I have been coached by the same person for about 18 months. In that time my performances have improved, and in that respect, I am happy with the results. He is a sincere and honest individual, who works for a sports institute, so he is up with all new research and so on. He knows his stuff, and puts together a good program, and I agree with his coaching philosophy. That’s the upside.
The down side is that he is really busy with his various roles and commitments (all of which I think are totally valid and will from time to time obviously and understandably overide his obligation to his athletes - who pay, by the way). The upshot is that I don’t have reliable delivery of my program, and it can be very difficult to contact him with his trips to conferences overseas etc.
I am a person who likes to have input into their program, but also likes to ultimately surrender responsibility to a higher power. At the moment I training for Kona in the Southeren Hemisphere - so it’s Winter, which in Melbourne Australia is depressing and wet, so I feel that I need all the direction i can get to do the miles required. Another complication is that I contacted him through one of my best friends, who is also one of my coach’s best friends, which makes it a little odd.
D.W. … have you discussed with him the not so timely delivery of the program & other issues that YOU the athlete needs. Coach - Athlete relationship (communication) is what inevitably makes the program work in conjunction w/ the actual session. Discuss what your needs are to see if he can meet them … Let it roll from there, in the long run he should want whats best for you.
I would hope if I was not delivering training programs or coaching sessions in a timely manner desired by my athletes that we could discuss it AND remedy the situation!
Best wishes and i hope you have continued success w/ the same coach!
I’m with the above poster. If you’re unhappy with ANYTHING regarding your coach/athlete relationship, you should talk to him first. I would be pretty upset if I read something here on Slowtwitch from one of my athletes before he/she talked to me. HINT
Sometimes I might be late with the schedules, and I EXPECT my athletes to give me a hard time about it, even those that I coach for free.
Yeah dude, I gotta agree with the other guys… You need to talk this over with your coach - preferably in “real time” (ie phone/IM as opposed to email).
A coaching relationship is about trust and mutual respect. If you can’t communicate openly with the guy, do you really have either?
Yup…real time. E-Mail and the internet has a way of showing something you dont mean…I run into that ALL to often as my font does not display my thought…good luck…
Oh…WOW, international travel…talks…who is your coach? Al Sharpton?
Hey DW you have to chat to your coach live and ensure your Goals Needs and Expectations of him as a coach and you as an athlete are mutually agreed. As a coach I expect my athletes to hold me accountable to the contract we both sign at the beginning of our engagement - violations - by either party - are discussed as soon as possible.
It’s all about accountability on both sides - but your coach should not be that unreliable even if you are getting results.
forget about the best friends with best friends thing. think of yourself, not politics or social politics. with those other people out of the way, would you be more likely to find someone new?
it’s important to not feel obligated or loyalty. look at it as an exchange. you exchange money for service. are you happy with your service? it’s as simple as that (in other words, forget about hurting somebody’s feelings, telling him you’re not returning, saying goodbye to him as a coach and how he might take it, how your friends might feel about it, etc etc etc).
in reality, you’re not getting what you need but it’s hard to admit it because he is good and has alot of potential. my guess is that somebody that had less experience but was more attentive would even be better than what you got.
what you’re telling us is that you need communication and encouragement to succeed (along with the credentials and coaching ability). so, it’s a 3 pronged need, in which only 2 are being fullfilled.
bottome line: his way of working doesn’t fit your needs. if he’s gone travelling, he’s gone–you can’t change this by having a conversation about it. if he can’t communicate as often as you need then he can’t fit the bill. to me, there is no talking required in this situatation, you simply need to find what you need.
I think Kittycat has it nailed. A coach is a vendor of a service. I apply the same criteria to them as I applied to vendors back when I worked for money. A good vendor:
Proactively makes sure you’re satisfied with their product/service and doesn’t wait for you to complain before providing what you need/want
Does not allow their problems to become yours (e.g. “I have to travel, so I’ll be late updating your schedule”)
"The down side is that he is really busy with his various roles and commitments (all of which I think are totally valid and will from time to time obviously and understandably overide his obligation to his athletes - who pay, by the way). The upshot is that I don’t have reliable delivery of my program, and it can be very difficult to contact him with his trips to conferences overseas etc. "
Why to these other activities override his obligation to paying customers? If I were paying George Bush to coach me, I’d expect timely delivery of materials. As a coach who needs to travel to conferences and commitments quite a bit, I make sure I can be reached on the road, and programs are always delivered in a timely fashion. If he’s going to be in Europe, or out of contact, he needs to plan ahead and get you your programs ahead of time, with alternative workouts. If he can’t deliver, does he prorate his fees? That would make sense to me. The customer is always right, that is, unless they’re wrong.
