Why do I need a Personal Coach
 
Having a coach – what are the benefits?  Are coaches only for those who need to have ‘performance improvement’?  Is having a coach worth the money?  These are valid questions.    Having a coach is similar to having a personal trainer.   No one needs a personal trainer to achieve their fitness goals, but having a coach will enable you to achieved your goals much faster and with more confidence than without one.  Coaching is a relationship and a process based on focus and commitment.  
 
1. Having a Professional Confidante With Your Best Interest in Mind
With a professional coach you will have someone who is experienced and non-judgmental in your corner. They are your sounding board and will provide advice if that is what you want. A coach is great as they solely have your best interest in mind, where as your teammate or parent often have their own “agenda.”  During a coaching session you will have continuous one to one attention from your coach who is committed to your success, the sessions and coaching relationship will be all about you.
 
2.  A Coach Sees and Believes in Your Potential
A coach does not know your weaknesses and limitations – unless you share them of course.  A coach sees and believes in your potential.  A coach will help you to ‘time shift’ your thinking so you can envision yourself in the future doing what you want to do and being who you want to be.  Some people I have worked with see ‘lack of confidence’ or ‘fear failure’ as the barrier to them reaching their potential.   Does this sound familiar for you or anyone you know?  Your coach will ask some tough questions to understand the source of your lack of confidence and will give you strategies to either reframe your thinking or to build confidence.  Your potential or ‘altitude’ is created by you and your coach will see no limitations in you achieving this altitude.
 
3.  A Coach Will Help you to Expand your Thinking
A coach will work with you to reframe your attitude and to expand your thinking.   Most of the challenges we face each day are based on the limitations and fears we place on ourselves.   With coaching there will be many questions and sometimes some tough questions to really delve into the reasons for your fears – understanding where your fears and limitations come from is key to overcoming them.   A coach will help you to get out of your own way!
 
4. A Coach Will Help You to Go Around, Go Through or Go Over Obstacles That Limit your Success
Many challenges we face each day in our personal or sportlife are due to factors beyond our control.  Have you ever come out of a tournament and wished that you had done something differently – maybe warm-up more or shot less practice.  This type of reflection and self-awareness is excellent but it also creates self-doubt.   Coaching will help you to reframe your thinking and self-awareness to come from a positive position.   It will also help you to clarify your challenges and will guide you in how to overcome the challenge or negative self-talk and be able to move forward.
 
5.  A Coach Will Hold you Accountable To Your Plan and Goals.
A Coach will provide you with a tremendous amount of support to help you have the tools, resources and way of thinking to achieve your goals.   Part of this support will be in the form of holding you accountable.   This is a part of coaching that many people do not like – they want to achieve their goals but do not want to be held accountable.  I have heard “I do not want a coach because I do not want anyone telling me what to do”.  This would be true for most people, as athletes many  do not want to be told what to do – but we do want someone to support and encourage us to be reach our goals.   A coach is this ‘accountability partner’.   This accountability may be in the form of ‘homework’ assignments and/or motivation, inspiration and encouragement.   At each coaching session your coach will ask you for an update on your progress towards your goals.   It can be easy to make excuses as to why you did not stick to the plan.   Your coach will help you move from giving excuses as to why objectives were not achieved to one of taking accountability for what was achieved and adjusting the plan to ensure success.
 
The value of coaching is hard to quantify and therefore it is challenging to understand the value you will achieve from having a coach.    It is important to remember that your coach will be your biggest non-judgmental supporter – he or she will believe in you and will be very and committed to helping you get out of your own way.  A coach is key part of your team needed for you to achieve your personal and professional success.
 
 

Having your Archer standing on the podium is an important objective of the tournament, but we must remember that it is not the most important part of participating in the sport.

Sometimes, as coaches and parents it is easy to forget about the long-term goal, which is helping the archer develop physically, psychologically and socially. This is easy to do when we pursue the short-term goal of winning the tournament, because the rewards of winning are immediate and can be powerful. Our society sends mixed messages and winning is never more important than the Archer’s well being. In today’s society, unfortunately, athletes learn from parents, coaches, teammates and the media to gauge their self-worth on whether they win or lose.

Coaches and parents need to ask themselves; can we keep the long-term goals in sight not only during practice, but also in the pressure of a tournament, when our archer is winning or even when our archer is not doing well.

By keeping winning in perspective, your program will produce archers who enjoy and love the sport of archery. They will work hard to get better, they will not be afraid to try something new in order to learn and they will grow. Clubs with the right coaches, along with the archers parents will produce Archers who accept responsibilities, they will accept other and most important, they will accept themselves.

Winning is important, but it must not take away from the archer striving to achieve personal goals. Success needs to be measured by the archer exceeding their own goals rather than triumphing over others.

When we keep winning in perspective, the pursuit of victory is fun.

I get a lot of questions concerning private coaching and the biggest is “Why does my son or daughter need a private coach, when they have a team coach?” My answer is always – It depends on their goals.

If the goal is to stay in a more recreational setting, occasionally participating in local tournaments, then a private coach is most likely not needed.  On the other hand, if the goal is to participate at a National or International Level, a private coach is something I highly recommend. Here is why.

1) A private coach can have an immediate impact on performance
A coach develops has the ability to develop training sessions focused on specific areas where an athlete needs the most development. Mistakes can be instantly corrected, eliminating the risk of developing bad habits. The chances of the “do-it -yourselfer” going astray multiply as small differences in form can make for huge losses in performance over time and without supervision. A private coach also reinforces good technique, discipline and love for the game.

2) A private coach can have a long, term impact on an Archers performance

In only a few sessions, an Archer will see concrete gains in individual performance and competitive effectiveness with peers, in turn, fueling confidence. The resulting shift in attitude due to increased confidence helps the Archer tackle future challenges, both on and off the field. Even small gains can inspire the Archer to keep working on their skills and reinforce positive behavior. Successful athletes continue this dedication to improvement over the long term, which shows in the game, in school, and in life.

A great private coach needs to be able to connect with their athletes and build strong rapport, as it is a very personal relationship and requires a deeper level of trust than a traditional athlete-coach relationship. If your Archer begins working with a private coach that doesn’t seem like a good fit, don’t waste time hoping things will improve; you need to move on quickly and begin looking for a new coach. Once you find that “perfect” private coach, you’ll quickly realize that the extra effort to find him or her was well worth it.

3) A private coach can become a mentor figure and a soundboard for frustration

There’s something to be said for the non-technical impact a private coach can have on an Archer. More often than not, a coach has shot in tournaments and can relate to the difficulties and frustrations of the athlete. A private coach ultimately helps the athlete overcome these challenges by equipping him or her with right tools and by being a great role model.

This is not to say that all private coaches will have a profound positive affect on the Archer; like with anything not all private coaches are created equal and a bad one can even be detrimental. It is important that you are consistently communicating with your archer to be sure that they’re not only improving from their session but also enjoying them. Good team coaches don’t necessarily make good private coaches, just like good players don’t always make good coaches.

 4) A private coach can complement a team coach and help fill in the gaps

As extra responsibilities are added to a team coach’s plate, especially with the growth of our Archery programs, team coaches no longer have spare time to work with athletes one-on-one. Beyond time and resource restraints, team coaches often lack specific technical expertise to provide specialized instruction for each unique Athlete. Here is where a private coach can help “fill in the gaps” of group instruction. This will strengthen the Archer individually, and make him or her a stronger and in the end enhancing the value of a team coach’s instruction.

 A great private coach needs to be able to connect with their athletes and build strong rapport, as it is a very personal relationship and requires a deeper level of trust than a traditional athlete-coach relationship. If your child begins working with a private coach that doesn’t seem like a good fit, don’t waste time hoping things will improve; you need to move on quickly and begin looking for a new coach. Once you find that “perfect” private coach, you’ll quickly realize that the extra effort to find him or her was well worth it.

 When looking for a Private Coach, as always, athletes or parents should check the certification and references of potential coaches. In some cases, a private coach can offer services without any training, licensing or certification. And without a school or other governing body monitoring them, injury or misconduct can go unreported and unpunished.  Set up an appointment with the potential coach and “interview the Coach.” A good coach will do the same with the Athlete and the parents.

What is a Coach -Article found at www.backofthenet.com


A coach can be many things to many different people. A coach is a teacher, a mentor, a role model, sometimes a friend and confidant. Most of all a coach must be positive. Below are listed traits of a positive coach.

•    Puts Athletes first:
  

A positive coach wants to win but understands that he/she is first and foremost an educator with the development of the athlete as the top priority. A coach understands that children go through developmental stages and uses age-appropriate coaching strategies. A coach values the long-term welfare of the athlete more than looking good as a coach. A coach avoids the trap of thinking the game is about the coach rather than for the athlete. Where winning is in conflict with the long-term benefit of the athlete, a positive coach has an unwavering commitment to what is best for the athlete.

• !   Develops character as well as skills:
  

A positive coach uses the crucible of competition as a virtual classroom. A coach seizes upon victory and defeat as teachable moments--opportunities to “build in” the athletes' self-confidence and positive character traits such as determination, courage, empathy and commitment. A coach wants to win, but even more wants to transmit lessons that will carry over into the rest of the athletes 'lives”. A coach is loyal to players and reluctant to "give up" on them, especially "at-risk" athletes who have the most to gain from participating in sports.

• !   Fosters internal motivation:
  

A positive coach encourages the athlete to develop internal motivation with minimal reliance on external punishment and rewards. A coach listens to and seeks information from the athlete to learn to better tap into their internal motivation. A coach is also internally motivated and sets an example for the athlete.

• !   Coaches for mastery:
  

A positive coach coaches for mastery rather than victory, which is seen a by-product of the pursuit of excellence. A coach focuses on effort rather than outcome, learning rather than comparison to others. A coach recognizes that mistakes are an important and inevitable part of learning and encourages an environment in which the athlete is willing to risk making a mistake. The coach sets standards of continuous learning and improvement for the coach and the athlete. The coach encourages and inspires the athlete, whatever their level of mastery, to strive to get better without threatening them. The coach is committed to becoming the best coach they can be and continually seeks to improve their own effectiveness.

• !   Refuses to motivate through fear, intimidation, or shame:
  

A positive coach establishes order and discipline in a positive manner. Many coaches are positive when things are going well and the athlete is winning. A positive coach works to remain positive even through losing streaks. The coach recognizes that it is often when things go wrong that a coach can have the most positive impact and teach the most important lessons. Regardless of the adversity involved, a coach refuses to demean himself or the athlete by resorting to fear, intimidation or shame. The coach always treats the athlete with respect regardless of how well they perform.

• !   Creates a partnership with players:
  

A positive coach resists an authoritarian role in which players are conditioned to please the coach. The coach involves the athlete and/or parents in determining athlete rules. The coach recognizes that communication is the lifeblood of effective relationships and works hard to establish clear and effective two-way communication with the athlete. The coach seeks to win the cooperation of the athlete through encouragement and treats them as partners working together to achieve mutual goals.

• !   Honors the Game:
  

A positive coach feels an obligation to the sport they coach. A coach loves their sport and shares this love and enjoyment with the athlete. A coach feels privileged to be able to take part in their sport. A coach respects the opponent, recognizing that a worthy opponent will push the coach and the athlete to do their best. A coach understands the important role that officials play and strives to show them respect even when there is disagreement with their decisions. The coach values the rich tradition of the sport and works to honor the spirit as well as the letter of its rules. A positive coach demonstrates personal integrity and would rather lose than win by dishonoring the game. Dishonoring the game is worse than defeat.

Positive coaching should be anywhere and everywhere. It does not, and should not stop at any level. It is, without doubt, the best way to coach. Expectations grow as you move up the levels, but every level you are still teaching the game. There is no level where you, the coach, will quit teaching the game. As long as you teach, teach in a positive manner. It will produce the best athletes, and ultimately, the best results.

In Archery, an athlete doesn't get to the top of their game without the guidance and support of a coach.

Without a coach they would not be at the peak of their performance and achieve success. 

A coach pushes the athlete to achieve optimum performance, provides support when they are exhausted and teaches the athlete to execute plays that their competition does not anticipate. 



A coach will make you run more laps than you feel like. 

A coach will tell it like it is, and a coach will listen. 



Coaching can come in many forms - but a coach is someone who will enable you to improve, motivate you and hold you accountable to your goals and enable you to grow.

Some of the positive benefits to working with a coach are:

◦                Time to focus on YOU and what you want to achieve.

◦                Achieve greater results in less time.

◦                Someone to challenge, motivate and support you.

◦                Enable you to come up with a fresh approach to an old problem.

◦                A safe supportive environment to discuss your issues and test out your ideas.

◦                Your personal development mentor.

◦                Give you accountability and commitment.

◦                Create an action plan and support you in achieving it.

◦                Someone to provide unconditional support and praise.

If you commit your goals to writing you are 40% more likely to achieve them.

 If you tell someone else you are 60% more likely to achieve them.

If you have a coach you are 95% more likely to achieve your goals.

Responsible Sport Parents care about the scoreboard, but they care even more deeply about instilling a Mastery Approach in their children, which will help them win both on and off the field and throughout their lives.

As expert research has repeatedly proven, focusing solely on the scoreboard increases players' anxiety, because they can’t control the outcome on the scoreboard.

Ultimately, that anxiety undercuts self-confidence, which affects performance and takes the joy out of sports. Anxious athletes spend their mental and emotional energy worrying about losing instead of focusing on the current play and, of course, focusing on the current play is necessary for mastery and winning. 

To keep your kids encouraged and engaged in their sports so they can learn life lessons, help them focus on what they can control. Control is critical to confidence!

There are three key elements to a Mastery Approach and you can remember them with the handy acronym ELM  - Effort, Learning and Mistakes. Responsible Sport Parents encourage their kids to “climb the ELM Tree of Mastery” by giving maximum Effort, committing to constantly Learning to continue to improve, and remembering that Mistakes are OK, because mistakes help us learn.

Parent-Coach Conversations during a youth sports season, your children will spend more time with their coaches than with any other adults, except you, their parents. On some days, coaches’ time with your kids will even exceed your own. It’s important that you as a Responsible Sport Parent have a completely open, honest, trusting relationship with your children’s coaches. Here are a few ways to help bring about a quality parent-coach partnership.

Prepare Your Children to Work Well With Coaches. In addition to the basic manners and respect that makes for functional families and schoolrooms, remind your children that their coaches are in a unique position. Your conversation with your children might include explaining that their coaches have to work with a lot of different players and parents, and that means a lot of personality types.

Help your children understand that the best way for them to succeed as individuals and to contribute to team success is to cooperate with the coaches, pay careful attention and try their hardest at every practice and game. If your children make the coaches’ lives easier, you probably will enhance your own relationships with the coaches.

Stay Mindful of the Coaches’ Commitment.Your children’s coaches have made a commitment that involves many hours of preparation beyond the time spent at practices and games. Quite likely in youth sports they are volunteers. Almost all are well-meaning.

It will be helpful to use those facts as a prism through which you view any issues that have you considering a corrective conversation with the coaches. Finally, if you do feel the need to approach coaches about an issue, try to imagine yourself in their place – as a volunteer – and that can help keep your communication with them respectful.

Make Early, Positive Contact with the Coach. As soon as you know who will coach your children, contact those coaches to introduce yourself and offer any assistance you may provide. This outreach may be the single most important thing you do in establishing a true partnership, where you proactively shape a positive experience for your child and lay the foundation for respectful, productive conversations with coaches should a conflict arise later.

You may want to offer yourself as assistant coach if that is customary in the organizations where your children compete. At the same time, be prepared to accept “no” for an answer; some coaches already have assistants selected. Other roles for which you might volunteer include “team parent” (responsible for such things as coordinating carpools or snack assignments) or maintaining a team webpage and online scheduling and communications tools.  

Fill the Coach’s Emotional Tank. Too often, coaches hear only from parents who have complaints. Filling the coaches’ Emotional Tanks with specific, truthful praise positively reinforces them to continue doing the things you see as benefiting the youth athletes.

Key to this communication is “specific and truthful.” It’s common enough for parents and coaches to mill around after a game, and instead of the simple, “Great game, coach,” it can do a world of good for the coach, players and other parents to hear things like, “Coach, we were getting upset about some of the official’s calls, but when we saw how well you kept your composure, it helped us calm down, too.” 

Don’t Put the Player in the Middle. You wouldn’t complain to your children about how poorly their math teacher explains fractions, so hopefully you would avoid sharing your disapproval of a coach with your children. Doing so may force the child to take sides, and not necessarily your side!

If your child has an issue with the coach and can maturely articulate it, encourage your child to approach the coach and at the very least learn some life lessons in self-advocacy with an authority figure. Otherwise, if you disapprove of how the coach handles a situation, seek a private meeting to discuss the matter.

Ideally, such conversations would focus on big-picture concerns around your child’s ability to have an overall positive experience with the team. Playing time issues sometimes rise to that level, but in-game strategies and tactics rarely do.

If you have some expertise in the sport and think you can help your child’s coach, that’s the sort of thing you might mention in the “make-early-positive-contact” phase. But if the coach does not seem open to those sorts of suggestions, it’s best to respect that, because big-picture concerns about your child taking life lessons from sports do not hinge on the coach accepting your tactical advice. 

Let Coaches Coach. It can confuse players to hear someone other than the coach yelling out instructions. Also, your instructions may counter the coaches’ strategy and tactics, undermining team performance.
Fill Your Child’s Emotional Tank.Competitive sports can be stressful to players. The last thing they need is your critiquing their performance…on top of what the coach may deliver and what they already are telling themselves. Let your children know you love and support them regardless of their performance. 

Contribute to a Positive Environment. Fill all the players’ Emotional Tanks when you see them doing something well. Honor the Game as a spectator, respecting ROOTS (Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates and Self), and encourage others around you to Honor the Game.

We know this advice is not always easy to implement. There will be the occasional disagreeable official’s call or wishes for more playing time for your child. But drawing from these ideas can help you keep your child’s youth sports experience in perspective. In turn, that will help you maintain a positive parent-coach partnership, and that will help the Responsible Coaches in your children’s lives serve their greatest purpose.

This article is part of the Responsible Sport Parenting series prepared by Positive Coaching Alliance expressly for the Liberty Mutual Insurance Responsible Sports Program.

From the Blog of International Judge Bob Pian – a great how-to of preparing for your first tournament:

Heading to the first “real” tourney: Deciding to take part in that first tournament is often more of an accident than by design.  Someone mentions that an event might be fun or worthwhile and suggest giving it a try.  Now what?  A book could be written about tournament preparation and competition.  All events are different, but following are some steps you can take to help you feel more prepared.

Ask the Question: Am I ready? If you don’t need to go behind the target to look for your arrows after most every end and can score arrows on a target face, write the values and add arrow values, you are ready to try competition.

Registration and membership: The amount of tournament advertising and information varies.  Most events have registration forms that can be downloaded and printed.  When in doubt, contact the tournament host.  Most tournament organizers will be delighted to hear of an archer that is taking part in their first event and are more than willing to provide information.  Tournaments often neglect to offer “guest” or “novice” categories.  Ask! Most tournaments are eager to fit you in where they can.

Membership can affect who is eligible to take part.  Levels of tournaments include, club, local, state, regional, national, team trials and international. Where there is no specific membership requirement information, contact the tournament organizers and inquire.

Dress code and equipment: Showing up ready to compete requires the archer to be in proper dress and have equipment that is compliant with the rules. Events have different dress code requirement just as there are different membership requirements. Compliance is easy: for complete information on the USA Archery dress code, click here.

Equipment rules can be a concern for those new to FITA style archery.  If at all possible ask a judge or an experienced target archer to explain the equipment rules before the day of your competition. For compound archers, common compliance issues are bows in excess of 60 pounds, multiple aiming points, a battery lighted sight pin, or arrows that are over 9.3mm (2315s).  Recurve bows rarely have issues except when an archer has left a training aid on the bow such as a sight level or a sight tube over 2cm in length. For complete rules and regulations, click here.

Schedules: Schedules indicate the starting time. Experienced archers arrive on site early to claim seating space, review posted information, set up their equipment, hang their target face, stretch, and get situated before the day’s events begin.  Think of the remainder of the schedule as a general concept versus something that is fixed.  Check daily for schedule updates.

Think of the tournament as starting with check-in, equipment inspection and official practice.  Official practice is the time for archers to become familiar with the range and relax a bit before the first scoring arrow.  It is unsettling to not have time to practice because of a delay.  It is disappointing to have prepared and spent money only to perform poorly because of rushing caused by corner cutting.

Tournament delays happen for a variety of reasons including inclement weather, power failures and protest deliberations. For a local tournament, plan to arrive at least 45 minutes to an hour ahead of your scheduled shooting time. If you’re traveling out of town, plan to arrive the day before and depart the day after if at all possible.

Travel: Getting to and from the event is typically an individual effort.  Plan your trip just as you would any other important event.  Events can take place in obscure places including those that have no address.  Give yourself even more time to find your way.  Many tournament hosts help guide archers to the venue by displaying a FITA target face.  One of the primary roles of a friend, family member or parent is to “get lunch”.   Many bring a cooler with beverages and snacks and a sandwich.

Arrival: There are several things to do when you arrive.  Get a lay of the land. Find out where and when check-in and equipment inspection will be.  If competing in an outdoor tournament, you’ll find that many are interested to learn their target assignment in order to practice on their target. At an indoor competition, you’ll want to secure a seat and a spot for your bow, and get a sense of the lighting on your target. Friends and family are encouraged to volunteer with set up and take down and during the tourney.  Becoming a “friend of the tournament” can be very beneficial; being around the folks that are running the event can provide some insight on what to expect.

Competition: Typically, the process of shooting and scoring is easy to follow.  There is usually time to have questions answered during practice.  The most common interaction with an official is to ask for an arrow call when the target group does not agree.

Archers, including those in youth divisions, should be prepared to call arrow values and mark scorecards legibly.  Finally, archers should be able to add and check the addition of others.  The integrity of the tournament depends on the accuracy of the scorecards.  The efficiency of the tournament depends on the archers’ ability to score and total quickly.

End of the competition day: Scorecards should only be turned in after archers check and double check the math, and ensure that all required information is properly recorded.  Scorecards are required to be signed by the archer and others in the scoring group including the score recorder.  Do not leave the group until all off the cards in the group are fully checked and signed.  Scorecards must be turned in on time to be a part of the results.  Note that in order for your score to set a new record, your scorecard must be signed by a judge.

The best way to learn the tournament process is to dive in and take part!