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Be an Elite Coach, Build Elite Athletes

Things to develop your coaching and have a greater impact on your athletes. You define what your “elite” is!

By Isaac Leung, Athletic Skills

Hey reader,

Hope you’re having a good week!

Now two topics I am going to talk about today relating to be an elite coach, build elite athletes which have been requested from you as readers!

Firstly, I want to show why failing isn’t a bad thing. We usually think failure is the end point but it’s actually just the start to success.

Then to build elite athletes, I am going to show you the key principles of acceleration. So how you can get your clients/athletes quicker off the mark and make those first few steps count!

Be an Elite Coach:

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” - Steven Bartlett.

Those who take more risks, fail, and learn will ultimately succeed. Those who remain stagnant, continuing on the same path day after day, are more likely to fail.

Don’t be afraid to try new things in your coaching. What's the worst that could happen?

Yes, you might get a laugh from an athlete or encounter awkward silence, but lean into it and learn from it.

Failing means you’re testing new ideas and applying knowledge you’ve learned. You won’t get it right the first time; perfection doesn’t happen overnight. But when you adapt, tweak, and reintroduce your learnings to best fit your scenario, that’s where you grow as a coach.

The same applies to your athletes. Allow them to fail, problem-solve, and find ways to succeed in what you’re asking them to do.

One example from my experience is working with a group of 10 athletes, aged 13-15, in a school setting. I had to figure out what they thrived on and enjoyed while also ensuring their physical development. I tried some new games to encourage intent, engagement, and speed development. I didn’t get it right the first time, but I learned, got feedback from the group, and found a way to drive their development while having fun! The solution was an obstacle course we created together as a group.

Build Elite Athletes:

Acceleration is vital for all athletes and anyone looking to get faster. If you don’t get off the line quickly, it will take you longer to get up to speed.

Acceleration allows you to escape an opponent, close down space, react to a ball coming toward you, or simply help you reach full speed when running.

So, what are the key principles? These principles apply to the first 5-10 meters of a run.

Yes, some may be applied slightly differently, and the timings may vary depending on the sport, but the general principles will apply to all.

I like to reference a plane taking off to illustrate body position and posture.

Start low (like a plane on the runway), and as you take the first few steps, begin to rise up taller (like a plane lifting off the runway). We can also imagine a 100m race and how sprinters accelerate out of the blocks.

Here are my key principles, which apply to all sporting actions but may be coached differently depending on the context:

• Start low and rise up as you accelerate out.

• Project your hips forward.

• Move your knees like pistons, driving forward and back.

• Make foot contact behind the line of the hips, landing on the balls of your feet to help propel you forward.

• Drive your arms forward.

In most sports, you won’t be starting from blocks, and generally, you won’t be stationary. So, accelerating from a bounce or a jog will be more applicable.

In this instance, you can coach someone to drop their hips lower, turn their trunk toward the intended target, and drive their knees and body in that direction, rising up as they gain speed.

Ways to improve acceleration:

Here are a couple of tips:

• Broad Jumps (Double Leg Jump Forward): To learn how to project the hips forward.

• Wall Walk and March: To practice maintaining a forward lean posture.

• Resisted Runs or Sled Pushes: To train being in a low position and driving the knees forward.

• Just Sprint: Sprinting is a complex skill, and with the right coaching cues and points, athletes will learn to organize their bodies naturally.

In relation to the above, let your athletes fail to succeed. Try something new in your coaching, don’t be afraid to make mistakes, but then learn and adapt for next time!

If you want to know more about developing and coaching your athletes/clients speed and agility, hit reply SPEED and let’s have a chat! Happy to help you more!

FYI, I have 2 more spaces on my ELITE COACH ACCELERATOR MENTORING programme starting in September which is a bespoke programme for just 3 coaches so reply INTERESTED and I will share more with you!

Speak soon,

Isaac 🙂 

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