This is something I have used as a phrase for around 10 years or more ever since I started looking more holistically at how I approach athlete care
Many of us start out in this field entrenched in one area whether that’s Physiotherapy, Sport Rehabilitation / Athletic Training or Strength and Conditioning as examples yet we often find there are limitations in some respects to each of these singular areas, yes some will argue that its rightly so as they are big fields within these respective professions anyway, yet if surgeons can now learn and appreciate the benefit of holistic care for their patients why can’t we?
This is the journey I’ve been on and have delivered talks termed “how good is your kung-fu” but more on that later but essentially we can become entrenched in our own areas of “expertise” that can create echo Chambers and silos that can lead to limitations in our growth and development
This is where the concept of a Performance Coach comes in
Instead of focusing on singular strengths, instead the performance coach addressed their own deficits through a reflective process that enhances the process with their clients and athletes
So what is a performance coach?
This is merely my definition but a performance coach is a dual accredited and qualified (sometimes referred to as certified) and experienced professional who supports an athlete from holistic standpoint someone able to work as an autonomous healthcare professional with a dual appreciation of biomechanics, training and physiology, coaching sciences and human psychology
Think of it more as a generalised specialist rather than a singular specialist in one specific and sometimes limited area the performance coach acts as a linchpin supporting the athlete throughout the entire process, which can be remote, side by side in the trenches or a blended approach of the two
My work with athletes has seen me linking them with tech support, psychological intervention around mental health ans sports performance, sometimes helping find an agent or acting as a sounding board for nutritional queries
Examples of Performance Coaches in the field
Angela Cullen has spent the last 8 years working with one of the greatest sports people on the planet supporting Lewis Hamilton during his trophy laden career, originally trained as a Physiotherapist and previously worked in Track and Field, she then became head of biomechanics for Hintsa Performance
Dr Jo Brown has an impressive crop of athletes including one of the best Sprinters in 2023 known as Noah Lyles, the man who threatens to break Usain Bolts 200m world record
Annti Kontsas worked with Sebastian Vettel for 9 years until taking up a leadership role with Hintsa Performance
My transition into a being Performance Coach
Having started out very much pigeon holed into therapy roles due to the relative youth of Sport Rehab as a profession, I realised I needed more skills and certifications to compliment my coaching experience, I have always trained and coached people, even with my friends at 14-15 in my bedroom with an old gym set up including dumbells, bench, pull up bar it’s been a mainstay of my persona from a young age
I still use my therapy and trauma based skills to help manage athlete injury, however it now forms only a small portion of my overall toolkit and USP
As I became frustrated with the lack of adherence from patients with their recovery and lifestyle program, in the West it seems people rely on a “magic fix” of sorts which leads to a reliance on passive interventions that are sometimes too late when symptoms are so prevalent this could be some form of technology or manual treatment with stick figure bodyweight exercises to follow up
Understanding causation, risk factors and prevention
This began to lead me down routes attempting to understand ‘why’ we underperform and or how injury plays a role and how best to start facilitating positive changes within the people I worked with
The list began to grow around modifiable and nomodifiable risk factors and how we can influence them on a day to day problem solving basis facilitated by ongoing in depth conversation
This journey has seen me complete qualifications and training in nutrition, weightlifting, strength and conditioning, athletics coaching to name a few although my learning is also complimented by other CPD including research best practices, topical interventions and process driven reflective discussions
If youre interested in Performance Coaching or my skills and how they can help you, then get in touch or subscribe below
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