Coaching Fundamentals: Creating a Common Purpose

I find coaches in Singapore are excellent examples of the sport in their own right. They are technically proficient in their sport, possess technically sound fundamentals in the strategies employed in the sports that they have played in for years and create good platforms for the those who are willing to learn the sport that they so enjoyed in their years in the sport.

However, I believe fundamentally, we as coaches find some difficulty expressing the desire for the teams we coach to excel by creating a common purpose for individuals who come from many different backgrounds and experiences. I personally found this a challenge because each person in the team has their own motives and reasons as to why they join the sport of their choosing. I hope to share in this post how I have personally gone into framing the minds of my teams to create a shared purpose for them to paddle not just for themselves but for the good of the team.

1) Objectives / Goals
I think it can be clearer to the team if the objectives of joining the team can be expressed right from the start. Many coaches fail to see this as an important point to unite the team in the shared purpose of pursuing their goals. Whether be it finishing the race together even if they come in last, or racing till their lungs burst, the objective has to met out to the team to set the expectations for the team.

2) Expectations
Although used interchangeably with the word "objective", I believe the word expectations has a more roundedness in its use, especially when used in the long term. The team has to understand how their expectations of themselves has to match the objectives of the team and how they are to be accountable for their own improvement. I have personally set the bar high for my teams to expect the best of themselves in any of the training sessions they are to execute because only then will they be able to race easy. As they say, train hard, race easy.

3) Clarity
It is only with clarity of what the team wants that will fully embody the purpose of the team's existence. If the leadership in the team becomes clear with the above two points, the team will set a higher standard for themselves in achieving the goals set for them. The reasons and purpose for them to come to training will become stronger as they see a clear direction in the path the team is taking.

I think the challenge in coaching young teams has definitely giving due time to make sure that the above 3 points are constantly being imbued into each training session. Setting goals, expectations and giving clear directions in the actions they take in each training session gives them a strong purpose in achieving success in such a dynamic environment where many individuals may have different opinions and establish their own set of expectations. I hope that I may have done better in this aspect, because I know there is only so little in terms of fundamentals that I can coach, for the better part of the team's success is getting them to paddle with one heart, one mind and one soul.

A 3 Step Guide to Training Plan and Debrief Frameworks

Over the years of paddling, I have gone through many coaches and through their instructional methods, I definitely learnt alot from them.  Unfortunately, I never really went through a training session that was completely devoid of unnecessary talk that was far too long or far too off topic  where it basically lacks a framework that was concise, brief and to the point.

I will not choose to blame any of these coaches for handling debriefs in a slightly haphazard manner noting that they could have probably used "old school methods" to drill in paddling terminologies into young paddlers at the end of the race or training session in the hopes of achieving their objective of "teaching" the paddlers what they ought to have learnt over the session. However, it just leaves the paddlers confused as to what the coach was trying to drive at when he starts to talk about topics that may not have applied to the lesson the paddlers went through which may lead to distrust and frustration for the paddlers in believing in the coach's plan.

I believe fundamentally that there is a better way of instruction so that our paddlers can definitely be very focused in achieving the specific objectives of the training session or in certain cases, races. I would hope to highlight in this post how I arrive at every training session with a clear plan in mind leading up to what I would eventually say in a debrief.

Planning
A coach can only be as specific as the lesson he or she plans. It will only take a minute or two to spell out exactly the expectations that he will be setting for the training for that session that the paddlers will be executing.

I make it a point to spell out the objectives of the training programme for the day so that they will know exactly what we are looking to achieve today. Whether it be strength endurance training with resistance, speed endurance training, cadence training, or even technique checks. This would clear the paddlers mind in terms in performing to the specific objective of the training session without having to be concerned with speed on the GPS for example which would hamper the performance of a paddler if that was not part of his objective.

Of course, the coach has to has a consistent structure to his training program so that anyone who is going to take over training in his absence will be able to conduct his training without him. This will help facilitate a system from where his captains will easily be able to follow a simple plan directed in his absence.

Execution
As they say, planning does not necessarily lead to perfect execution and this is where following through the plan takes shape. I believe in strong fundamentals of keeping to timing in terms of duration of exercise and rest times to maximise the time available to the paddlers for training. However, contingencies will have to be arranged for situations where paddlers may not be fully prepared to take on the rigour of the program set out by myself and he has to cut down on training to match his paddlers potential. It would only make sense for the paddlers to achieve targets that they will be able to meet for them to push themselves abit more in future. Stretching the targets too far too early will only demotivate them further if not handled carefully.

Debrief
I would believe this is the most crucial part of the training because debriefs would highlight all the possible points that the coach has set out for the team and to give the team an overview of whether the team has met them. I would advise coaches to take on specific frameworks either derived from experience or specific influences from other areas in their lives to facilitate the team's progress and performance in every race. Personally I would stick to 3 points of observation based on 3 objectives that I set out before the training program is carried out to let my guys keep track of their progress of achieving the objectives or goals.

I guess this would really be too general an article to be very specific about how I conduct training and debriefs and I hope to be able to share more specifically step by step my thought process of planning, execution and debriefs. I hope that this would be the first for many more articles on training program planning.