Athlete to Coach - Lessons learned

As most of you know, aside from being a fitness coach/trainer for MichRoFit, I am as well an athletic coach. I have been blessed and fortunate to have the opportunity to coach. I found great rewards in being an athlete, and find coaching to be the same.

Unlike coaching, being an athlete came very naturally to me. As early as elemetary school, my competitive spirit was already present at childhood games and play like marbles and ping pong. One of my teachers said to my mom, "students usually plan their classes during their breaks, but Miche plans his breaks during his classes". That's right, I wanted to be at the top of my game, every game, recreational or not. This competitiveness carried over into everything I did.

When I got more serious about my ambitions as an athlete, I never thought of the sacrifices my coach had to make for me and my sport. All the traveling, early morning workouts, and hours of planning that goes into making an athlete succeed I took for granted. Now, after having coached for several years, I have a newfound appreciation for all coaches. Among the many things I discovered about myself during my time as a coach at Stanford, there is one that stands out: if my athlete fails, it's my shortcomings as a coach and mentor that kept him/her from doing better. But when my athlete succeeds, I attribute that success to their own talent. Perhaps my coach felt the same way, maybe most coaches do, I'm not sure. I do know that when I was the athlete, I failed to give enough credit to my coach for all the successes I had, and questioned his talent as a coach when I did not come out on top.

I love to coach and I know that I have a lot to offer. I still have a lot of things to develop in me as a coach and one that comes to mind is that I sometimes fall into the trap of looking at my own flaws as an "old" athlete. People are different, and should be coached to their own abilities and the style they most thrive in. I have seen too many coaches who have had no schooling and use their experiences as a blueprint for all their athletes. Personal experience is a good thing, but techniques and science change with time. A good coach not only keeps up, but is at the forefront, not ever content to rest on their glory days.

Coaching goes way past the time and work at the track or at the gym when one is with his athlete. I read articles, go to seminars, and spend hours researching and getting tested every year to stay ahead of the game. If only I would have applied all that effort, hunger for information, as well as humility while I was still competing, I would have known to take advantage of every second I was training under my coach, and would have not taken for granted the sacrifices he was making along with the sacrifices I was. Now I have the chance to help and shape our young athletes and remind them to take advamtage of what is available to them, and to be grateful for the knowledge I am happy to share with them on the ever changing world of athletics.