The bottom line - yes, retired elite athletes can make good coaches. If they take the time to learn how to coach.
years ago there was a project to work with a group of athletes from Liverpool, UK. The team came from a postcode area "L8" which scored highly in terms of socio-economic deprivation. The goal was to build an eight which could qualify for Henley Royal Regatta - and Sir Steve Redgrave was going to be their coach!
Imagine the excitement - breaking down barriers, proving that newbies could become high achievers alongside leadership from the very top of the sport.
The outcome was a damp squib. You can probably guess why.
Redgrave's Liverpool 8 Documentary
Whenever another athlete tells me how delighted they are to be going on camp where they'll be coached by Olympians, my ability to empathise with them is tempered.
I'm tempted to ask things like "How many National Championship finals have their crews made this season?" and "What success have they had with intermediate/novice/masters athletes like you?"
Of course, I don't say anything - I don't want to dampen enthusiasm. When I have rowed in the same boat with Olympians I can see and feel what they do differently and what I need to learn. Because I'm a coach and a competent athlete I can use what I get from rowing with them to tutor myself.
My experience of rowing with and being coached by amazing people usually comes down to these questions.
- Does the best student in the class make the best teacher?
- Can a great musician teach a child to play?
- Can a great artist teach someone else to paint?
Isn't this a genius solution?
There is a catch - imagine a top chef like Anthony Bordain or the Roux Brothers running a cooking course. They can probably teach the basics. But they can't teach anyone to cook like they do.
Why?
Because their brilliance came through their own unique mix of talent, hard work and commitment - and they never had to stop and break it down or explain it. They just cooked. They can't explain their genius or teach it to you. Same with artists - David Hockney tried hard to explain what he did and how he saw the world with his artist's eye. Yet few of us can do a fraction of what he did.
That's the trap of the brilliant player turned coach or manager (in soccer particularly).
The very thing they can do almost effortlessly, they struggle to teach.
Years ago my physio, Jim Webb, told me an interesting story. He had worked in the Premier League football clubs in UK like Chelsea, Barnsley and Manchester City and he loathed treating the extremely gifted players. He said they didn't work on their rehabilitation, they expected to lie on the table and for him to "fix" their injury. What he loved was working with the "journeyman" players - those with slightly less natural genius who had to work hard to achieve their elite status. These men and women understood what it takes to fight for success and were far more diligent in their rehab.
I can understand that.
The best coaches aren't always the ones who can just do it.
They're the ones who can explain.
So - which coach taught you the most? I think you know the answer.
