Gauging Your Involvement
Coaching puts things in a whole new perspective for some people. Some people realize that it’s not for them right away. Sure you might be great at your chosen sport but that doesn’t always mean you’d be a great coach. There are a ton of different ways to coach athletes and you’ll see this during your favourite sport seasons. Some coaches get involved with their athletes personally, whereas other coaches don’t want to have anything to do with life outside of the sport. The latter seems (at least to me) somewhat disconnected and detached where the former seems much more fitting of a coach of an elite athlete.
Take Michael Phelps for example. His coach Bob Bowman was heavily involved in his life and still is. Why? Because as he puts it at the time that’s what Michael needed. Bob filled that void and gap for Michael and it shows. Not only do I look up to Phelps as an athlete but I look up to Bowman as a model for coaching.
I’d like to think when it comes to coaching the swimmers I have on my club I am invested in each and everyone of them. Is it always equal? No. And I’ll be the first to tell you that. I want to give back to them the time they put in. I want to be there for them for whatever they need. The last thing any coach wants is a swimmer who is having a crummy day to jump in the pool and do some trash yardage. It doesn’t do anyone any good. This is why I have an open door policy. My swimmers know where I am at any given time during the week. They have a variety of ways to reach me if they need to. Some people might shun this and say “you need some time for yourself.” I sure do and I work that in. It’s what keeps me sane. I’m extremely involved as a coach, but I’m only involved as much as the swimmer wants me to be. I try not to ask the prying questions, I’d rather them come to me and ask or tell me what’s going on.
This style of coaching leaves the coach emotionally vulnerable and suseptible to stress and other related symptoms quite easily. This is something that can be overcome with experience and time. The thing to remember is that everything gets better over time. What you don’t want to do after a possible emotionally taxing week is to back off or not be there 100% for your athlete. If you make the decision to be open and be the person who listens and tries to help you need to be in it all the way. There is no half way with this style.
I’ve had coaches who were cold and didn’t care about what was going on. All they cared about was whether or not I got in that day and did the 10,000 yards asked of me. This was extremely detrimental to my psyche and more often than not was the catalyst for me getting discouraged.
Am I an expert? No. This is merely an opinion derived from personal experience. But this can be carried over to everyday life, your job, etc. Gauging how involved you are with your employees, coworkers, family even will drastically change your outlook on your family, job & life.
Have you ever even given a thought to how involved you are emotionally, mentally and physically in everything you do?
