WHY IS IT THAT ELITE ATHLETES ARE MISUNDERSTOOD?

Comparing Levels of Athletic Ability
Beginner Intermediate Advanced
  • low ability
  • simple movements and cognitions
  • Can comprehend because were once ourselves
  • Most coaching methods and sport psychology studies are geared for this majority group.
  • high ability
  • complex movements and cognitions
  • Can not comprehend someone superior to ourselves.

PROBLEMS WITH COACHING:
The methods suggested for coaching elite athletes are a combination of methods that work well for beginner and intermediate athletes. So even though there is a unique way to coach a beginner and an entirely different way to coach an intermediate competitor, no unique method exists for coaching an expert athlete.
PROBLEMS WITH COACHING RESEARCH:
As in most research in psychology, the main focus is to study various types of behavior in different groups of people and see if there are any "statistically significant" trends. If there are, one looks at how they came about, and suggest ways that improvement could be made, if necessary.
Problem #1: Finding a model.
Often we use role models to help learn how improvement can be made. Elite athletes are of course role models, so studies focus on what makes them special as a group, ignoring individual differences. Trends are discovered and models created based on this elite group; so good competitors can become very good competitors, but very good competitors have no model to work with to become the best.
Problem #2: Assumption that there is a model for a world champion in the first place.
Perhaps it is what makes a person special that defines a world champion. Prototypes define similarities, not differences. It is logically inconsistent to define coaching strategies based on prototype of how these athletes function, when your final goal is to get them to do something no human has done before. A prototype creates walls, preventing an athete form reaching their full potential.
CONCLUSIONS:
So what can we do to help athletes who are superior and incomprehensible to ourselves?
Instead of searching for a prototype of a world champion, perhaps a model of a problem solving strategy to bring out the positive differences in athletes could be more appropriate.
Motivational Coaching
Studies have shown that most international coaches are motivators. This is a correlation, so we cannot conclude that therefore motivators are the best kind of coach at this level. After all, maybe they are motivators because they are incapable of task orientated coaching.
Task-orientated Coaching
A learning curve takes an s-shaped form, leveling off at the top, elite level. The implications are as follows:
  • Improvement is slow, made with small baby steps.
  • There has to be very little variability in performance in order to make any conclusions on interventions. (If you have large variability in your performance, and you did something -like change your equipment- and got better, you cannot conclude that it was because of your equipment that you got better; it could very well just have been another extreme fluctuation in performance.)
  • The method to learn and prime complex, integrated phenomenon is much different and much more difficult to measure than the simple things we learnt earlier in life. One has to understand the mechanics of how this works in order to make changes. Motivation alone will not do.
So, when you are at the top of the learning curve, the task of defining appropriate goals and measures for performance are especially important.

Summary
Coaching Athletes Superior to Ourselves.
  • Acknowledge that the general population cannot absolutely understand elite athletes.
  • Use consistent problem solving method to concretely define uniqueness and assets of elite athlete. (Instead of using a prototype for training and competition)
  • More weighted use of task-orientated methodology.
    (more task-orientated) (less motivational-orientated)
    TRAINING SMARTER, NOT HARDER

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