Knowing Your Place In The Bigger Picture

On Monday afternoon we hosted the teachers from Balmain High School for a training and development session.

Our intent was to: one give them a good workout, and, two for them to learn some systems and processes for running the strength and conditioning sessions they teach their kids as part of the school sports program.

One thing I was reminded of during our time together was the importance of knowing your place in the bigger picture. The bigger picture in this case being the development of the kids athletic ability for their chosen sport.

For example the soccer coach will get the player game ready and practice the ball skills and on field skills required for the team.

This is not the strength coaches job. Sure the side effect of the work the strength coach does will be better performance in the sport but that’s not the primary focus.  

This begs the question: “What are strength coaches actually doing Shaun?”

A strength coaches job is to make the athlete or child in this circumstance more resistant to injury by being stronger and more athletically capable. This in turn will ensure they can perform better in their chosen sport. Sure this may include some strength and agility drills which closely mirror the demands of the sport but they should be harder than what the kids will experience in a game so they can handle the demands of the game. Sorta like the old saying “train hard and play easy”

Sure it might take an ego check to not immediately claim ownership of the players on field performance, but the strength coach can be quietly proud when the player makes it through a full season without injury, they are the fastest in the league or play the most minutes in every game because they’re the fittest.

All of this is only available to those who truly know and understand their place in the bigger picture…

Shaun Diachkoff

@shaundiachkoff