|
 |
Peter Judge |
 |
 |
One of Canada’s most successful
coaches describes his personal preparation for major competitions.
It is critical for coaches to understand just how different the Olympic
experience is from anything they have or will ever encounter. There are
so many distractions, and you have to adapt your behaviour and your
approach to fit into the Olympic world. You have to develop an
understanding of what you can and cannot control, and that’s a huge
task.
One of the major contributing factors to Olympic success is the coach
creating the kind of comfort that leads to an athlete’s overall feeling
of confidence. Our preparation was always a gradual process, with the
major cornerstone being familiarity with the Olympic venue and the
overall area as an essential way to help minimize Olympic jitters. We
all know the advantage of playing on home court. It is not just
technical knowledge of the venue, but, more importantly, it’s
establishing complete familiarity so that athletes are comfortable and
well equipped to handle the inevitable chaos of an Olympic Games. They
settle on favourite places to eat and know where to get the things they
need, and as a result, they look forward to the Olympic experience.
When I was coaching on the World Cup circuit, a large part of my role
was to visit the venues as soon as possible and then share my findings
with my team. We tried to schedule additional training opportunities
and rest periods in the competition area and, when possible, would
arrange an onsite visit to more deeply engrain the familiarity. During
my own visits, I looked for a video of the area, perhaps something
developed by a local tourism authority, to further familiarize the
athletes, and this was a very successful component of the
process.
In my opinion, a coach has two responsibilities in gearing up for a
major event — preparation of the athletes and preparation of himself.
To be successful, athletes’ attention and focus have to be narrow and
internal. The more that is off their plate, the more energy they can
put toward focusing on the tasks that are essential to their success.
On the other hand, the focus of the coach is significantly different;
it is broad and external. The coach must constantly monitor the ebbs
and flows of everything from the physical and mental state of the
athlete to putting in place preventive measures to ensure that the
environment will be stable and secure. There has to be an awareness
that goes beyond the surface, digging deep into where the cracks can
start and to where the outcome can be irrevocably affected before the
competition even begins. The coach must ask questions about her
athletes: How are they acting and reacting? Is this behaviour normal
for them? Are they maintaining their usual rituals and
patterns?
For a coach to minimize the athlete’s stresses demands a lot of
forethought, not only planning for what could happen and putting in
place the necessary defence mechanisms, but also providing an
environment that allows the athletes to stay comfortably in that
narrow, internal world.
One of the critical components of this is to ensure that you are
projecting a calm, focused, composed, and confident demeanour. Athletes
are similar to animals in their perceptive ability to detect fear,
confusion, or doubt, and the resulting reactions can be disastrous. I
used to chew gum as a tool at high-focus events; I stayed calm and took
the stress out on the gum!
The coach needs to be “on the horizon”, looking out for all the things
that can go wrong, and I believe that my experiences as an athlete
helped to prepare me for that. Having high-level athletic experience
helps a coach to anticipate problem areas; it gives you a jump. With an
athletic background, you know what distracted you and you know the
coping strategies. If you do not have that experience to draw upon,
putting yourself in your athletes’ shoes could be really helpful in
handling these situations.
I believe that a coach has a responsibility to prepare physically for
major competitions, just as we ask our athletes to do everything
possible to be their best on the day. If coaches are going to ask for
that level of commitment, we have to be able to bring the same approach
to the table. In my experience, athletes really get that and become
more willing to trust you.
Physical activity also eases the stresses and strains of high
performance coaching. I was a long distance runner before I was a
freestyle skier, and I always derived great comfort from going for a
long run or bike ride. Weight training was another source of comfort
and another way to escape the pressures. Often coaches don’t factor
their own well-being into their planning. They don’t consider the
rigours of life on the road and being required to consistently perform
at a top-notch level. Coaches have to make the time and effort to be
active. Otherwise, dealing with all the demands of the profession can
suck you dry.
I believe coaching to be one of the greatest careers in the world.
There is nothing quite like the reward that comes when an athlete
performs well. I love Olympic Games and world championships. I’d kill
for those moments. They give me the chance to really dig deep and to
quickly and succinctly think and operate at a lot of different levels,
to literally play my game. Feeling the adrenalin rush of being able to
operate in that realm makes it an irreplaceable, fun experience. It is
all the joys of being an athlete, multiplied.
Ultimately, the preparation we provide ensures a totally stable and
secure environment. Thinking back to the Lillehammer Games in 1994, I
clearly remember standing in the preparation area with Jean-Luc
Brassard. As we went through our usual preparatory ritual, I felt as
though I was casting a protective shield around us that locked out all
distractions. Little was said, creating an eerie quiet. This was one of
the most clear, confident feelings I have ever felt in sport. A few
moments later I was standing behind and to the side as he prepared to
make his final, now historic descent, and I knew that the outcome would
be Olympic gold. I knew that I believed unequivocally in him and his
ability to perform; there wasn’t a shadow of doubt. We never talked
about those moments, but at a function a year later, I heard him
describe his Olympic experience in great detail, talking about a
feeling of impenetrable security, clarity, and confidence surrounding
him. It was an amazing reflection of my own feelings.
Peter Judge
was a world champion freestyle skier who went on to coach the Canadian
team for 14 years. He has also been coach and consultant to the
American, Australian, Chinese, and Korean ski associations. He has
coached eight Olympic medallists and held positions with the
International Ski Federation. Judge is now the CEO of the Canadian
Freestyle Ski Association.
Back...
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
COACHES OF CANADA
