CAO: How are you prepping for home field advantage?
Alan Oldham: Whether you’re competing away or at home you want to be in ideal performance state regardless of what’s going on around you and as far as being at home it means there’s going to be a lot more cheering from the fans and that will affect the outcome on the water or field or whatever sport arena. So it’s really important to take that into account when we’re preparing athletes so they’re aware there’s going to be this extra energy. I think even a lead-up to a big event like this it’s pretty powerful that there is an excitement and athletes don’t want to let down the whole crowd so you need to manage that from a sports psych side and daily training perspective. Everyday preparing for that. Setting up situations where the athletes are visualizing that and training with the attitude that we’re going to go out and do our best and use those cheers to spur on even more performance.
CAO: How do you become the best coach you can be?
AO: I’d say that just coach, I’d always take the attitude that you’d want to coach as much as you can, coach anyone, every level you can learn quite often more from coaching people at the beginning levels and then take that to coach someone on their way to the Olympic podium. So taking every opportunity to coach and learning from other coaches. Sitting back and taking opportunity to see what’s been done and what people are doing around you, what the top coaches in the country are doing, and trying to see how that could fit into what you’re doing, and not feeling that you need to reinvent everything, because there’s a lot that’s been done and a lot of good stuff that you can utilize if you just take a look around.
CAO: What is one piece of advice you would give another coach on coaching?
AO: Well as I said, learn from other coaches. I think that the biggest piece of advice is take some time to be balanced yourself. You’re only going to be a good coach as long as you’re not burnt out. Take a few moments, a day off a week, or whatever, a few hours a couple of days to sit down and do something that’s not related to your sport. Because quite often that’s when the biggest insights related to your athletes or developing your own career come into focus and you can come back with renewed energy and take on what might have seemed a little daunting or a little overwhelming before.
CAO: What do you love about coaching?
AO: Helping the athlete on their journey. That’s what I really love about coaching because as an athlete I was really benefited by coaches that saw something in me and helped me along my journey and I want to do that as a coach myself.
The 2015 Ontario Coaches Conference is the go-to annual event for coach development, networking, workshops and more. Over 25 Session, NCCP course options, Socials, and Special Events. Learn from Provincial, National, and International coaches. A game changing experience!
Coach 2 Coach is a monthly correspondence between coaches of all sports, at all levels, across Ontario. Coaches talk coaching sharing knowledge and experience. Any coach can contribute!
Over the last forty years, coaching in Canada has been developed jointly by the federal and provincial governments through the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP). This coaching education program is developed and delivered through a partnership of the federal, provincial and territorial governments, the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) and the National Sport Organizations (NSOs). NCCP workshops are designed for all types of coaches. Whether you’re thinking about coaching your child’s community team or you’re already the head coach of a national team, the NCCP has workshops to meet your needs.
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