No matter how talented you are, you will need someone to guide and mentor you. The importance of having a good coach early on in your career can honestly not be overemphasized. Having a good one can help you to better focus your passion, skills, and energy and channel them into a productive, dynamic and efficient plan that could enable you to reach the peak of success in your career and life. The right coach will be worth every dollar you spend!
After you’ve done some research in the field of coaching, you’ll likely be thrilled by what you found. There are probably a lot of things you didn’t know a coach could do for you. They can help you get your fitness program back on track, whether you’re trying to achieve a more balanced life, prosperous career, or better your people skills. There’s a coach for about everything. Even the greatest pro athletes all got coached at a point in their careers. Why wouldn’t you?
Why Choosing the Right Coach is Important
Choosing the right coach for your athletic career is a very crucial step to achieving success and it must be done from an informed point of view. In order words, you must carry out due diligence on many coach profiles to determine which coach would best suit your goals. Bear in mind that the right coach must be a person who is able to motivate and encourage you, even when you can’t encourage yourself. A coach is more like an athlete’s professional friend. Keep the following 5 tips in mind when you’re picking a coach and your career and wallet would thank you!
So, how exactly do you go about finding the right coach that will help you achieve your goals? First, think about the areas in your career for which you would need the help of a coach. Is it for your training sessions, personal motivation or game strategy? What goals do you have? What are you trying to accomplish ultimately?
With all these questions pending, review each coach’s profile with the following in mind.
A Good Coach Must Be Qualified
We can’t stress this enough. He or she must hold at least a basic qualification on the particular or a similar to where you want to get mentoring. Many people spend a lot of money unqualified coaches these days, and it would be a waste of time and money for you to make the same mistake. Based on your particular field you could begin finding someone that has a reasonable experience level and a good track record of dealings with other clients. Coaches are a bit like counselors; the main difference is: they go everywhere with you. You’ll want to make sure you’re working with someone that knows what he or she is doing.
Friendliness
Okay, that’s a pretty heavy word, but it really just means having a friendly, approachable character. It is imperative to choose someone that is patient to go with you every step of your training. It’s desirable for the right coach to be empathetic also. There is something called emotional intelligence – Being able to respond to a person from a level of empathy. Before you hire the services of a coach, you should be able to take some time to chat with the person, just so you now if both your goals align. Watch out for cues during the chat and ask a lot of questions. If the coach you’re interviewing is acting in an impatient manner, or acting suspicious, call off the interview, thank the coach for speaking with you and go look for another.
Experience
We all know that having experience is worth more than reading a thousand-page book. It is highly recommended that you choose a coach who has previous athletic experience, preferably in your particular sport. This will grant you access to a treasure trove of advice, tips, tricks, and skills for enhancing your career in the shortest possible time. For example, if you’re a swimmer, you shouldn’t be looking for a coach that was a soccer player back in the day. It doesn’t just fit. Although there are still many who are proficient in training athletes for multiple sports, it’s always better if your motivations can align with the specific skill sets of your chosen coach. There are many websites online where you can review coach profiles individually to be sure which one of them is right for you. Even if you have no experience in selection whatsoever, there should be some placeholder requirements you could use as a guide for making the right decision.
Personality
Not all great coaches are a perfect fit for you. You will progress toward your goals more swiftly and easily if you get a mentor who has the best personality to fit you. Think about what you want. Would you prefer a ‘drill officer’ to keep you motivated in a very straightforward, no-nonsense manner? Or would you favor a friendly and supportive person to guide your decisions and keep you on course? Or maybe you’ll like someone in between? Regardless of the particular style, the right coach should ever be honest and straightforward with you on all issues. Nonetheless, the manner and degree to which each individual coach will hold you accountable may differ. You need to weigh your options considering the personality type that you think will guide you best.
Last Words
Choosing a good coach really matters. Just as there are some particular people you relate to more easily and form a strong connection with, you need a guide that has that same good connection with you. You certainly wouldn’t choose just anyone to be a business partner, spouse, or companion. So also, you can’t simply pick any random person off the street to coach you. Since you both would be spending a lot of time together, adequate understanding, a great connection, and steady rapport are essential to have a meaningful relationship. Consider it for a moment: your coach is the one person to whom you commit your goals, dreams, plans and even your weaknesses. Not just any person will do.
