The love hate relationship athletes have with their coaches

Hi everybody,

I had to smile when I read one of my athletes blog's. Cindy and I started working together not that long ago and I am helping her to reach her goal for the 2014 season- IM Arizona.

Cindy's blog reminded me on some of my own coaches in the past and how often I thought they want to kill me. When my athletes complain that the training is to hard I always tell them that I am not here to find new friends. This is actually something that one of my former coaches told my training group when I was a teenager. His name was Willi and I will never forget how we had our very first meeting with him and the team and he said "Gentlemen, my name is Mr. Belgo. I will be your new bike coach." He continued on and talked but one sentence sticks in my head till today: "I am not here to find new friends! We are here to be successful together and if we reach this goal and still talk to each other beside the training we archived more than we can ask for!" 

My approach is a little bit different than Willi's was but I still think he was right to a certain point and the coach should be your best friend and worst enemy at the same time. The athlete should always know that I, as a coach, always want the best for you, as an athlete. This also means that I have to help you to bring you out of your comfort zone and push you to new limits.

I am looking forward to share a great race season with my athletes!

cheers,

Elmar

P.S. If you want to read Cindy's blog click here!