Nurturing a coaching legacy through mentoring
Issue: Volume 28 Number 3
World-renowned coach Victor Kovalenko shaped and moulded the raw talent he saw in Belinda Stowell as a sailor and guided the Australian and her partner, Jenny Armstrong, to number one in the world. Now Kovalenko is mentoring her as a coach so she can continue his winning legacy.
‘ My goal when Belinda was a sailor was to make her a better sailor than I was, and now my role as a head coach is to make her a better coach than me,’ Kovalenko says. ‘As her mentor I can be the trampoline for her success.’
For Stowell it has been a challenging but rewarding transition from sailor to coach.
‘Victor has always been a mentor and friend as well as a coach, so while it’s now different, we have a great basis to work from,’ Stowell said.
‘It’s been quite difficult moving from an athlete–coach to a coach–coach relationship. It can be tricky knowing when to step up to be more assertive and make decisions, or when to sit back and listen. I think that’s something others should be aware of.
‘Fortunately we’ve got such a good relationship we can deal with it. Victor realises it is hard for me to step up.’
Kovalenko has always believed Stowell has what it takes to be a great coach, just as she had the right stuff to become a champion sailor.
‘Like me she has a great passion and love for what she is doing. Being a coach is like being a teacher. It’s not just a profession — it’s a mission. You need to build up your experience and then transfer this to your athletes,’ Kovalenko says.
‘Belinda now understands that being an athlete is just the tip of the iceberg. Being a coach is dealing with the rest of the iceberg that’s under the water.
‘The actual sailing is probably the smallest part of our preparation. A coach has to do all the analysis, work on skills, get money into the program and coordinate all the other people involved, from the administrative level to family and friends.’
Stowell has quickly learnt about the added responsibility and effort required to coach.
‘As an athlete you just concentrate on making sure your life is going in the direction you want it to go, but as a coach you’re trying to make sure everyone else’s lives are going in the direction you think they should be going. You’re dedicating your efforts to helping others achieve their goals.’
Complicating this for Stowell is the fact she still has not given up her aspirations to compete at the top level again. But this has been put on the backburner since her world championship and Olympic-winning partner Jenny Armstrong retired.
While at times she wonders whether she has stepped into coaching too soon, Stowell felt she could not pass up the opportunity to coach at the Western Australian Institute of Sport and be mentored by Kovalenko .
‘I knew I had a lot of skills I could offer as a coach and the challenge of being able to see what it’s all about got me into it. I knew the people around would be very supportive. It was also a chance to give back to the people I had taken a lot from.’
Working with Kovalenko will allow Stowell to explore one of their strengths — the psychological side of coaching.
‘As an athlete I had complete trust in him as a mentor, coach and friend. Victor is a big-picture coach. His philosophy revolves around changing the personality and character of the sportsperson to make them winners, rather than just looking at the technical and tactical side of things.
‘He also knows when to work athletes hard and when it’s necessary to build them up.
‘I gained so much insight from Victor about the importance of what you do and when you do it. He once held onto something for 14 months before he told me because he knew it was a delicate issue and he had to wait for the right time to tell me.
‘Now as a coach I’m learning more about how he prioritises things and I know I can do that quite well with another couple of years coaching under my belt.’
Kovalenko believes one of the most important things he has learnt during 25 years of coaching is timing.
‘The more important the message is, the more patient you have to be. You have to wait for the appropriate moment and then the athlete will absorb it and accept it,’ he says. ‘Athletes have to be ready to change.’
He admits that over the years he has tried techniques that have not always worked.
‘I’ve tried many styles. When I was coaching in the Soviet Union we used a very dominating style of coaching. With experience and age I realised this style was not appropriate. If you are always talking to them it won’t work. You are trying to create personalities not zombies.’
He applies this theory to his role as a coach mentor too, finding the balance between sharing his wealth of knowledge, while Stowell finds her own way and makes her own mistakes.
‘I’m spending a lot of time with her on the water. She has been overseas with me three times to major regattas,’ Kovalenko says. ‘Sometimes I was leading the training and racing and sometimes I would say now it is your time. Build your style.’
For Stowell it has been a winning formula. She says the key to a successful coach–mentor relationship is knowing when to sit back quietly and watch, when to ask questions and when to take the lead.
‘See how the masters of the trade work,’ Stowell says. ‘Look and learn and absorb everything you can … then go away and put it into practice.
‘It does take courage to say okay, now I’m in charge I have to make the decisions.’
Kovalenko has an unyielding faith in Stowell . He believes she can be a better coach than him.
‘Belinda progressed very quickly as a sailor; now she is progressing very quickly as a coach. She already has had some outstanding results with her sailors finishing in the top ten in the world,’ Kovalenko says.
With his help as a mentor, Stowell is hoping to one day coach her sailors to an Olympic gold medal, but that may just have to wait if she decides to have one last crack at it herself.
