Tuesday 20 October 2015

What is my aim when coaching junior sailors?

Ahead of winter coaching this year I have been thinking, what is it that I really want to achieve when I run a series of training sessions? What I would really like to see is that in 40 years the kids I am coaching are still sailing and loving it.  Ultimately it would be great to see the kids carrying on to one day in the future, become some of the best sailors in the country, however to be the best in anything takes a rare mix of ingredients. From reading autobiographies and articles about some of the worlds best sailors what seems to separate them from the rest, certainly at a young age is....

          1. A lot of time of the water combined with a desire to improve. All cite they just loved being afloat and this was very self motivated.

          2. In their early days of racing there is always a group of likeminded kids worked hard to beat each other which they are part of . Great friends off the water and desperate rivals on.

          3. When the above two factors come together it seems a melting pot of talent is created, which can lead to some very skilful kids in a sailing club, however to get to the very top a third factor is needed. Namely some very committed individuals that are prepared to spend a lot of time and money on the young prodigy taking them around the country to sailing events and buying the right kit for them. This role is usually fulfilled by the parents.

The need for coaches to teach the fundamentals of racing, certainly at the early stages is questionable. It appears that many of the countries best had relatively little skilled coaching until they were already fairly advanced in their racing careers. So what is the point of me?

Certainly I think there is a big benefit in having help learning the complexities of racing, speeding up the learning process is always a good thing in itself, and improving is motivating to continue sailing.

In addition to this I see my role as a coach, who is coming in fairly early in the young sailors development, is to increase the frequency with which the above 3 factors come together. I want the kids to develop a passion for sailing and learning, with the aim of making their improvement self motivated. I want all sailors to spend as much time on the water as possible and when not on the water be watching YouTube videos trying to work out how to get better, and filling their school work books with sketches of boats..

My role could also be to help develop friendly competition whereby the sailors are learning from each other and trying like mad to beat each other.

While I can't directly influence point 3, maybe I can help parents to support their kids by giving advice on what to buy and where and how to help their children get to the next level.

This all seems a bit more complicated than running a bit of tacking on the whistle and follow the leader, I had better get planning.

Andy