Gtjojo189 wrote:
I have a coach and don't care about his certifications. I got into this sport in 2009 and coached myself through 2013. Over this time period I observed a number of people who got their level 1 USAT certification and advertised that they were coaching while they themselves were/are always injured. I really don't care if someone took a class and passed a test. How can you expect someone to provide you a training schedule that will keep you healthy let alone improve your performance if they are always injured?
In 2014 I decided that I wanted a coach for the reason that I felt like I had tapped out my personal resources. I knew three guys in my area who coached people and made it a point to talk to them. The reason I chose these guys were based on 1) their personal performance in the sports. They had been to the level I hoped to achieve 2) Over time I had observed their athletes improving year in and year out 3) For the most part their athletes stayed healthy. Those were what drove me to talk to these guys, not their certifications.
We're very similar... even the timeline of having a coach. I started with mine in 2015... I'm a faster athlete than my coach though and was at a "higher level" when I went with him, but he knows his stuff. He's always studying and growing his knowledge for coaching, not necessarily cert related and it relays into being a good coach.
While I'm mentioning certs, there are people that I know that recently got their Level 1 USAT coaching certifications... I wouldn't want them to coach me.