Coaches – I need your help

Posted on February 28, 2009 by CoachJay

I do a weekly video post for Runnerspace.com called Tuesday Tips.  Anyone who writes in with a question gets a free DVD and thus far we’ve given away about 20 DVDs this year.

I just received the following message an athlete and I’m going to reprint his question as it can be viewed publicly here, yet please know that I wouldn’t and couldn’t share this if he emailed me directly (unless, of course, I had his permission).

Coach Jay,
My coach got pretty upset at one of my teammates and me for doing the Vern Gambetta leg routine and some of the other stuff from the DVDs. He says that we don’t know the benefits of the drills and thus shouldn’t be doing it since it doesn’t prescribe to his theory of training. This doesn’t just apply for general strength work, he also didn’t like how I was doing strides and barefoot running that he didn’t ask us to. He’d rather have us work out the lower body with weights instead of circuits, but doing that in the past has caused problems for me. Any suggestions for finding some kind of common ground.
Thanks,
Kevin

If you have time, please give me your thoughts on

A) How to repsond

and

B) How I should proceed in the future when posting content as my intent, with my work in general and the free triaing videos in particular, is to make our sport better by sharing training ideas.

I sincerely thank you for your time and comments.

Jay

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  • http://www.usdistancerunner.com Scotty Bush

    Jay,

    Good questions. I'd probably suggest to Kevin that he approach his coach in a mature manner about the subject and bring up the fact that doing these exercises have been helping him, while the weight training work has hurt him in the past. A good coach should be willing to listen and work with the athlete. If the coach takes this personally and “goes off” about how you are disrespecting him, then I think Kevin should just do some of this work on his own at home or on the weekends away from the team.

    In the future I think you should keep doing what you're doing. Putting this content out there is important, but it is offered up as a suggestion rather than the end all, be all type content some people might mistake it for.

    Keep up the great work Jay!

  • http://michigancrosscountry.com Don

    Hi Jay,

    First, you should when dispensing advice to runners with coaches suggest that all ideas are just that, ideas, and if it is in season they should be discussed with the coach before implementation. I would want to be sure the athlete is including the whole story. For example, the athlete may be a leader of a team and the coach would want the athlete to lead the team … but s/he's too tired from doing something independent perhaps.

    I work often with a great coach who handles my more motivated kids in the off season. Certainly some of our success comes from his work with our kids. However, he is careful to stay within the bounds of what we consider reasonable. Sometimes one of those kids will feel confidence in him and ask him a question in season. He usually makes me aware of the issue, we often discuss resolutions and he always backs my decision. This coach may feel that his relationship with the athlete is being undermined.

    I also plan work in several week blocks during the season. I try to take into account the total load on the athlete. If some athlete decides to do work on their own, it will often mess up my overall plan. Because I may have 30-50 athlete, being out of cycle makes it more diffcult than it should be and it often messes up the dynamics of what I am doing with my team.

    I happen to be delighted to learn new techniques, so I'd love to hear the athletes ideas, however, not all coaches are as open minded or wish to get ideas in this fashion — from an athlete. There are many fads out there, and to wander from one to the next … especially mid-season … less than ideal.

    So I return to what I said, respect that they have a coaching relationship. Make a suggestion but identify it as and idea that should be discussed with the coach and factored into the overall plan. Make yourself available to the coach — IF YOU WANT TO — to discuss the ideas and the benefit it may provide to the athlete. Unlike college situations when you have some hope of selecting a coach and coaching style by selecting your institution, you may essentially be stuck at the high school level with whoever the coach is. Many are very good, some aren't. But doing something behind the coaches back is asking for injury and is insubordinate. So suggest the athlete above all else respect the coach and discuss the issue and then abide by the coaches decision.

  • http://hamiltontrack.blogspot.com hamiltontrack

    Jay,

    This is a tough one… i am sure that you dont want to step in between a coach and their athlete, and i dont think that you have. With that said… It sounds like the coach in question either doesnt know the entire truth or is a very rigid instructor. It also sounds like the plan prescribed for these athletes is not working for them. If the athletes are going out on their own to find additional work, how satisfied with the training can they be?

    I think your thoughts above are correct. You are here providing ideas, and suggestions, sharing what has worked for your athletes. It is a tremendous resource. But the old saying holds true: “You cant please all the people… EVER”

    The comment above is good advise. The athlete needs to have a conversation with the coach. Explain why he thinks this additional work is beneficial, and how the current training plan needs to be re-evaluated. If the coach is not open to the ideas it is not the fault of the athlete or yours.

    I have used almost all the workouts in the DVDs and online. I find them to be fantastic. The kids look forward to ending the days training with some “work”. It brings a nice closer to the training day, allows me to visit with athletes and has made my team stronger, healthier and faster. Thanks.

  • Ryan West

    I agree with all the comments posted here. You should keep posting your videos and training tips. It is up to athletes and coaches to decide how and when to use them.

    It might not be a bad idea for you to put a disclaimer at the bottom of your videos or somewhere else that encourages athletes to discuss these exercises with their coach before doing them if they are in season. Teenagers tend to get excited about anything new, whether it be good or bad, and don't always think with the big picture in mind. That is how I would respond to this athlete- talk to your coach first next time, respect his decision, and remember he has the big picture in mind (hopefully).

    Hope this helps and thanks again for all the content. We start track on Monday and I'm excited to see what they think of the new strength routines.

  • Kevin Liao

    Hey everyone,
    I'm the one who posted the question on Runnerspace. I appreciate all your suggestions and I will be having a talk with my coach soon about the issue.

    Thanks again,
    Kevin

  • Kevin Liao

    In response to Don's comment, I am the captain of the distance team, but all of what I've been doing has come after practice is over and most of the team is gone. I don't think I'm skimping out on any leadership responsibilities.

  • http://www.pacewheel.com Michael Pollard

    This can certainly be a complicated issue. I have some athletes who ran for a club team in the off-season and came back with “new” warmup stretches and workout ideas. I like some of the ideas, and they have clearly paid off for these few athletes (or at least not hurt them), but I'm not ready to throw out the effective routines we have included.

    Because these guys are part of my leadership team, I have asked them to continue leading the team workout routines, and at the end of the prescribed stretching and before the “meat” of the workout, I say (or have the captains say) “Now do any of the stretches we didn't cover that make you feel the most prepared for the workout” or something like that. It allows these guys to do their new favorite stretches/routines and the other athletes to not feel like we've added stuff just because the captains like it. It also allows us to recognize that not everybody warms up the same way.

    On the other side of the coin, I have some other club-track athletes who remain separate from the group (particularly in the sprints and hurdles) whose behavior seems to indicate that they think the workouts we give are not as good as Coach So-and-so. Their routines really aren't significantly different (a particular prescribed order of hurdle drills that is different from ours).

    While I'd like to just let it slide (because it doesn't matter much to me what order they do the drills in), it's not actually the drills that are the big deal, it's the insular nature of the club-athlete clique that can undermine the team attitude.

    I agree with the other comments about athletes speaking to the coach in an appropriate manner. I think it's important for an athlete to approach the coach away from practice, perhaps in the classroom or during office hours, somewhere where it will not appear to anyone else on the team like a confrontation. I know that as a coach I have appreciated an athlete advocating for himself, but especially when they do it in a way that doesn't call attention to it in front of other athletes.

    I'm sure I have had athletes who disregarded my prescriptions and who have gone out for “extra” workouts because what I gave them wasn't “hard enough” (particularly guys who ran cross country but train with the 400 meter runners in the spring), and some have improved, but most just end up overtired and overtrained. Some athletes will never feel like they're getting enough “real work” in and they go and do extra work even when it is detrimental to them. You can't trust your feelings about how much work you're doing.

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    Great thoughts and comments, thank you!