A handful of years ago, after watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I went to the barbershop with a photo of Brad Pitt and the bright idea of getting a buzz cut. Struck with inspiration to be an anonymous assassin with Angelina Jolie as my wife, I thought that the buzz cut was a pretty cool look, much to the hesitation of my partner and my barber as well. Nevertheless, I went through with the idea and came out the other end with a microphone head. What would possibly give me the idea that just because Brad Pitt can pull of a buzz cut (or any cut for that matter); that it would look good on me as well? Believe it or not, I’m not Brad Pitt.
I use this as an example about a misalignment of what you want vs what you have - and perhaps how a poor understanding of the two present an impossibly wide chasm which many ambitious athletes attempt to cross. As a coach, you’re trying to facilitate a dream or a goal for the athlete. In my experience thus far, I’ve had athletes who have had goals ranging from getting to the start line for the first time to winning Olympic gold medals - and it’s really my job to try and discern whether those goals are feasible; and to create a clear path for the athlete to help achieve those goals.
In saying that, I’ve probably found the management of expectations one of the hardest components of coaching; well beyond the nuances of physiology, biomechanics and programming. I’ve undoubtedly failed at confronting people’s belief systems in a critical manner sometimes (as I’m a people pleaser by nature - this is something I’m working on) and it has come back to bite me in the bum at laters points in the coaching process. I’ve also failed at moments where I begin to label athletes as difficult to work with, rather than questioning my own processes and systems to help manage someone who’s clearly under excessive stress and frustration. Needless to say, expectation management is a skillset, and a facet of coaching which I wish to continue to develop and systemise to ensure healthy coach and athlete relationships; athlete wellbeing and athletic outcomes.
Here are a few half baked thoughts I have on the topic of expectation management:
Much like my mistake of thinking I can look at Brad Pitt in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, you need to work with the athlete to have an understanding of what their current state is and how that fits within the context of their goals. For me, a short glance in the mirror would have sufficed but for an athlete, evaluating their previous and current performance and stacking them up against their goals; and then evaluating the gap between the two, is essential. Where this can become turbid is when an athlete’s best was well before you receive them. I’ve had a few cases in which athletes were able to produce outstanding performances 3-4 years prior to coaching them, and then without being critical enough, used this as the benchmark as to what this athlete is currently able to perform at. This belief system needs to be broken down immediately. This can be difficult as the athlete uses their previous performances as reference points of hope for future success, but it can be a double edged sword as it can create a false picture of themselves, leading to arrogance, impatience and psychological rigidity in adopting new methods or belief systems required to return to high performance.
In order to paint a clear picture as to where the athlete currently is, you should use objective performance metrics relevant to your event. An example of this may be that if you want to run a 10.6 second 100m, you need to be hitting roughly 10.9m/s. If you want to run a 51 second 400m as a female 400m runner, you probably need to be able to cruise through a 23.6 second 200m split. If you’re in the training environment and unable to accomplish either of those feats, or at least 95% of those markers to account for an increase in performance in competition, how can we expect to see the goal performances in competition? Being as objective as possible with easy to understand performance metrics creates a transparent understanding of where the athlete currently is, in the context of their event; what they need to work on through training and how accomplishable their goals are. I’ve found athletes that I work with find this difficult to understand sometimes as many athletes in the Australian athletics community are raised in environments in which you just train to get fit and use races as blind tests for readiness. In reality, you should have a clear understanding of your current level of potential performance through the training process.
Be clear about the training process. If you are being objective in measuring performance through training, some numbers and experiences will go up and others will go down at various stages throughout the year. When an athlete experiences boosts in maximal strength, for example, perhaps their endurance or maximal velocity drops and the athlete needs to understand this as a normal part of the training process. At various points throughout the year, I’ve created presentations for my athletes about how the year is to be planned thematically; or perhaps I send a message into our group chat saying that “the next 3 weeks is going to be a slog, expect to be sore..”. Small efforts that just outline that the training process is a fluctuating, dynamic thing can help athletes digest both positive and negative changes in performances and that there’s a bigger picture to focus on; which is performing your best when it matters most.
Create time slots for athletes to talk about upcoming competitions, training, etc. In reality, I’m doing this part time and around my working hours; so it’s difficult to tee things up regularly and individually with a group of 15-20 people. However, at least with track and field, there are down moments in training and people finish up at different times of training. Take the time to ask really pointed, simple questions - “How do you feel training has been going?”. Most of the time, athletes are feeling the same way towards training as you are and it’s just the process of conversation that allows them to check in with their values and goals. Other times, it can be really worthwhile if things are going well in training to say: “This has been a really good week of training, well done.” - just to plainly summarise that the athlete is meeting your expectations and they’re meeting theirs. On the flipside, if things aren’t going well, being anything other than honest is doing a disservice to the athlete you’re working with. Just be respectful, provide solutions and be positive and you’ll find these difficult conversations make for a much improved training environment.
Understand that expectations are a two way street. Athletes have expectations of themselves, which is what we’re mostly talking about here, but they also have expectations of the coach and the coach has expectations of the athlete. As a coach, deliver on your service offerings as a bare minimum; and the athlete must reciprocate. Ultimately, if coaches are generally anything like myself, they’ll be weird and neurotic about sports performance and as such, this can generate feelings of discontent if they feel like the athlete isn’t holding up their end of the bargain. Early on in the coach/athlete dynamic, it should be established that the coach cannot want or work as hard for their athlete’s goals more than the athlete themself. The athletic journey demands immense responsibility and accountability on their behalf and only when athletes take this upon themselves are coaches truly able to foster greatness.
Hope this helps, let me know if you have any further thoughts or questions.
Cheers,
Jack
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