The whole-person approach to coaching
Issue: Volume 28 Number 4
Valery Kaladzinski is used to coping with tears. As senior coach of the women’s gymnastics program at the Australian Institute of Sport he knows only too well he is dealing with athletes who are sometimes physically ready for elite competition ahead of their mental and emotional development.
‘They do a really hard day’s training and achieve certain levels, but the next day, because they are a little tired or jaded, they can’t repeat it’, he says.
‘An older athlete will understand and accept this, but some of the girls think because they aren’t making progress every time they step into the gym, they are failing.
‘So I take them aside and explain that is not how sport works, and if you can’t do today what you did yesterday, there is always tomorrow.
‘There has to be two sides to this job. As the coach in an elite program I know the gymnasts are here because potentially they are very good and I expect good results from them. On the other hand I am a parent and I try to care for my gymnasts in the same way as I care for my own children.’
In saying this Kaladzinski is highlighting one of the most difficult issues faced by any coach striving for excellence from their athletes: how far to intrude into the private lives of those in their charge in an effort to help them achieve optimum results in their sport.
For Australian cricket coach John Buchanan there is only one answer. ‘Athletes are whole people, and you should strive to know the whole’, he says.
‘Of course that varies from player to player. Therefore, there are some individuals with whom you can be very influential and direct them on to paths outside cricket that you hope will help them when they get on the field.
‘On the other hand there are players who would totally reject that approach and consider any involvement of the coach in their private lives an intrusion. You accept that, concentrate on working with them as players, and try to find other ways to establish a relationship with the individuals that is broader than cricket.
‘Regardless of whether you can or cannot influence them, you must remember that at cricket’s elite level, you are dealing with adults, some have partners and wives, some have families, most of them have managers; there are other coaches involved either at state or personal level and there’s the influence of their cricketing peers, so I have to fit into that pattern.’
Overseas tours are often good opportunities to get to know new members coming into the squad. ‘You have time for one-on-one discussions, observing how they interact as part of the group, listening to others talking about them — all bits of information you can piece together to form an overall opinion of how you can best help.
‘Once again, my philosophy is that you must deal with the whole person and I hope that the impact I have on the players will be beneficial — on their cricket as well as their private lives.’
One problem peculiar to elite sport is the arrival of the young athlete who has been outstanding from junior level. ‘Often he has been looked after by parents, coaches and peers all the way through his career until now’, Buchanan says. ‘He has grown up not having to take responsibility or be accountable for his actions. Over time he begins to think and act as if he is bullet proof.
‘In our environment every move is under constant public scrutiny. There is no hiding so he must become responsible and accountable, taking charge of his life outside as well as on the cricket field. It’s often a very complicated time both for him and his coach.’
Simone Hankin believes there are certain advantages for a female coach of a women’s team. ‘They allow me into their lives to a greater degree than they might a male coach’, she says. ‘I am not saying a man could not do it, but it would be harder.’
As coach of the Western Australian Institute of Sport’s women’s water polo team and an assistant national coach, she deals with an age range from 15 to 27. ‘I usually know what is going on, if there is a family issue or a break-up with a partner, or illness, particularly if it is a female type of illness. They know I will understand, and may be able to offer advice.’
Over-eating and weight problems rarely crop up in water polo. ‘It is such a demanding sport’, Hankin says. ‘Most players are good eaters because they know it fuels their body, and anyway the national coach says he wants big, strong women in his squad.
‘Of course because they play their sport covered by a millimetre of lycra the girls are more self-conscious about how they look, and we try to reinforce this with education about pride in body image.’
What she describes as ‘gentle coaxing’ is more important in age group coaching, especially in the vulnerable age groups of the mid-teens. ‘We promote certain attributes and lifestyles in subtle ways almost without them realising it’, she says. ‘I praise them for their strengths while working away quietly on their weaknesses.
‘It’s not easy. When you have 13 different brains you are going to get 13 different reactions to any one thing you say. My way is to assess my group and if I am trying to achieve one thing, have four different approaches to achieving it. It’s a method that has helped my coaching all the way from club to national level.’
Ted McCarthy, who coaches athletes from the ages of eight to more than 20 for the Woolgoolga Surf Lifesaving Club on the NSW North Coast, believes it is inevitable that sports coaches also take some responsibility for life coaching.
‘In the age range from eight to 16 your influence is more through the parents’, he says. ‘I find that most parents who have a kid who is very athletic and approaching elite level are very keen for their child to succeed, but don’t necessarily know a great deal about things like nutrition, so I can help there.’
McCarthy, who has also coached swimming and soccer, says the different sports have their particular problems. ‘With swimming training regimes, I found the athletes had so little free time, and were so tired when they did, that there was very little intrusion of social life into their sport’, he says.
‘But with soccer, where training is much more circumscribed, keeping the players focused in the face of other competing activities is much more of an issue.’
With over-16s the approach changes. ‘They are taking over the responsibility for their goals in sport, and you have to help them reinforce this’, he says.
‘The best time to do this is in camps, where you can sit them down and show them the research on the effects of drugs, the calorie counts and so on — hopefully it backs up what they are hearing in the home and at school — but here we can promote the message “if you want to achieve in this sport you will have to do it this way”, and there is an incentive for the message to sink in.’
Helping your athletes away from the sports arena.
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Sport is an emotional experience, especially for younger athletes. Be prepared for when commonsense advice is met with feelings of depression or outbursts of anger.
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Coaches cannot divorce themselves from the athlete’s life away from the sport. See the athlete as a ‘whole person’ and be ready to intervene if the situation warrants it.
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With adults, be prepared to accept there will be those who welcome some intervention in their personal lives and others who entirely reject it. With the latter respect that decision and concentrate on the sporting aspect.
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Athletes are people with different personalities. Be ready with a variety of approaches to achieve a single end. This is especially important in team sports.
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Never be afraid to admit you are out of your depth and that a particular problem is best handed on to a specialist, for instance a nutritionist or sports psychiatrist.
