Introduction
Online coaching had been on the rise for a while near the end of the 2010s. Then like everything, it hit the fan during COVID. Everyone (and their mom) looked to become an online coach because it was the only way to do anything. More people have gone back to in-person coaching since then, but many saw the benefit of seeking knowledge outside their city.
In-person coaching with a good coach will always be a winner. It’s not possible to get the same immediate feedback from a coach through a phone. However, just because it isn’t the same, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t exhaust our options to bring up the remote coaching environment where it’s lacking. The biggest downside of remote coaching is the lack of community. Building a team culture in an individual sport is tough. It’s tough in person and it’s even tougher online, but it’s one of the most important parts of building an athlete and building a team. People may prefer training by themselves, but you can’t deny the increase in performance and enjoyment when you’re surrounded by others on the same path as you. We are social creatures, and that doesn’t change just because you have an online coach. If a coach wants to build an athlete remotely, they need to invest and build their remote team as well. It’s not easy, but it will pay off immensely in your turnover rates and your athletes’ progress.
Creating a Community: Setting the Stage
Before we get into the how-to’s, it’s important to cover one thing first. You are an individual. If you were the same as every other coach you would not offer any unique value and there would be no difference between you and anyone else. If there’s no difference then why should someone work with you? Every coach is different, every athlete is different. Different athletes need different types of coaches and vice-versa.
The first step to building a remote team culture is to lean into your strengths. We’ve all seen the prototypical football coach: loud, shouting,the biggest hype man you’ve ever seen. If that’s not you, that’s fine. If you’re trying to be that, athletes will see right through it and it’ll come off as disingenuine. Lean into your strengths and be you. Athletes want to work with someone who is authentic and with whom they connect. No one is going to connect with a fraud. A lot of what you see in this post may not resonate with you, but that’s okay. Take the lessons and apply them to your coaching style.
The last thing to mention before we get into it is this. Your community is a reflection of your individual relationships. If you don’t have strong relationships with your athletes, your culture is dead on arrival. You’re going to get to a point where you are not the center of it all. Athletes will build relationships with each other and it’ll blossom from there. But if your athletes don’t love and trust you first, you’re going nowhere. Focus on the individual first, and it’ll grow naturally from there.
Creating a Community: Where to Begin
First Contact
If your team is based on the individuals then this all begins in your onboarding call. The onboarding call is not just to get the information you need to write a program but to set expectations and build rapport right off the bat. I’ve got five recommendations to cover during the onboarding call, to kickstart the relationship from day one.
- Set clear expectations regarding remote vs. in-person interactions.
Again, we all know that in-person is different from online, for better or worse. Set clear expectations on the differences and what is expected. If you promise video feedback within 24 hours, let that be known. If you offer video calls during sessions to watch lifts in real-time, let that be known. Explain that remote comes with challenges, and this is what you offer to combat and overcome those challenges - Determine the athlete’s preferred communication style and frequency.
This is a two-way relationship: if you like to text an athlete daily and that athlete only wants to talk to you weekly, something isn’t going to work. Figure out how the athlete likes to communicate and how often. Your job is to meet the needs of the athlete, not order them how things are going to go. - Be genuine and avoid putting on a facade.
As mentioned, authenticity is number one. Who you are is why people will want to work with you. Show who you are in this first meeting. There’s nothing worse than acting one way during first contact just for the athlete to see this whole different side of you in a month that they didn’t sign up for. Be you and people will want to work with you, and they’ll be committed to you and your process. - Define what success looks like for both coach and athlete.
One question I started asking a few months back has changed the game for me in getting to know the route of what an athlete desires. The question is this:- One day, you’re going to put down the barbell for the last time. Whether that be death, change of sport, injury, or whatever, you’ll put the bar down and never pick it back up. Fast forward to that day, if you were to look back on your weightlifting career then, what would have to have happened for you to consider it successful?Every athlete comes in wanting to PR, and that’s good to know, but PRs will come and go. If you want to develop an athlete you need to understand what they want out of this sport. Most of the time it’s not just a number, it’s a feeling of success. Success is going to be very person-dependent. Find out what makes them tick and cater the program and relationship to thatTake notes using the athlete’s language to ensure clear understanding and rapport
- Everyone wants to feel heard. The easiest way to make someone feel heard is by using their language. People naturally feel more connected with whom they share a common language. If you’re traveling overseas and meet someone from your state, naturally, you’ll feel more connected due to common ground. If someone keeps saying they don’t understand the cue: “Get your knees under”, and you continue using that cue, it shows them you don’t listen. If someone keeps talking about jumping off the ground and it works for them, it doesn’t matter whether we want them to jump or not, you tell that person to jump. People explain their reality through words. Using the same words shows you have a common understanding of what they’re going through and if you understand, you can better help them.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
After first contact, we need to continue to foster this relationship, to talk through how to do this we are going to look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This pyramid highlights what humans long for, and in what order they attempt to fill these needs.
Physiological Needs
The reality is coaching isn’t free, and it sure isn’t cheap. Coaching is a luxury service, so it’s safe to assume that if someone is paying you for coaching then all of these needs are being met.
Safety Needs
Again, due to the nature of our sport and coaching. We can assume these needs have been met as a prerequisite to finding a coach.
Love and Belonging
First things first, you just have to give a crap about your athletes. If you aren’t a people person, there’s not much I can do to help you. You need to genuinely care about and love your athletes and want the best for them. As a coach, you are not the center of attention and you will never receive the recognition you think you deserve. Your only role is to help the athlete do their best. In order to do that, you need to care and you need to show it. Most importantly with this, if athletes know that you care, then they’ll feel safe. Safe spaces have had their time in the news a lot, but as coaches, the gym needs to be a safe space for an athlete. They need to feel comfortable enough to try, fail, and get back up and try again. If they don’t feel safe, they’ll be limited in their progression. That safety starts with you.
Esteem
Once athletes feel safe and loved, they need to be recognized. People love to do cool things, people love even more to tell others about their cool things. This is your chance to highlight them, showcase their wins, be that on social media or otherwise. It’s important to show the world how proud you are of the work your athletes have put in and the success they’ve had as a result.
Self-Actualization
It’s not enough to love and recognize your athletes. This last step is something only the athletes can find in themselves, but you can help lead them to it. The desire to become the most that one can be relies on taking accountability and responsibility for their actions. A coach should not just be telling the athlete what to do, it should be a collaborative effort. This is where autonomy comes into play.
If you’re just constantly giving an athlete a program with no collaboration then they’re reliant on you. You are the cause of success and failure. Which means every bad day is your fault. No athlete can succeed unless they take responsibility for their training. Give your athletes some autonomy over their program and their success and you’ll get them fully bought in. This can be as simple as giving options on accessories for the day. Or as complex as autoregulation and giving them the accountability of regulating intensity based on feel for the day.
Other Recommendations
To finish off this section I’m going to leave you with three more key points to remember and implement.
First, take notes on your athletes’ lives. You should know if your athletes have kids, their names, their spouse’s names, where they’re going on vacation, etc. Your athletes are people, their entire life doesn’t revolve around the sport. Know who they are and what they like to do.
Second, be vulnerable. Weightlifting is hard, there will be lots of emotion. Your athletes need to know they aren’t in this alone, and they aren’t the only ones who struggle. Let them know about what you’ve been through. This will open the floor for them to share deeper things with you and deepen their trust level.
Third, building is much harder than nurturing. Growing your investment portfolio from $1 to $100,000 takes a long time. Building from $100,000 to $1 million goes by much quicker. Compound interest happens with relationships and your team as well. Building relationships is going to take a lot of work initially. but once they’ve grown, it’s going to skyrocket from there. Put in the work early, and everything will take care of itself.
Examples of Community Building
This entire blog so far has only focused on the individual, so let’s dive into some team items. Remember though, your team is a reflection of all the individuals. These will only help if the individual relationships are solid. Below are a few examples of ways you can create a team environment in your remote team.
Athlete Focus Group
Very simply, ask your people what they want. The simplest way to figure out how to build more of a community is to ask the community what they want to see. The people who are on the other end of the community should be the ones who dictate what that community is. Don’t fall into the trap of doing something you want. Your community is for your athletes, not yourself.
Communication Platforms
The most basic form of creating a community is a group chat. Create a space where everyone can connect with their teammates without being in the same place. Power & Grace has been doing this through Slack at a smaller level for about a year, and team-wide for the past few months with tons of success. This chat allows us to push out announcements, better coordinate national meets and training camps, and give people a chance to connect with others.
Highlight Successes
We touched on this with Maslow, but showcase your people. This could be on a team/coach’s social media, in your team’s group chat, or however. People love to be bragged about, brag about your people, and show them off to their teammates.
Team Exercises
Most of us sell coaching through individualized programs, but training can only get so specific. Everyone is going to squat, snatch, clean, jerk, etc. There are going to be similarities through programs. One way to add a team cohesion aspect to your program is through team exercises. This can be something simple like giving your athletes similar plyometric progressions or syncing max out days for people on the same competition schedule . Whatever it may be, this gives athletes the chance to relate to one another in their training.
Training Camps
Bring your athletes together as much as you can. At some point to create a community you have to be in-person. This could be bringing all athletes to a central location or having specific camps based on different regions of the country. I am lucky enough to have 90% of my athletes on the east coast so I can run something similar to this quarterly. Bring people together, lift some heavy stuff, then go hang out and do something that isn’t just more weightlifting.
National Meet Get-Togethers
Lastly, make sure national meets aren’t just fly in, lift, leave. National meets are the perfect opportunity to do an event because everyone is brought together by the competition. You won’t have athletes going at every session, so find where you have an opening and plan an outing for your team. This can be as simple as watching a session, getting dinner, or doing some activity together.
Conclusion
I’ve said it over and over, but build deep relationships with your athletes first and foremost and your team will grow from there. When your athletes see the care you put into them individually, they’ll naturally do the same for each other. Put in the work early on and let this thing grow.