We have all had good and bad coaches, I’m sure many of you could relate to the last post. But if we would like to dwell deeper into the subject, what makes the best coaches so good. I came across an article the other day that I really felt explained and highlighted what we can learn from great coaches. Sergio Lara Bercial did a study between the 2012 London and the 2016 Rio Olympiads where she followed closely 17 different coaches(10 sports, 10 countries) and their 23 athletes. All of the coaches had before this study coached at least one athlete to a gold medal in previous Olympiads. 

I must confess that I before reading the article that I had some preconceived ideas of what these people might be like. Too many sports movie had me believe that these people would be egoistic individuals who would stop at nothing to get that silverware. Yes, these successful coaches had a passion for winning and set high demands, but they also cared deeply for their athletes wellbeing. The term used by Lara Bercial is Driven Benevolence. The definition: ”The relentless pursuit of excellence balanced with a genuine desire to compassionately support athletes and oneself. ”

What Lara Bercial found out what that no coach was the other alike completely, to no surprise, but that there were some characteristics every coach possessed. Everyone possessed the drive and benevolence. The drive can be categorized into 5 parts. 

1.Unwavering high standards. The demand for nothing but the best in everything allt the time came second nature for the coaches. The coaches also lad by example, first to arrive, always prepared for the day and the last on to leave. No blunders, what can be perfect will be perfect. 

2.Elevated sense of purpose and duty. Everyone expressed a clear notion that what they did was bigger than themselves. There is pride in representing a nation, even though you might be born elsewhere and have another on your passport. The sense of duty also involved the athletes hopes and dreams, The coaches knew they themselves might have another shot of coaching someone to glory, the athletes might only have on chance and coaches felt they were duty bond to do the best or them. 

3.Pathological desire to win. All coaches wanted to win, not tomorrow but today, every day. Some were driven by a need to prove themselves, others wanted some kind of revenge or constellation for losing out in their own careers. 

4.All-in commitment. A great coach doesn’t deal in half-measures. They have all take great risks to get into the position they’re in. All are aware how tiny the margins are between victory and defeat, they also know that things move fast in high performance sport. That’s why they give it all they got, cause tomorrow they might not have a chance anymore. 

5.Vision. Coaches are able to look far into the future and plan ahead. They know which date the big competition is and they know exactly what to do so their athlete will perform at maximum on that date. 

That was the first part of the driven benevolence. The second part, benevolence, is just as important. No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. Benevolence in the coaches can be categorized into 3 parts. 

1.People first. The coach always acts with the athletes best interest at heart. There is also a deep underlying respect for the human being. The athletes would all testify to the importance of feeling cared for and respected by their coach. 

2.If you want to be understood, first seek to understand. The aim for every coach was to truly know his athletes. If you will be asking incredible things of them you better understand them at a deeper level, what drives them, what worries them and what makes them happy? 

3.The sun will rise again. Becoming a serial winning coach requires years of hard work. You have to deal with numerous setbecks and obstacles. The advice seems to be to have a relatively flat emotional respons to success and setbacks. Thanks for reading this post, hope you find it has interesting has I did. If you wanna read the entire article by Lara Bercial I will link it in the end. I will finish this off by leaving you with a quote from one of the Italian master coaches.

”It’s hard to be successful if you drink champagne at every win and mount for a month when you lose.”

See you soon! 

// Lukas