Mamata Prabhu is a Commonwealth Games medalist-turned table tennis coach. She’s now coach of the Indian Women’s Table Tennis Team that is readying for the Olympic Games 2024. In this reflection piece, she walks us through the life of an elite sports coach. How does one train to be a coach? What goes on in a coach’s mind before they step on court to work with their athletes? How do they deal with inevitable failure and disappointment? Read on for an insider’s perspective.
Mamata is an alumna of the 4th edition of the ELMS High Performance Leadership Program ELMS HPLP.
Picture this: It’s a rainy day in Mumbai,the city of dreams. Three ladies in their thirties banter enthusiastically, holding umbrellas over their heads and waiting for the school bus to arrive.
“My child is dreaming of becoming a doctor. We have it all planned and arranged.As soon as the semester ends, we will enroll her in classes, and I have also received all the references/notes/study material needed … I am sure it’s a 5-year course and we have so many colleges and doctors who perfectly know the road map. It's just about studying harder and finishing the degree so that he can start practice.
“That is good”, replies the second, “my daughter plans to study architecture.It’s also a 5-year degree. Her father being an architect himself, we have arranged all projects for her …. I am sure even if she does average at the end of 5 years, we will have a degree.”
“Well, my daughter wanted to win the Olympic medal for our country”, says the third. “It is an unfulfilled dream of hers and she has decided to become a coach to train the kids for the future.”
“What!! Indeed, she is exceptionally brilliant at sport but do you have any notes or curriculum or do you know how many years it would take? cautions the first. “At the end of five years our kids will have a degree but what about her?
"I’ve heard people proudly say “ I was a national level player” but who knows what that means? Who will tell us the difference between a national champion and an athlete participating at nationals?” chimes in the second.
“I am sorry to say but no one knows how it is to be done, and even if we can figure out a few things still it's not the same scripted route for all. What if at the end of 10 years still she fails to win this medal after trying very hard? Who will guarantee success? She will be termed as a failure!”
I think you do not want to travel down this untrodden path ……
No manuals for coaching success
What would it be like to start as a coach? A person who has played this sport at the highest level would be an apt choice but let us also keep some options for people who have watched and are involved in the sport closely for a number of years. Since it is not defined by the degree or any parameters the self-defined proclamation of “Coach” still must be considered valid.
Unlike other professions, when you start as a coach you are bound to be empty. You do not start with defined learning instructions manuals. What I mean here is, while manuals exist, the coaching system does not operate like a machine where you follow instructions and have a finished product at the end. What’s more, the manual is not the same for all. At the end of the day how would you confirm that what work you have done is visible and confirmed. Most of the time you do not know whether you start the next day a little lower or higher.
You are bound to have questions. Was what I was doing correct? Was it the right decision? Why is it not working? What else can be done? How do I evaluate my efforts …should it be or is it that I have tried enough or maybe I should continue the efforts?
A Matrix of Coaching Outcomes
Evaluation for coaches would generally be on the student’s performance but here is the challenge. In coaching,we can have options like:
Capable coach – Capable student - Victory
Capable Coach – Incapable student – Can have victory
Incapable Coach – Capable Student – Can have victory
Incapable coach – Incapable Student – Still can have victory
Believe me! Victory is possible with all 4 combinations, but surely the degree of victory will vary.
Guidelines to improve competence in coaching
Now lets only consider what a capable coach means. How can we define the level of finesse of any coach?
Coaching is based on your own experience, learnings from peers, from victories you had, from losses you suffered, from the wins other coaches had, from the losses they had, the knowledge you gained with years, the attitude you have as a coach, patience level, learnings from your own students and gaining access or understanding insights to produce performance and maybe much more.
It's like an office where you need to work on various parameters, learn and unlearn and relearn.
Believe me there are no bonuses, no layoffs, no perks, no appraisals, and no guarantee for success.
Some insights for coaching:
Performance Thinking – The quest is for exceptional performance and requires growth mindset, continuous improvement, underpinning culture, and strategy.
Maximizing Human Capital – One coach cannot manage it all alone. It’s a team effort, withof various highly skilled professionals with experience in sports science, nutrition, fitness,, mental traineing, co-coaches and much more. Let’s put it this way – It’s a circus and the coach is backstage managing the show, responsible for coordinating all the players to make that one performer perform.
Risk Analysis – All best performances get beaten due to injury, illness or any other unpredictable occurrence. It is equally important to have preventative strategies. The super complex thing is to decide the quantity and quality of workload needed for raising the level at required time.
Performance Modelling – Successful sports break down performance into components. Breaking the components and remodeling or redesigning them will produce greater quality. To put it simply– Sharpening your axe will decide how many times you have to hit a tree to break it, whether in one blow or maybe more.
Mental Modeling – A coach will have to design a successful mind, a strong character which includes physical, emotional, social and intellectual dimensions.
Recovery & Recuperation – As a coach the mind will be drained and exhausted doing the same thing over and over for a number of years and “EVERYDAY”. Even a coach is bound to feel burnout and would need to realign goals over a period.
Avoiding success driven conservatism – Performance improvement necessitates innovation and there is no place for conservatism. The fun part is to identify which innovation, when and where.
Conclusion
These are my personal thoughts and there is no rulebook for success in sports. Coaching is purely an individual perspective, combining insights, planning and decisions. There are learning and relearnings. There is no right and wrong and that’s why the sporting journey is highly individual and unpredictable.
I believe strongly that ELMS is one such institution who has identified the need for scientific learning in sport, making a curriculum based on vast experience and industry driven experts. This has surely helped coaches like me to understand, learn, and define concrete ideas needed to produce high level performance.
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