Just a thought...

Does a great coach have to be a former athlete at that sport?

I used to think that was the case. I was positive that the only sports I could ever coach would be triathlon, or its sub sports. I remember a (heated) discussion I had with one of my lecturers at university during the first few months of my first year. My argument was that there is no way someone who have never competed in a certain sport could coach it. The discussion came to an end when the class ended, after both of us tried to make our point, much to the amusement of the rest of my classmates :)

Needless to say, I was wrong and he was right. By graduation, I even admitted it out loud... especially because I managed to land a job with Yachting NZ as their coach development manager. I have never sailed, even though I was eager to learn. I never ended up taking that position because of immigration rules. Its a bit of a long story... so lets just say that I couldn't get a work visa in time and ended up in Victoria, BC instead. Funny how things turn out...

The first time I realized I can coach a sport I never competed in, was when I started working with 5-14 year old kids as a track & field coach at the end of my first year in university. Since my education consist of a sports coaching degree, I spend a lot of time coaching... we had to spend a significant amount of time coaching U14 teams.

I have always supplemented my triathlon training with cross country racing and road running. I was a part of the national development track and field team, as a middle distance and cross country runner, but I never did any of the field events. When I started coaching the kids at the Sumner running club, I coached them for ALL track & field events, even those that I never competed in, and I was coaching them with a lot of success... out club was growing rapidly and we were well ranked in the south island. I liked it so much, that I stayed for the cross country season and then for another 2 full seasons. The only reason I left was because I moved to Canada!

I work closely with endurance athletes on a daily basis. I have coached marathon and ultramarathon runners, even though I never ran either myself ( I will this year though). I have coached countless Ironman triathletes, even though I used to be an ITU girl, that dabbled in the 70.3 distance every now and then.

Does my experience as a high performance triathlete help me as a coach? Yes. Do I consider it the main factor that makes me a good coach? No. If I did, I would not fly across the world to New Zealand for coaching and sport science education...

My point? With the right education and coaching experience, you can be a good coach in a sport/discipline within a sport you never competed in. It may be an advantage, but not a prerequisite. In addition, elite athletes do not always make good coaches. Some do, but many don't... So what does make one a good coach? That is material for another post :)