A couple years ago, I wrote a blog post that was an open letter to all coaches.  It was a letter from a private sector sport performance coach basically saying we aren’t all bad.  Sometimes we can even help your athlete get better as an athlete.

You can read it for yourself by clicking here.  It was a little tongue and cheek, but I thought the point did get across that sport coaches and performance coaches need to work hand-in-hand to help their athletes develop.

Fast forward to the present and really absolutely nothing has changed in my opinion.

I talk with colleagues and they all have the same complaint that most school coaches (mainly football, but you other sports also can shoulder some blame) want nothing to do with the private sector performance coach (PSPC).  Maybe they think we don’t know anything or gasp, we are trying to make some money.  I don’t see you coaching for free?

To be honest, I don’t get it!  For the sake of this post, it will be directed more towards the high school football coach.  Having worked as a high school strength coach, I understand the importance of the weight room to a football team.  I also understand that the football coaches have pretty big egos and feel their philosophy is not necessarily the best philosophy, but the right one for their particular team.

Let me be clear, I’m not suggesting having a big ego and thinking you have a great program is necessarily a bad thing.  A lot of the great coaches are like that.  But, a lot of times that does not permeate to your strength program.

I was a strength coach at a small high school.  Most of the time, I was not overwhelmed by a lot of athletes in the weight room where I felt I couldn’t control the situation.  I felt most of those kids were working hard and doing the lifts the right way.

When it started getting beyond 20 athletes in the room.  That was when it started getting a little hairy.

Most of my current athletes go to bigger schools where there could easily be 40-60 people in a room.  AND, most don’t have true strength coaches.  What I mean is that the person running the weight room is not a gym teacher or a teacher who lifts a lot and said he’d find a program.  A strength coach should have the proper schooling, experience, and this is his/her only job.  They aren’t the chemistry teacher by day and strength coach for a few high school teams.

Then the athletes are told they have to come to the lifting sessions.  If not, they are letting the team down and they will be reprimanded somehow.

I get that.  Trying to build team comradery is important, but there should be others ways to do that then making them come to lifting sessions that might not get anything accomplished for that athlete.

Please explain to me what would be the harm in getting to know a PSPC and learning about their strength/speed program? 

If you find one that you have respect, do you have to have him run your strength program?  No, absolutely not.  BUT, you can use him as a referral if you have athletes that feel they would like extra assistance or help.  You refer out to the PSPC, knowing that your athlete isn’t screwing around, but becoming the best athlete he/she could be.

Then you as the coach figure out what team activities you need to have this athlete there for so you can develop the team comradery you so desperately desire.

I’m going to be brutally honest with the coaches now.  When you are in the weight room, you really only care that your studs are there.  Half those kids, it wouldn’t bother you if they weren’t there.  Leaves more time watching Johnny Ballgame get better.

Some of those kids you chose to ignore might become valuable contributors.  Maybe a role player or a key man in a rotation.  These are unexpected gems that every championship team seems to have.  Yes, the stars carry a bulk of the load, but you need those role players to keep everything together.

Send those kids to the PSPC.  Let that PSPC do his magic and make them a better athlete that can help you win ballgames.  Sometimes it will pay off for you and sometimes it just gets them out of your hair, but the PSPC gets to make a difference in that kids athletic career that could benefit him/her for years to come.

I’ve got plenty of other examples, but that is enough to chew on for now.  Stop being closed minded and think how it could benefit you in the long run.

Photo courtesy of Jim Larrison on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/larrison/