What is Coaching?

in relation to coaching, I came across a blog article at http://www.americankettlebellclub.com/ where the writer was describing his experience of kettlebell training or Girevoy Sport (GS) just outside of Athens, Greece in the town of Loutraki some time last year. a coaching clinic was held and participants had travelled from all over the world. this particular writer is a Yank.

he talks about the incredible levels of strength that the athletes had achieved under the tutelage of a particular coach Pandelis Filikides. the athletes ranged in age from early teens right through to ages of 60 and above.

but one item caught my attention whereby Coach Filikides asks the participants a question 'What is coaching?'. i feel this is a very relevant question not the least of which is that i have enrolled in a Bachelor in Sports Coaching Science! anyway, answers ranged all over the place but his answer was stunning in its simplicity 'to build better athletes'. he goes on further to say that as a coach, if you are not building athletes to be world champions, then you are not coaching. is this an extreme view? does it hold true as well for the weekend warrior not interested in being a world champion? i would like to explore this in some detail further below.

so what does that actually mean to me when/if i graduate? clearly, amongst the hundreds if not thousands of coaches in this big wide world, not every coach produces a champion and if they are not building champions then what are they doing? are they coaching? how then does a coach go about building a better athlete and ultimately, a world champion?

the Australian Oxford Dictionary defines an athlete as 'a person who is good at athletics'. athletics is defined as 'physical exercises and sports especially competitions involved in running, jumping etc'. the Macquarie Dictionary goes a little further and defines athletics as 'the practice of athletic exercises; the principles of athletic training' the 'practice of athletic sports such as running, rowing, boxing' but then curiously says 'track and field events only'.

the definition of a coach according the Australian Oxford Dictionary is 'an instructor in sports'. the Macquarie defines this as 'a person who trains athletes for games, a contest, etc'.
armed then with this knowledge of what a coach is and what an athlete is and how the two are related (or a coach and a team as the case may be), is it necessary to build a world champion team or an athlete? if you are employed as a coach to a local/state/national team etc, then the answer is a resounding yes. what then do we make of coaches employed to national teams for several years at a time 'building better athletes/teams' who consistently take the wooden spoon!
on the other hand, if you are coaching in a role whereby you are teaching a 'weekend warrior' who has no ambitions to be a world champion, (you may or may not be paid for this) then the definition alters. to my mind the term 'athletic potential' is far better suited here and i would define this as the weekend warrior achieving their athletic potential by becoming that little bit quicker, more flexible, a little stronger, less prone to injury and so on.

so then arriving full circle, i believe Coach Filikides' statement holds true for both the elite athlete and the weekend warrior but with a caveat, one you are building better athletes and teams to be world champions in a paid role at the state, national and international level otherwise what is the point? two where you build better athletes for weekend warriors to realise their athletic potential.