Olympic coaching for managers
Peter Hunter, of Cranfield, writing in Training Zone, comments that “a strange thing appeared to be happening in these [Olympic] games, the most successful for team GB for a long time. Not all the coaches appeared to be behaving in [the] traditional directive way. (The traditional coaching relationship could be characterised as an adult telling a child what to do, because the adult knows best.)
What appeared to be happening in this Olympics was that from the way most of the athletes talked about their coaches it was clear that the relationship between athlete and coach had changed significantly.
This limits the performance of the child because the adult coach, in the context of that relationship, cannot accept any input from the child, e.g. be quiet and do as you are told, I know best.
The athlete is actually an adult but when subjected to this sort of coaching cannot take an active part in their own development because the traditional coaching model does not allow them to have any control over their own training. Their development is thus limited to whatever performance the coach can produce through these directive means.
What appeared to be happening in this Olympics was that from the way most of the athletes talked about their coaches it was clear that the relationship between athlete and coach had changed significantly.”
We agree! See our comment at http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/topic/coaching/olympic-coaching-managers/179283
