There is Only One Way a Coach Can Help an Athlete Be the Best
There are many ways a coach can help an athlete get better, but there is only one way a coach can help an athlete be the best. To explain, first you must accept the research of Anders Ericsson that shows that it takes thousands of hours of practice to become the best.
Moreover, coaches don’t have thousands of hours to spend with any one athlete. Unless of course that coach is the athlete’s parent. Excluding parents, all other coaches only have time to help athletes get better, but they just don’t have the 10,000 or more hours of time to help them be the best.
Therefore, if a coach wants to help an athlete be the best there is only one option. The coach must teach the athlete what to practice and how to practice improving with solo practice sessions on their own. In addition, the coach must also be good at inspiring their athletes to want to practice on their own for the 10,000 or more hours of time it takes to be the best. Yes, some athletes are self-motivated and don’t need inspiration. However, most athletes do need a spark to inspire their self-motivation.
Finally, Ericsson notes in the research documented in his book Peak that the best performers are normally better than their coaches. As a result, the coaches who coach the best performers don’t focus on generic technique coaching. Instead, they focus their coaching methods on identifying specific areas that an athlete needs to improve and coming up with ways to “realize that improvement” through solo practice without the coach.
That is the secret of great coaching. That is also the secret for how great coaches coach those who are better than they ever were.