COACHING DEVELOPMENT Heidi Thibert, MFS, MM, MC
Your Champions Journey™
The Power of Why B Y S T E F FA N Y H A N L E N
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ny successful journey must begin with the WHY! Simon Sinek said it best when he opined, “Let us all be the leaders we wish we had”. Coaching, for many, is the opportunity to grow and evolve as a person and continue to make a difference in someone else’s life. Not all coaches can work well with all athletes. Coaching is not a one size fits all game. When it’s time to transition from being an athlete to train to be a coach, I’d like to introduce a series of thought processes that may assist you on determining what KIND of coach you want to be. Each athlete, as you know, is a unique individual with dreams and goals of their own. I always say—“I don’t coach skaters; I coach people. I help them uncover HOW and WHY they can become the best person they can be in the time we have together”. This is my WHY! Do you know yours? Grab a pen and paper. 1. Take a moment to reflect on your past favorite coachesthe one, two or many in your past who made a positive impact on you. Write down two or three qualities of that person(s) and if you integrate those traits or values into your own coaching today.
Is coaching your passion, your purpose or is it your job? There is no wrong answer here—it just requires telling the truth. If becoming a coach is just a job, then that must be okay with YOU. Making a living doing what you love is one of the highest callings. If you are still reading this, I assume coaching is more than just a job for you. Over the several decades working in high level sport, I have observed four types of coaches: 1. Former athletes wanting to stay in their sport to contribute or give back 2. Former athletes who may not know what they want to do once they retire 3. Coaches who are driven to explore possibilities and figure out what and how to make a skater become their very best. 4. A combination of 1, 2 and 3. Seeing coaching as a sacred profession. These reasons are all important because they help give us a personal road map as to what lane or specialty we want our expertise to thrive in.
2. Now, take a moment and pull up a memory of a coach that you did not align with. What were some of the traits or qualities that you did not like or didn’t resonate with you? Which list is longer? What are the traits you are committed NOT to bringing to your athletes?
Many athletes become coaches by default- or as an interim way to pay bills while they go to school or navigate their way through life after sport. This is a wonderful opportunity and a whole other conversation we can dig into another time.
Have you asked yourself lately—What drives you to coach? Coaching can be an exercise in leadership and a gift of self-discovery—if you let it—or it can be a freezing-cold, early-morning-drag where you just put in time. What is it for you?
Figuring out your WHY you coach is even more important than the HOW to’s of teaching a skill. If you know WHY you coach and it is crystal clear to you and your clients, then the How to land an Axel or perform the perfect Baby Blues, the What to do to keep it clean, consistent, and strong- become obvious.
This question, “What drives you?” was asked to a group of high-level PSA coaches in a 2020 workshop and the answers were as varied as the coaches themselves. Several answered- “to make a difference”, a few replied, “to make a living” and one or two said “to take a skater as far as
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possible and to coach at the highest level”.
MAY/JUNE 2022
I’ve known many of the “How to” and the “Do it again” coaches and they do a good job. But after over 35 years in this industry, I can tell you the few coaches that know their inner WHY are the ones who connect with their skaters
