Triathlon and the Art of Coaching II

We start with the same introduction of the previous post (I):

7 oct. 2013

TRIATHLON AND THE ART OF COACHING

I heard a friend saying: “I do not know a coach who has crafted champions from scratch more than once.”  We went over several coaches, but we had difficulties finding coaches not just in triathlon but in any sport.  They do exist!  There are not as many as we would like to believe.  I thought about Javier Gómez’ coach and believed that he is a good advisor which Gómez needs at this time of his career.  Gómez was born in Switzerland and his family learned something there that helped at this point of his life.  I thought about the Brownlees. His father is a doctor and ran competitively when in College; his mother is a former competitive swimmer.  The Brownlees have several coaches depending on the different triathlon segments.  Bob Bowman grew old with Michael Phelps; he even had a house next to Michael’s.  Crafting a champion needs a coach, a family and a culture since they are born in order to be successful.  It is necessary to be at the right place at the right time when all those three ingredients are ready. Bowman worked pretty hard raising Michael from scratch, as he puts it: “Coaching Debbie (Michael’s mother) was even more difficult than coaching Michael.”  He has had a few others swimmers but none of them was really crafted by him.  The three ingredients mentioned above need the same level of education; meaning the same guidelines to follow in our thought process.

What is what we need to teach?  What makes this environment unique?  There is a good book that has a provocative name: “The Art of Thinking Clearly,” written by a Swiss, Rolf Dobelli. The book gives guidelines to learn in order to think clearly, guidelines needed if we want to be successful.  Several similar books have been written dealing with the issue of what to teach.

I found interviews with the author in the internet and it is obvious; the coach should know that a family and a competitive culture is needed to create champions.  We started by creating an environment, which has been always evolving, to then “think” about creating champions. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY3gdc5XlOk

The environment became cohesive after four of five years, having multiple crises since the creation.  After having the environment, we considered in working training athletes.  In a sense, this is part of “thinking clearly.” I acquired the concept of the "good" environment working with patients in group psychotherapy, following the format of Irving Yalom:

I tell my patients: "At least you have to be like Bart Simpson; 'I am a expert in excusing myself.'"  Rethink what you said and believe it; then, you will have the chance of being a better human being.  Our champions in triathlon are good human beings and do not lie to themselves; they think clearly: Gomez, Brownlees, etc.