Wall Of Vulnerability September
Wall of Vulnerability September
Name: Donal Hennigan
Age 49
DSD AC
Coaching Accreditation/Level: IAAF Level 4
Number of Years Coaching: 10 years
What’s the most significant message you could pass on to a young coach today?
Be patient, just because the athlete can, doesn’t mean they should.
Name two key mistakes you have made as a coach throughout your career?
Starting faster paced work before aerobic capacity was sufficiently strong
Overdoing the weekly volume of anaerobic work
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?
Expect it to be tough and when it does, don’t let it beat you, be strong.
Name two of the greatest challenges you face as a coach on a regular basis?
Keeping athletes injury free in today’s sedentary world.
Getting medical support when it is needed.
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?
Be patient with young athletes (12-17), do appropriate work for their age group but don’t compromise in order that they can “WIN’. Undertraining and finishing 5th is better than overtraining to win.
Don’t underestimate the necessity of having a well-developed Aerobic Capacity.
Be very careful with how much anaerobic work you do with an athlete. Understand the individual characteristics of your athlete.
Name: Dave Mannion Rowing Ireland High Performance
Age 33
Rowing
Coaching Accreditation/Level: Level 3
Number of Years Coaching: 15
What’s the most significant message you could pass on to a young coach today?
Develop your coaching philosophy.
Be patient.
Accept that you and your athletes are equal partners in the process, but at the same time, it is not all about you.
Challenge yourself.
Surround yourself with great people and resources.
Be open to new ideas, but stay true to your philosophy.
Be yourself.
Name two key mistakes you have made as a coach throughout your career?
Taking on too much myself.
Not taking time off for myself.
If you were only permitted to utter one sentence to an athlete prior to the most important competition of their career, what would this sentence be?
Stay loose, focus on the process and back yourself.
Name two of the greatest challenges you face as a coach on a regular basis?
Taking time off.
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.
Listen to your athletes.
Enjoy what you do.
Name: Brian Sweeney Swim Ireland High Performance
Age: 45
Club: Templeogue Swim Club
Coaching Accreditation/Level: Level 4
Number of Years Coaching: 28
What’s the most significant message you could pass on to a young coach today?
Learn from EVERYONE ongoing; understand the network you are working in.
Appreciate that you’re fortunate to work with athletes and young people, cherish the energy and passion they bring to what you do. Know the numbers in your sport!
Name two key mistakes you have made as a coach throughout your career?
Responding too quickly (emotionally or impulsively) to situations.
Questioning the ‘commitment’ of athletes too soon, when I hadn’t taken the time to appreciate all the circumstances.
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?
Look Up, Stand Tall, Be yourself with purpose and Skill and allow the best performance you’ve got in you to surprise you when it arrives.
Name two of the greatest challenges you face as a coach on a regular basis?
Re orientating my communication styles and message to engage younger people in meaningful goal setting without the interference of others (parents).
Transitioning athletes from Junior to senior level performance.
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?
Progression of times (WR, PB’s Club Bests) during my tenure to indicate the need to understand that everything keeps moving forward, getting better and the need to innovate & change.
Annual training & periodization plans for the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ seasons to illustrate that despite my best efforts to organise and be planned, coaching is NOT just about the plan, it’s about interpreting the information in it and responding to the individuals to which it relates.
My Library of contacts and information to illustrate the need to appreciate the breadth of learning, conversations and challenging discussions necessary to be able to develop your coaching skills.
Name: Andrew James Hobdell
Age: 49
Windsor
Coaching Accreditation/Level: 3
Number of Years Coaching: 19
What’s the most significant message you could pass on to a young coach today?
Never repeat never think you cannot ask another coach for advice…if in doubt ask!
Name two key mistakes you have made as a coach throughout your career?
In the early stage of my coaching career I made the mistake of sticking to rigidly to a plan for a particular athlete. The result was that the athlete became overtired and didn’t perform as they should have….namely not qualifying for the final of the European Indoors.
A plan is simply that a plan nothing is in stone and the variables both in the athlete and the training require for the whole process to adapt accordingly.
Never rush an athlete back from injury no matter how much they say they are ready..athletes sometimes do not tell you the whole story…there is no rush. Time taken to recover from injury properly is sound investment in the long term future.
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?
A good example of this is when one of my athletes Andy Baddeley was in the warm up area at the Bislett Stadium before the Dream Mile….he had just witnessed one of his rivals run an Olympic Qualifying time in the 1500m, and like all athletes there was a moment of doubt.
As his Coach I simply said ,”How’s your training been into this race?” response, ”really good…” I then said have you been fitter? Response, ”No..” My final comment was “You’re ready!” The result was he won the Dream Mile in 3.49…
Name two of the greatest challenges you face as a coach on a regular basis?
Keeping an athlete healthy and injury free.
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?
Threshold Running
Hill Training
Long run