Wall Of Vulnerability Coaching Experience

Name:  Sally Corscadden

Age:  over 50!!!

Club:  Horse Sport Ireland Eventing

Coaching Accreditation/Level:  HSI Level 3

Number of Years Coaching:  25

 

Sally is the High Performance Manager Team Ireland Equestrian Eventing U 25s and Young Rider Squads. She is also part of the Irish Institute of Sport Pursuit of Excellence Coaching Program for High Performance coaches.

 

What’s the most significant message you could pass on to a young coach today?

• Make praise honest and real.
• There’s a big difference between encouragement and just telling someone they are good so they like you!!  Trust that you will earn their respect and that they will value your opinion.

 

Name two key mistakes you have made as a coach throughout your career?

• Not standing up for what I believe in, because it was uncomfortable for others, so as to keep the peace, even if it meant dropping my values and standards.
• Showing my frustration (raising my voice and being cross) at a lack of progress, which only has a negative effect.   Only learning this was not a good way to coach after 10 years of coaching! I didn’t know or try to see there was an alternative way to coach.

 

If you were only permitted to utter one sentence to an athlete prior to the most important race of their career, what would this sentence be?

 

All your training and hard work has prepared you for this, so you know you can go out and race to your plan, perform to your strengths , stay focused on what you can do and enjoy it!!

 

Name two of the greatest challenges you face as a coach on a regular basis?

• Managing expectations, of athletes and their parents.  It is never easy to find a way to explain the reality of where the athlete is at, what is needed to progress, and setting realistic goals, which might not be what the parents are expecting.
• Getting the athlete and their parent to not worry all the time about the result, but focus on performance and what they need to work on in training to improve performance.
• My biggest challenge is lack of contact time, which makes it hard to really make a difference, as you have to repeat a lot of what was done in the session before to ensure that it is correct, so little time to learn and work on a new skill or technique.

 

You have just retired from coaching and you are only allowed document three pieces of coaching information encapsulating the entirety of your coaching career, experience and knowledge. What are they?

Never stop learning and upskilling, learn from other sports and from other coaches, don’t be afraid to ask for help and advice.

If you love what you are doing, you enjoy it more and are prepared to work much harder at it so you can be really good at it and inspire others along the way!
You need a strength and belief in what you are doing, so you can be brave enough to take risks and face challenges, realise that if you make mistakes , you can learn from them and move forward, hopefully, from a stronger position than before.

 

Name: Paul McNamara

Age 40

Athenry AC (Coaching at AIT)

Coaching Accreditation/Level:  IAAF Level IV / AAI Level 3

Number of Years Coaching:  10

Paul is the Athletics Ireland RDO for the West region, lead endurance coach at Athlone IT and AAI senior endurance coordinator. He has represented Ireland at the World XC Championships as an athlete and is also a former winner of the Edinburgh marathon.

 

What’s the most significant message you could pass on to a young coach today?

To coach effectively you must want to coach, you must prioritise your coaching, and your coaching should prioritise the needs of your athletes.

 

Name two key mistakes you have made as a coach throughout your career?

• Allowing other projects compromise the amount of time available to coach
• Not reaching out often enough to coaches with more experience

 

If you were only permitted to utter one sentence to an athlete prior to the most important race of their career, what would this sentence be?

You have done everything required in preparation to achieve your target performance so now go and earn the reward. 

 

Name two of the greatest challenges you face as a coach on a regular basis?

• Freeing up enough time to coach effectively
• Tailoring training to the individual while retaining the benefits of training as a group

 

You have just retired from coaching and you are only allowed document three pieces of coaching information encapsulating the entirety of your coaching career, experience and knowledge. What are they?

• Always be realistic in assessing where an athlete is currently at and what they can potentially achieve long-term.
• Always balance the aspiration of long-term goals with the immediacy and necessity of short- and medium-term goals
• Write down goals, write down plans, review goals and plans.

 

Name: Pat Hogan

Age 49
Ennis Track Club

Coaching Accreditation/Level: I think level 2/3, not sure

Number of Years Coaching:  16 /17

 

Pat is the lead endurance coach at Ennnis Track club in Clare producing many international athletes over the years most notably Liam Markham, Rory Chesser and Kevin Mulcaire.

 

What’s the most significant message you could pass on to a young coach today?

Get out there and coach

 

Name two key mistakes you have made as a coach throughout your career?

 

• Initially, just getting caught up in sessions only.
• Afraid to approach other coaches for advice and help.

 

If you were only permitted to utter one sentence to an athlete prior to the most important race of their career, what would this sentence be?       

You’re ready!

 

Name two of the greatest challenges you face as a coach on a regular basis?

 

• The strive for excellence in everything we do.
• To try and motivate the athletes on the fringes.

 

You have just retired from coaching and you are only allowed document three pieces of coaching information encapsulating the entirety of your coaching career, experience and knowledge. What are they?

 

• Plan, know what you’re doing, when you’re doing it and why you’re doing it.
• Prepare the athlete mentally as well as physically.
• Good communication and rapport with your athlete is key to successful coaching.

 

Name: Stephen Delaney

Age: 53

Club: MSB

Coaching Accreditation/Level: L1 Athletics, L2 Triathlon

Number of Years Coaching: 10

Stephen is the National Development Coach for Triathlon Ireland High Performance and a former winner of the Ras cycling race in Ireland. He coaches many elite triathletes and was recently part of the Triathlon Ireland coaching team at the Rio Olympics.

 

What’s the most significant message you could pass on to a young coach today?

Spend as much time reading and learning as you do coaching. Open your mind to ideas from all sports.

 

Name two key mistakes you have made as a coach throughout your career?

• When I started I wrote programs to impress. I over complicated to show off what I knew, or thought I knew.
• Being fearful. Fear of mistakes, of what others think of me, of not being good enough to be working with other coaches who I perceived as being higher on some ladder than I was.

 

If you were only permitted to utter one sentence to an athlete prior to the most important race of their career, what would this sentence be?

Ok let’s keep it simple, live in the moment....racing, gotta love it....this is why we get up mate.

 

Name two of the greatest challenges you face as a coach on a regular basis?

• In my own situation quality time with athletes, long distance coaching, I can't look in their eyes in the morning.
• Athlete guilt when they miss a session or a target

 

You have just retired from coaching and you are only allowed document three pieces of coaching information encapsulating the entirety of your coaching career, experience and knowledge. What are they?

• ·     Don't write a novel if it should be a short story. Coaching is like packing a suitcase. Pack once, then take out anything you have doubts about, and repeat till you only have what you know you will use. Only add if it will make a real difference to your trip.
• ·       Whether your group is 40 nine year olds or 3 twenty five year olds everyone is different. Physically and emotionally they require a different you all day, every day.
• ·       You know that special set you use as part of that awesome taper.....yeah there was a guy in Chile writing about that 20 years ago.