“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them”
Until now climbers have just gone climbing to get better at climbing. In many cases the benefits of pull up routines, hanging on door frames and sit ups while watching t.v. were shared around the climbing community. A kind of haphazard hearsay approach to coaching. In many cases it worked, something worked. Improvements were made and harder climbs were ascended. It is now not uncommon for climbing coaches to have their own coach. Yes, coaches coaching coaches!!! Many well known climbers have engaged with coaches. Ben Moon has a coach, Adam Ondra has a coach, even the free spirited Chris Sharma has a coach. I took some time to find out why.
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Sports coaches have been operating for many years across a wide range of physical activities, but not in climbing. This is changing over the past 10 years and now in New Zealand. Coaches get the best out of people and it is not just Olympic athletes who engage with coaches. All over the world, from junior swim teams to Sunday league football and cricket and golf, coaches can be found. Over the past few years climbers have started to realise the benefits of engaging with a climbing coach. I have been coaching climbers professionally in New Zealand since 2013 and have seen attitudes changing throughout this time. So here it is, climbing coaching is available in New Zealand.
Why should I engage a climbing coach?
Anyone from beginners to advanced climbers can improve their technique, performance and enjoyment of rock climbing with a little help from a climbing coach. A coach can help you to develop your personal skills and inspire you to train smarter and climb better. Engaging a coach can shorten your climbing development curve leading to quicker, safer and sustained improvements.
In fact, a great time to engage with a coach is when you are just starting out, in any sport. This is the period of adaptation where your brain is most receptive to new activities and feelings. Over time it will become harder to reverse misguided habits that while they may work well for you now can hold you back in your future. With this in mind it is unfortunate that top class coaching is often only accessible to experienced sports participants. Engaging a climbing coach early in your climbing time can help you build a solid base from which your climbing can develop.
Coaching and the coaches personal ability have little to do with the output of their athletes. More important is the rapport between the coach and athlete and the coaches ability to recognise and release potential in others. What do Mark Glenny and Glen Mills have in common? They are both world champion coaches. Glen Mills is not just coach to Usain Bolt but also 100m World Champion Yohan Blake, two 100m champions. Mark Glenny was coach to Shauna Coxey, 2016 World Women’s Boulder Champion. Glen Mills may not be able to run 100m in world record time, but his skills have enabled others to do so. Indeed Mark Glenny uses his skills and a background in athletics to mentor a World Champion rock climber.
Coaching knowledge is acquired through experience and self-reflection. A good coach will understand the environment which impact performance, an excellent coach will know how to spin this environment into better performance. A coach will provide a structure around your climbing and help you to make a better use of your time in the gym. A coach can help you save time and effort working out how to climb and move efficiently. Climbing is fun and enjoyable. A climbing coach is not a drill Sargent, so embrace the coach. The overall goal of a climbing coach is to develop an environment in which the climber can flourish and develop a sense of climbing well.