Growing up I was always surrounded by coaches who would say things like, “You’ve got to go out there and give 100%,” and “I need 100% from you today.” The funny thing is, I wasn’t a great athlete growing up. Giving 100 % during games and practices was really all I had.
So I gave it every practice, every game, every day.
But a few years ago when I was working at the Olympic Training Center, being surrounded by the finest athletes and coaches on the planet, I came across a coach who viewed giving 100% in a whole new way.
He viewed going all out at practices, games, and training sessions as the bare minimum. That was what was expected of you. If you weren’t giving that, then for sure you weren’t going to compete or even medal at the Olympic Games.
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Recovery: Lebron giving 100 %!
He preached that to go beyond is to truly be giving 100 %. That giving 100 % involves doing everything that you can possibly do to reach your fullest potential. This involves getting your nutrition on track, performing restoration and regeneration sessions, and working on all the things that as an individual you need to work on to improve in your given sport.
Giving 100 %: Philosophy
As a coach, it is your job to help your athletes reach their fullest potential. If all you are demanding from your athletes is hard work, then the first thing you need to do is change your philosophy.
Here are the highlights of my philosophy from one of my previous coaching stops:
- Safety of the athlete always takes precedence when performing an activity
- The Sports Performance staff members are motivators and educators; we lead by guiding and teaching rather than ruling
- The Sports Performance Program is based on Human Performance and Exercise Science: kinesiology, exercise physiology and biomechanics, as well as direct proven experience
- Our Sports Performance facilities are safe, modern, functional, well equipped, and a source of motivation and pride for those they serve. These facilities are constantly evolving
- Do more for the athlete’s everyday and all decisions must answer the question “Is this in the best interest of the athletes?”
Having a coaching philosophy is a must.
It’s your mission statement. Borrow from my ideas, and take the time to develop yours. Once yours is developed, sit down with you team and ask them to develop one for the team go over it with them, and then encourage them to develop one for the team and present it to you. Over the course of the season cracks in the road can develop. By having a coaching and a team philosophy it will help smooth out any of those cracks before they become canyons.
Giving 100 %: Education
After you have developed your philosophy you need to move on to education. Once again, it needs to start with you, the coach. Don’t be satisfied with what’s worked in the past. The best coaches are on a never ending quest to learn and uncover what they don’t know. I read a story this past March about Coach K at Duke and how he hired assistants for USA basketball based on the coaches specialties so that he could pick their brain and bring those things back to Duke. If Coach K is still learning, we all need to, as Chris Rock would say, “Get our learn on.”
As we are on our quest to learn, the most important thing we can do with that information is pass it on. When you read a good book or article, pass it on to your team. It’s your increased knowledge of nutrition, and training, and recovery that will lead them to be more interested in those subjects and therefore help them get closer to giving 100 %.
Giving 100 %: Expectations
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Giving 100 % works for this guy!
After education, it’s now time to talk about expectations. Meet with your team and let them know what you expect from them, and what they should expect from you. Again, at one of my previous coaching stops here are the expectations that myself and my staff told to every athlete we worked with:
What we expect from our athletes is their absolute best. We expect them to have the same drive and passion for improvement that we do as a staff. Every day that the athlete comes in is a chance for them to improve, and we want athletes that are ready to maximize their time to maximize their abilities.
What you, the athlete, can expect from us is cutting edge science and a drive to help you improve as an athlete and person. We will do our best every training session to help you improve as an individual and also as a team. We do not have a cookie cutter approach to training, and realize that each athlete is different and may need a separate approach, which we as a staff will accommodate.
We will set up individual nutrition plans, personalized recovery/ rejuvenation sessions, education about sleep, time zone travel and everything else any athlete will need to be successful at the collegiate level, and beyond.
Those expectations are simple, but straight forward and along with both your and the team’s philosophy, will help shape the success of your season.
Sit down with your teams and explain the concept of giving 100 % to them. Get them involved on the journey to get there and your season and their athlete careers will both benefit greatly.
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