nimportant at the time, maybe even the most important thing when you win them or\nbreak them. But I hope that after 10 years or 20 years they are not that\nimportant anymore, and that they have been replaced by other valuable things in\nlife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my experience with my athletes the\nmost important thing is are the memories. The shared memories of making the\nimpossible possible, of the euphoric moments after victory and deep sadness and\nfrustration. In other words, the shared emotional highs and lows, that created\na bond that lasts longer than the record or the gold on the medal. The thing that\nmakes me as coach really proud is the relation with my athletes which now\nalready lasts 20 or even 30 years, seeing them getting married, having\nchildren, see the children grow up and still being of some value for them after\nso many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Good coaches are sometimes not even\nresponsible for performances, especially when coaching very young athletes when\nmedals don\u2019t count as much as learning, fun and having a good time in sports., Then\nit is the happy faces in anticipation of the training and the smile on their\nfaces when they leave the field, track, pitch, court or pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaking athletes improve\u201d is\nanother often heard phrase. Well, my best result and my pride is probably with\none athlete who ran the 100 meter 14 seconds flat and I made her run 13\nseconds, a feat that I am sure no other coach in the world could have\naccomplished. But nobody knew him,13 seconds is not a medal winner in the 100\nmeter. Yes, my best athletes ran the 100 meter under 10 (the men) and under 11\nseconds (the women), but still I am not sure that a) nobody else could have\ndone that job and b) that these athletes could not have run faster with another\ncoach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGetting the best out of an\nathlete\u201d is another one. But how do you really know that this is the best they\ncould have done and that not another coach or another approach would have made\nthem perform even better? We don\u2019t. But\nin the end if coach and athlete are both happy with what they accomplished and\nboth agree they gave it their best shot, that is valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For me a good coach is a coach who\nhelps athletes to reach their full potential, and their hopes and dreams, with\nmultiple athletes, over a longer period of time, without any damage or price to\npay, during or after the athlete\u2019s career. A coach who athletes are still proud\nof having worked with, and look back in a positive way having done so. A good\ncoach helps to create winners not only on the track but also off the track,\nwhere athletes will spend the rest of their live and where a good coach can\nmake a difference too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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