Endurance Coaches Network meeting a great success

First ECN meeting a great success

The first meeting of the Endurance Coaches Network (ECN) took place at Athlone IT at the weekend, with 135 Irish endurance coaches attending. The day kicked off with an opening address by National Junior Endurance Coach/Coach Education Lead Steve Macklin discussing the importance of coach collaboration, recognising Irish endurance coaches and talking about the importance of People, Philosophy and Culture in a high performance environment. Daragh Sheridan took to the stage next delivering a rousing presentation about the importance of coaching in this country, discussing the Pursuit of Excellence programme run by the Irish Institute of Sport, coaching philosophy and some key lessons learned. Joe O Connor delivered a passionate delivery on his S&C piece and confirmed to all in attendance of the importance of including this in an endurance athlete’s programme. The coaches were then treated to three very open and honest breakout presentations led by Joe Ryan, Richard Rodgers and Steve Macklin discussing training and engaging with the coaches. Dr Alan Rankin delivered a superb presentation on blood testing for endurance athletes and fielded many eager questions from the coaches in attendance. Finally Chris Jones rounded off the day giving everyone some pearls of wisdom and giving an insight into the UK system and their training methods.

It was a hugely impactful day for the future of Irish endurance coaching and a real community of practice was born. When coaches were asked about what was the most beneficial aspect of the day here is what they had to say:

“It was great overall day and all discussions where extremely useful and thought provoking and I am able to take a lot away to think about and transition a number of these points into our Club”

“It has me thinking and excited about the future of how training may be approached. There is now hopefully a freshness on how coaching can be more beneficial to young aspiring athletes”

“Touching base with a community of coaches who evidently want to be "better at getting better"

“The amount of knowledge and information that I was exposed to and that I was able to take away some new thoughts and ideas”

“The open way that coaches were able to interact with the presenters and that questioning/conversation was encouraged”

“Gaining an insight into the approaches of the most successful coaches operating in the country presently”

“Workshop sessions excellent; networking opportunities; not a cynical voice all day - a very welcome development in Irish sport”

“Sharing knowledge, thought provoking, inspiring, educational”

“The breakout sessions. Great detail from the coaches and honest answering of all questions. The openness was refreshing”

“To network with other coaches and that today happened. ...that we all must learn to be open and not closed coaches....to spread our knowledge which can only do good things for athletics”

“As a coach I am on the right track but there is still plenty of room for improvement. With more ECN days in future this will make my progression as a coach all the more easier”

“By sharing with each other the benefits can be huge”

“This ECN concept is a game changer for endurance coaches in Ireland, well done AAI”

A key theme that emerged from Saturday was the importance of continuous upskilling of coaches, having a hunger & thirst to become better, that breakthroughs happen on the edge of chaos and that it is ok for coaches to become vulnerable and ask the questions they need answered. The quotation below sums it up well:

"Looking at the difference between good coaches & great coaches. Great coaches are better at getting better. They leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of learning. Great coaches don't have answers, they have more questions. Constantly fine tuning & looking for the edge. They hold to their core beliefs & are grounded in fundamentals to provide a context for their pursuit of excellence".

The ECN now holds 3 Masterclasses on the first Wednesday of Feb/Mar/Apr before the 2nd ECN day on April 23rd. Full details regarding the event and registration will be e mailed to coaches in early March. A special thanks to all the coaches that made the first day a huge success and to all the presenters for sharing their knowledge. 

Report by Steven Macklin - National Junior Endurance Coach and Endurance Coordinator