Ownership

If you have a coach think for a moment what you rely on them for, why you need them and what you think they're responsible for as part of your performance. I'm guessing the list will be long and varied...it's a tough gig being a coach!! But now draw up another list of what YOU, the athlete, are responsible for. What can you think of? What are YOU doing to contribute to your performance?

The people who perform closest to their potential are the ones who take the greatest ownership of their performance. They rely on the guidance and support from those around them, but ultimately they realise that in order to get the most from themselves they must fully own their performance and everything that contributes to it. It's called taking ownership and controlling the controllables.

Repeat this mantra to yourself, "If it is to be...it's up to me.".

The relationship between an athlete and coach is a complex one, and is where the art of coaching comes to the fore. Each athlete has different needs and wants from both their coach, and their training experience. But above all the relationship is a journey and a on-going process of information transfer - from the coach to the athlete, and from the athlete back to the coach.

The trick is at the same time for the athlete to assume ownership of each bit of information they glean from their coach (and other sources) and learn how to apply that to their own circumstances, and ultimately for their own performance. While each coach will have their own style, essentially they should be facilitators and motivators. There is a fine art in allowing an athlete to grow/improve without relying on the coach for success. A good coach promotes self-reliance.

Athletes will respond to the stimulus a coach provides in different ways. Some coaches earn the respect of their athletes to the extent that they almost hand over their soul to the coach who could then mould the athletes into finely tuned machines, and where results usually follow. One coach I know used to think the best athletes to coach are those that don't think, they just do...which is correct to an extent.

However I believe that in these (modern) times it is crucial for athletes to think for themselves, to develop understanding of their own body and what they are doing in training. People support what they feel part of, so in encouraging ownership of their training and performance, athletes will be more empowered to seek to maximise what they have influence over. The coach is required for objective feedback, guidance, support and more, but it is the athlete who does the work.

Many, if not all the top athletes (juniors through to seasoned professionals) are the ones in control for driving THEIR performance agenda. Accountability sits with them first and foremost and the coaches are adding the shine. This is not a new phenomenon. Ever since the sport was born the athlete has played a much bigger role then the coach and this will continue like many individual sports.

These same modern times are also populated with people who want someone to share the hard work, and to literally hand feed them to achieve their goal. Just look at the companies set up to get people to the top of Mt Everest, at almost any cost. It's the same in sports like running and triathlons where goals like finishing a marathon or Ironman inspire people to achieve amazing feats.

But while congratulating them I also feel they're missing out some of the full experience of the journey, and the learning and personal growth that comes with taking ownership for getting themselves to the goal. Sure, surround yourself with a team, but some more independence on the part of the athletes is paramount to sustained and long term success...in any field.