Recently, I was talking with one of my clients and she was telling a story of her son and how he tried to purposely screw up an admissions interview to a school.  He just didn’t want to go and was bound and determined not to go.  He was around fourth grade at the time.

He ended up going to that school and has progressed on with his life in a very successful path thus far.  But, it got me thinking it might be funny to provide a list of things an athlete needs to do not just with my strength coaches, but my guess any strength coach, to solidify potential disaster with a speed/strength program.

In fact looking at this list, it could apply to anything, a job, parenting, life.  So pay special attention.

  1. Being Late – I’m not talking about the person who gets stuck in traffic one time and is 15 minutes late.  I’m talking about the individual that this becomes a virtual habit for.  Starts off just a minute or two, then 5, then 10, then 10 minutes late all the time.  We have an agenda and you throw that whole agenda off by not doing us and your other athletes a favor and arriving when you are supposed to.  If you are late to your training, I expect to hear you are late for your games as well.  “We always arrive in the bottom of the first inning.  Sorry about that.”  I didn’t think so.  Show us the same respect.

  2. Talk When I Talk – This bugs the heck out of me.  Good money is being paid for my services and when I’m trying to explain a drill, I have to talk over you so others can hear.  If my mouth opens, you shut up.  I open my mouth for a reason and it is probably for your benefit, so you need to be quiet and listen.  Whatever comes out of my mouth you pay attention to?  If I burp, then it was a special burp and you need to take note.

  3. Rolling Of The Eyes – Every adult who has a child has to deal with this at some point.  The problem is that you are not my child.  We don’t get this very often, but when we do, we want to imitate one of the scenes from Dodgeball.  If the hour you spend with us is such a cramp in your day, is such a pain in your rear, then by all means you don’t have to come.  Explain to your parents that all their hard earned money they paid us will be flushed down the toilet and that you really don’t care to embrace the opportunity they have sacrificed for you to become a better athlete.

  4. Sit Down Every Chance You Get – We get it.  Some days you come in and it’s just been one of those days.  You need to rest a little longer than others.  Some of you act like we are making you run an Ironman every session.  We stop to get a stopwatch, you sit down.  We are changing the height on a step, you sit down.  I say relax for a second inbetween reps, you sit down.  Get your a$$ up and act like an athlete.  You can sit down to get your break of water or when you leave, no other times.  When the soccer coach is explaining a drill during practice, you sit down?  When you are shooting free throws and it isn’t your turn, do you sit down?  NO!

  5. Stop Short Before Each Drill Ends – This bugs me, especially during our warm-up.  We ask you to take a 10 yard distance and do a drill up and back.  We have some athletes that start 4 feet in front of the starting line and finish 4 feet before the finish line.  Or we ask you to sprint out 15 yards and you slow down at 10.  Once again, we ask you to do things for a reason and I don’t think it is going to take a whole lot more energy to do the entire length of a drill that we ask.  When you run to first base, do you let up 4 feet before the bag?  Does a goal count in soccer if it is within 5 feet of the goalie box?  No and No.  Do the entire length of the drill please.

  6. Give Us Attitude About Doing A Drill – Most of my athletes are getting to an age where I can officially say this.  I’ve been coaching athletes since before you were born so I think I know a little something about what drills are going to help you be a better athlete.  This may sound cliché, but if I tell you to jump, you say how high?  If I tell you to run, you say how far?  You don’t like a drill and don’t think it is valuable?  That is fine, just ask me why we are doing it.  I will explain everything to you, why I’ve done it for years, the athletes just like you it has helped, but in the end even if you still don’t buy it, you will have to do that drill because it will make you a better athlete.  I have been learning from the best strength/speed coaches in the land for almost two decades now and have picked up a valuable nugget or two.  I certainly don’t mind athletes with a little attitude, but save it for your games with your competition as you are continually kicking their butt due to some assistance with our training.  Don’t bring it in our training session unless you are trying to beat one of our records on the record board.

  7. Not Giving 100% Effort – Ultimately, most of these rants can be broken down to this, not giving us 100% effort.  This is what boils my blood.  I think you can ask any coach in any sport and 99% of the time they would rather have the athlete that has average talent, but works his butt off 100% of the time, then the supreme athlete who half-a$$e$ it.  We want the athlete whether they have talent or not, that when it is time to start will give us 100% the entire time until we tell them to stop.  You do this with us, then we know you will be doing it in your practice, you will become a better athlete, and in your games you will be giving the competition headaches because of how much better an athlete you are.

We coach in the private sector, so that means people are paying us for our coaching services.  Most of the time, we don’t have to deal with any of these things because the parents have told their athlete, “If we are spending the money, you better do what they say.”  Ultimately all I ask is trust we have your best intentions in mind.  We want to make you the best athlete possible.  Give us 100% effort and this will be more beneficial to you then you would ever imagine.