Coaching is a skill and an art that has to be
honed over time. Many people think that it is
a gift and while I do have to agree that there
is a “gift” in terms of leadership ability and
having a magnetic personality, I will have to
disagree on one thing – and that is this.

You CAN learn how to lead, but you have to
KNOW how to coach. And the learning comes with
studying but the kwowing comes by doing.

Often times the job of a coach is pretty easy
when an athlete or a team is winning. It is a
difficult job to take a “loser” and turn them
into a “winner”.

I was faced with this challenge a couple of years
ago when one of my judo athletes have never won
a National Championship within his weight class.
He was good, but couldn’t get over the hump.
He went from just barely placing at the US National
Championships to winning the top tournament in
North America – The US Open.

After this athlete won the US Open, alot of
people wanted to know how I did it and I told
them, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t fight the
matches, the athlete did it. I just coached him

Now I don’t say that to belittle the position of
a coach, but I’ve been an athlete and I know that
it is the athlete’s desire and willingness to
listen, focus, and pay attention which is
most important. Because without the athlete
there is no reason for a coach. So the ATHLETE
is the MOST important part of the Athlete/Coach
equation.

Now, the question is – “How do you coach after
a loss?  Well, the standard coaching protocol
is to be tough on an athlete after a loss and
to be tougher on them after they win.

This is usually how it works in “low-level”
coaching, but on a high level what you have
to do is essentially get “sweetness” out of
a “bitter” situation.

You have to take sting of the loss and use
it as fuel for the next win.

You have to use the “fall” as an opportunity
to ride the elevator of success.

       ***Very Important***

This is difficult because it is at this
time that an athlete is most vulnerable
because some apparent weakness has been
exposed and its your job as the coach
to let them know that a “set back is
only a setup for a comeback”.

This is the point where you have to
turn into a master motivator.  Saying
dumb $h!t like “Don’t worry about that
one” or “he’s just a bit more advanced
than you are right now” is NOT THE RIGHT
THING TO SAY!! 

   ***This Information is Golden***

As a coach you have a responsibility to
“boost” up your athlete and even give
them a false sense of hope sometimes,
because hope will help them build their
faith and as their faith increases so
will their strength and you may just
be the catalyst of a small miracle in
that you might just cause your athlete
to beat someone that they shouldn’t
just because they believed.

So after a loss, your job is to
INSTILL BELIEF!

THIS IS HOW YOU DEVELOP GOLD METTLE!

Take care,

Rhadi Ferguson a.k.a. “The Judo Crusader”
2004 Olympian