What's the point of a coach?

I'll say it again. You do not need a coach, unless it's required to participate. HS coaches are simply telling you things you can get for free from books and many reputable online sources. The knowledge base is well established and available. And never, ever pay for a coach.

Hopefully your coach and/or coaches teach you something, or teach you a lot.

So, perhaps you should consider them teachers. I had great coaches (teachers), so now I try to teach my athletes what I've learned from good teachers.

dfssdfa wrote:

I'll say it again. You do not need a coach, unless it's required to participate. HS coaches are simply telling you things you can get for free from books and many reputable online sources. The knowledge base is well established and available. And never, ever pay for a coach.

This is not good or accurate advice.

Why hangout with friends when you can just read a book or watch TV?

Why have sex with another person when you can masturbate alone?

Why run track meets against other teams when you could just record your own time trial and compare results with other individuals online?

The exchange of information and experiences with other people is at the center of human interaction.

If you want to reach your potential you'll utilize the input of a coach.

I will admit that I'm wrong if you can point to a single champion athlete or team that does not have a coach.

1. Legal requirement to compete in HS.

2. 99.9% of high schoolers are idiots.

3. No one would actually train and the sport would cease to exist.

Don't you need a coach...a friend, a brother? Someone who will stick by your side through thick and thin?

0/10

Jeremy Wariner got rid of his coach. You might ask him what happened next.

The point of a coach is that he is supposed to know more about running than you do.

Because a good coach can look beyond simply what sessions to run. They can look at things objectively as one of the hardest things in life is to be honest with yourself. A number of scenario's which come to mind when I think of a good coach;

- Pulling the plug on a session early when signs that something isn't physically right with the athlete

- Knowing when athlete isn't running the right effort (either sitting back or hammering too hard)

- Knowing when emotion state is not right for a key workout

- Knowing when an athlete needs to have a confidence boosting session rather than training strictly for physiological improvement

I am not saying that every coach does this but these sort of qualities are what make a great coach. 95% of athletes need this due to lack of knowledge of the sport and lack of honesty with themselves. Many successful non-coached athletes simply emulate what their previous coach had them do with very minor tweaks.

My HS coach got me to the point back in the late 80's where I was being recruited by some small schools. I was progressing every season (both XC and track) and staying healthy. For track of my junior year, I decided I knew more than my coach. I started doing extra workouts and was pounding the pace more than my coach thought I should at that point in the season. A couple of weeks before our major meets (conference, regionals, etc.), we discovered I had a problem in my knee. My season was over. Since this was the 80's and we didn't have equipment on which to cross train (school didn't even have a pool), I just had to decondition and do physical therapy for a month until my knee got better. At that point, the season was over and I had to start building my base again very slowly. My senior year, listening again to my coach, I was able to get back to where I was before the injury, but I had lost the momentum and a lot of the interest in me from schools went away.

After college, I still ran competitively and coached myself. I got better to a certain point, but stagnated a couple of years later. In my late 20's, I found a coach and group with which to train and it rejuvenated my career for a couple more years until adult life took over and I needed to "retire" from the competitive running scene. Why I was coaching others at the time, I was amazed at how a coach could help me like he did. I will always appreciate the time he took to work with me.

Later, when I was coaching track and XC, it was amazing how the athletes who told me they "wanted to do their own thing" ended up doing worse than the season before about 90% of the time. The best example was a girl we had come in ready for HS and did everything we told her. She finished top ten in the state as a frosh in XC. That next spring, she decided she knew more than the coaches, blew off summer training, dogged workouts during XC season, and wouldn't listen to race strategies. She honestly thought she would be top five in the state and win the state meet if she had a good day. The look on her face when she ended up 28th said a thousand words. Fortunately, that was enough to teach her a lesson and she was back in the top ten the following year and top five as a senior (earning a scholarship to mid-major D1 school).

Yes, there is a lot more information out there these days, both good and bad. When I was coaching, there were times my athletes would bring me information and ask me about trying it. After reviewing it, I would either explain to them why it didn't fit our program or on a few occasions when it did fit well with what we were doing, I incorporated it into our plans. A couple of times, the information my athletes brought to me accomplished the same goal I was trying to do with something else. However, the new thing made my athletes feel they were more a part of their own training. Good coaches will develop an open relationship with their athletes so they can learn from each other.

I was basically self coached in HS as my coaches methods were very out of date. He was a push over and let me do what I wanted. I had moderate success, but failed consistently in the post season. In college I ran for a very reputable coach and trained with quality athletes. I improved exponentially in my first year and became major contributor to me team and learned how to compete at a championship level. After college I I have been essentially self coached with some input from a knowledgeable friend from time to time. I have continued to be successful on a local and national level.

Looking back I know that I did not reach my potential in high school, because I was stupid and thought I knew what I was doing.

Also high school students are immature and stupid and can't be left alone to make there own decisions. Age does not make you able to make adult decisions ....experience does.

Most HS students can even follow a white line with our getting lost

"2. 99.9% of high schoolers are idiots."

99% of high school coaches are idiots so that is almost a wash. The advantage they have over the idiot high schoolers is that they have enough experience to find the one kid on their team who is not an idiot and guide the 99.9% to follow them. That is generally enough to get the next four runners, who have some talent, to do alright.

In a nutshell, if you aren't on a team, you don't learn anything from others making mistakes and it takes you much longer to learn.

Maybe you don't need a coach.

You might need a coach if...

- You need someone who has spent a lifetime thinking about what works and what doesn't work in training.

- You need someone who will remind you that there are no shortcuts or gimmicks to reaching your potential.

- You need someone who believes your potential is greater than you yourself believe.

- You need someone who will be there to celebrate your victories with you, and who knows how much work went into achieving those victories.

- You need someone who will be there when you have a horrible race, and will help you learn from the experience.

- You need someone who sticks with you when you experience that season-ending injury.

- You need someone who nags you about doing all the little things to keep healthy.

- You need someone who helps you reach new PRs, but honestly cares more about your development as a person than about your times and trophies.

- You need someone to call first when you've graduated and are on your own, and win a big race that no one expected you to win.

- You need someone who keeps reminding you that individual accomplishments are made possible by teams of people who support you, encourage you, keep you healthy, and stick with you through all the ups and downs of being a competitive athlete.

Post of the year ^^^^.

"Why run track meets against other teams when you could just record your own time trial and compare results with other individuals online?"

I would say a coach is important because it's hard to be honest with yourself. Sometimes you want to do a workout but you are sick or something. The coach sees you and says, "Don't be an idiot."

dfssdfa wrote:

I'll say it again. You do not need a coach, unless it's required to participate. HS coaches are simply telling you things you can get for free from books and many reputable online sources. The knowledge base is well established and available. And never, ever pay for a coach.

Great the only problem is you will then get 20 kids all over the track all doing different sessions they have read on the internet

ukathleticscoach wrote:

dfssdfa wrote:

I'll say it again. You do not need a coach, unless it's required to participate. HS coaches are simply telling you things you can get for free from books and many reputable online sources. The knowledge base is well established and available. And never, ever pay for a coach.

Great the only problem is you will then get 20 kids all over the track all doing different sessions they have read on the internet

Anything but that!

Why don't you gather them up and provide them with a structured workout plan, then?

dfssdfa wrote:

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Great the only problem is you will then get 20 kids all over the track all doing different sessions they have read on the internet

Anything but that!

:shouldershruggin: wrote:

Why don't you gather them up and provide them with a structured workout plan, then?

dfssdfa wrote:

Anything but that!

No need for me to do that, silly! They can find plenty of free, credible, and evidence-based information online and from various books.

The point of a coach is to guide your training. The coach can also help teach you strategy and tactics for racing. A coach can also teach you a love for running.

When people complain about their coaches, my first recommendation is to talk with your coach. Discuss training with him/her. Share your ideas. You might learn where the coach is coming from.