Coaching for the Coach
A topic I’ve been sitting on for a few years is coaching for coaches. You see, I have tons of ideas. At any given time, no less than 3 thoughts are cycling through my brain about how to be a better coach, how to train a team, how to train individuals, how to build culture — literally so many things. And I’ve always kind of considered myself an imposter. One of those “fake it ‘til ya make it” scenarios if you will.
Through a lot of self reflection, and frankly a lot of years of success, I’ve come to the realization that I’m not an imposter, I do know what I’m doing, and one of my greatest strengths is building teams and elevating team culture.
I’ve had the privilege of learning from some of the absolute best, and most accomplished, coaches from around the United States and abroad. I don’t have NCAA titles to my name, nor do I have high school state titles to my name. And maybe I never will. But I do have conference titles, state placers, and other wins and successes under my belt, and a team that wants to work, and coaches that love coaching. My measure of success is by how many athletes (and coaches) finish their time with my teams and feel satisfied and accomplished.
Will I affect every athlete and coach in this positive manner? Of course not; I’m only human. There will be personality conflicts, disagreements on training theory, and a host of other things that may negatively impact someone’s experience on my team. But my goal is to include as many athletes as possible, and teach them how to be a better runner and athlete, and skills to take with them through their lives.
So to that end, I’ve decided to tackle a new series for coaches. I’ll take a deep dive into how a championship culture is started, nurtured, and then takes on a life and personality of its own. I will discuss training theory and why some types of training works better for some athletes than others. I’ll also take on the topic of multi-sport athletes (and single sport athletes) and the pros and cons of fitting their other sports into their main sport.
My goal isn’t to be the end-all, be-all and coach extraordinaire. My goal is to give back to my coaching and running community in ways that I was helped through the last decade of my career, and to spread knowledge and experience so we can elevate our teams and athletes.
Throughout this process, should you ever have any questions or ideas for posts, please don’t hesitate to reach out. The more questions and ideas-sharing we can come up with, the more knowledgeable and equipped we will be.
Looking forward to a fun coaching series to make us all better coaches! Cheerio.
-Coach Rachel
