Role Models- Coach versus athlete
Who would you rather have preparing you for a World Championship Boxing match: Cus D’Amato or Mike Tyson?
At a recent level 1 S&C coaching course I brought up the idea of athletic development and having an idea of a great athlete to try and model yourself on. We also discussed how much of a role model a Coach should be and what this should entail.
For me Tyson would provide a visual, psychological and emotional imprint of a boxer.
D’Amato would be the trainer who could help me achieve that.
The athlete may be a short term inspiration, and we need that, but the Coach provides the long term solution.
“A boy comes to me with a spark of interest and it becomes a flame. I feed the flame and it becomes a fire. I feed the fire and it becomes a roaring blaze.”
– Cus D’Amato
Good post.
You see this all the time don’t you.
People want to know the exact training program details of champion athletes and copy them – whilst this is interesting the relevance to other athletes is limited.
Human nature I guess – copy what the best do = becoming the best.
I think your combination of inspirational athlete and astute coach / mentor is a good one.
I like the quote from D’Amato too. Fuel the fire – inspire the passion.
Great work.
WG
Thanks WG!