I have had a lot of stimulating conversations lately about what it takes to be a great coach. On many occasions the question that has been raised is; can you be an athlete and a coach at the same time? I have to say that I have done both and although I feel you can be a good athlete-coach, you can never be great until you focus on one or the other. I know this may receive some criticism and I am not using anyone as an example but merely speaking from my own experiences.
You see being a great athlete you focus primarily on yourself and although you feel you are giving your best effort as a coach, you really are not. This is because that drive to be the best athlete will always out weigh that of being a coach. If you think that you’re going to put as much focus into your athlete’s success as you do yourself than you are just kidding yourself. It is human nature to want to be better first, before others. It is not a big deal as you can be very successful being an athlete-coach but if you want to have competitive athletes then a choice needs to be made. When you decide that you are going to be a coach 100% of the time that is when you will notice a significant shift in your athletes performances. You no longer are worrying about yourself so therefore all that effort you were putting into competing now gets focused on your athletes. Believe it or not, it is a ton more time and energy than you thought.
Now, in all my years of coaching one of the things I picked up was that you can never stop learning. Once you feel that you know it all then you have failed as a coach. Although, I have learned a ton over the year, one thing I want to do is continue to better my coaches. In my opinion one of the steps in becoming a great coach is to develop other great coaches. We have awesome coaches at Precision and this CrossFit Games season thus far has been an excellent example of the depth of the Precision coaching tree. Everyone knows I oversee the team and much of their programming. What they don’t know is that I confide in Jose Cobian for their skill work and daily advice for how to better all of them. In addition, I fall on Jose to teach the valuable skills necessary to be successful in the sport of CrossFit. He often takes time out of his days to drill all our athletes and help them become more efficient in their gymnastics. I believe a great head coach surrounds himself with talented assistants who can run the show on their own so to speak. Those that demand the same respect of the team that the head coach demands. This is just how I was taught, what I witnessed that works, and how I want to run my team’s management.
To be the best at what you do means that you are making those around you better. Seeing how well Jose did this weekend during the Masters qualifiers only solidified my confidence in his abilities. He one of the best around and I am proud to share the coaching floor with him always.
Fitness-Strength-Community
WARM UP:
50 Single Unders
10 Bumper Jacks 2″
10 Bumper Jacks 4″
Then:
10 Y’s, T’s, & W’s
10 Reverse Flys
Then:
2 Rounds
10 Pass Throughs
10 Good Mornings
10 Snatch Extensions
10 Snatch Pulls
10 OHS
Then:
Mobility
LIFT:
Power Snatch + Full Snatch
2 + 2 @ 65%
2 + 2 @ 70%
3 + 1 @ 75%
2 + 1 @ 80%
WOD:
“BURN BOOK”
4 Min. AMRAP
6 Power Snatch (135/95) (95/65) (75/55) (65/45)
20 Double Unders
Rest 1 Min.
4 Min. AMRAP
6 Power Snatch
6 OHS
20 Double Unders
Rest 2 Min.
4 Min. AMRAP
6 Power Snatch
6 OHS
6 Dead Lift
20 Double Unders
*Sub. Back Squat for OHS accordingly.
**Score = Total Combined reps.
POST WOD:
Shoulder Mobility
