Interesting article from TheAustralian.com.au on Toni Nadal, the coach to tennis star Rafa Nadal, who is also his uncle.
"But he sees among young players a lack of respect to coaches and a wariness of the unrelenting hard work and absolute commitment as reasons why 34 of the past 35 Grand Slam titles have been won by four men."
"Coaches come for players with water, with food - many times I see the player go to the court for practice and the player goes with nothing and the coach has the bag. I have seen many times players who talk to his coach so bad. "
The article resonates particularly for any coach working with Federation supported programmes and athletes. In our efforts to go the extra mile for performance, we can inadvertently create environments where athletes end up with entitled behaviour. They can end up dependant on staff to take care of them and find solutions to problems vs learning how to manage themselves, even if that means making mistakes during their development years.
This reminds me of a discussion with Kiwi/British Coach Ben Bright on the path many young Aussis and Kiwis forged in the early years of triathlon, coming to Europe with nothing, and finding their way as professionals, racing for food and lodging. The modern generation of athletes have more support, but there can be a downside to that support, that they miss these formation development experiences.