Top 10 Recommendations for Olympic Federations

This is adapted from an analysis of British Swimming post 2012 from a senior US coach who compiled the following top ten recommendations from leading peers. It's not exhaustive but is applicable to all Olympic sports:

1. Abandon early selections for all but confirmed medal contenders.

2. Race in tough international competitions far more often. (French Grand Prix, German Bundesliga)

3. Hire a Head Coach from your country. Make your own people responsible for performance.

4. Feed an 'us against the world' culture.

5. Get the CEO and HPD out of the way, so the best coaches can be themselves and work in a way they have demonstrated gets results. 

6. Facing the worlds best should be your only focus.

7. Hold fewer national team camps and make them more specific in a competitive environment.

8. Focus on the athletes who succeed.

9. Put your athletes in situations where they are not well paid, not well housed, not comfortable. Those will fire in their belly will rise. Same with coaches.

10. Reward top performance, not effort, at the end of the journey. Some will fail. Tough.

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AuthorJoel Filliol
TagsFederations, Olympics

Key Characteristics of The World’s Best Coaches

James Vaughn has a blog on a research looking into characterises of the worlds best coaches. 

In summary: Read a lot, know thyself, and know your athletes.

Some key highlights below: 

“the study was commissioned to better understand “serial winners”. Fourteen coaches from multiple fields – team and individual sports based around the world – where chosen for their abilities to develop Olympians and title winning dynasties.”
“ This search – according to the data – is driven by a deep dark doubt, driving the obsession to ‘stay ahead’. These coaches are “always striving, driven by the fear of not being good enough””
“These elite high performance coaches are visionary leaders, described within the data as ‘benevolent dictators’ – they are future orientated with excellent communication up and down the line: they have the capacity to simplify complexity when they communicate to their athletes. This is not disregarding complexity; they embrace and understand it, but are able to communicate in simple terms.”
“Most have also undergone a shift in leadership styles, moving towards a leader-follower approach, in which care and empathy are critically important.”
“these coaches know themselves – they know their core values and what it means to embody them, or how to demonstrate those values to themselves and their athletes.”
“‘what would have improved their coaching the most’, a theme emerged from all the coaches interviewed: “they said they wished they knew the athletes better””
Source: https://playerdevelopmentproject.com/key-c...
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AuthorJoel Filliol
TagsCoaching, Characteristics

TRS Radio: Joel Filliol And Paulo Sousa

Check out my interview with Ben Hobbs of TRS Triathlon and Real Coaching co-host Paulo Sousa

Some topics we covered : A podcast talking about a podcast, talking doping and the latest scandals, professional unions in triathlon, racing in the middle east why aren't more women entering Bahrain, and of course more coaching & high performance.

http://trstriathlon.com/trs-radio-joel-filliol-and-paulo-s…/

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AuthorJoel Filliol
TagsTRS Triathlon, Podcast, Interview, Doping, Real Coaching, Paulo Sousa

What Are the Real Elements of “High Performance?”

Chris Gallagher has a great article on FreelapUSA.com on what high performance is really about and what it's not. The article is filled with gems, here are a few that resonated with me:

“High performance is about much more than the name and facilities and equipment. It is not merely about capturing data”

“What, then, is a real high-performance environment? To me, it consists of three simple, yet major facets: people, philosophies, and culture.”

“People are, or should be, your greatest commodity, your greatest resource in a high-performance environment. Talented, driven, inquisitive and ambitious people are essential”

“Many coaches have a very large toolbox but cannot decide what to do because they don’t have a philosophy. – Dan Pfaff”

““Good coaches are better able to learn from history—because they have a philosophy,” he says, and adds that “a philosophy protects from the comings and goings of the various trends that permeate the profession. Good coaches maintain a core set of principles—and are far less influenced by the current trends of the day.””

“For a sports team littered with superstars, there is a humility, dedication to hard work and doing what needs to be done. “Ego has to be left at the door; there is a rigidly enforced ‘no d—head policy’ in the squad”

Read the full article here for a number of other good points. 

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AuthorJoel Filliol
TagsHigh Performance Philosophy, Chris Gallagher, Culture, Environment

Pacey Performance Podcast #55 – Jonas Dodoo

Check out this episode of the Pace Performance Podcast with sprint coach Jonas Dodoo. I had the pleasure of spending a few days with Jonas at a conference last year. He was very switched on, and coaches from any sport can learn from him. 

“In this episode of the Pacey Performance Podcast I speak with world renowned sprint coach, Jonas Dodoo. Jonas is currently coaching one of the best young sprint groups in Europe, if not the world.”

The Pace Performance Podcast is a great resource for coaches with over 50 episodes now. 

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AuthorJoel Filliol
TagsJonas Dodoo, Pacey Performance

Coaching Matters: Around the web September 2015

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AuthorJoel Filliol
TagsSimon Nainby, Coaching Matters

The Wonder Physio

A great blog by physio Paul Westwood  @triathlonphysio who support my squad over on Adam Meakins blog 'The Sports Physio":

A few highlights below that have guided how we work with our athletes and navigate the process of high performance training:

“We tend to try that extra bit harder with high performance athletes. We want to impress them, they deserve more, they need to get everything they want. If they’re complaining of pain we need to do something about it and do it now! They need ‘intensive physiotherapy’. If the pain doesn’t reslove they need even more intensive physiotherapy. MRI scans are done at the drop of the hat, steroid injections given instantly, arthroscopes quickly, as long as it makes them happy and gives them what they want.”
“Think about what you can actually do to make a difference. Often this is not a lot. Don’t throw everything and the kitchen sink at athletes, don’t pump them full of pain killers, perform endless manips, poke them full of needles and give relentless massages trying to release what isn’t stuck. Don’t fly them across the world to see one expert after the next. In life shit happens from time to time. Once we accept this we can quickly move on and get back on track rather than wasting energy on a fruitless searches and potentially harmful interventions. A calm and reassuring response is all that is often required.”
“When you work with your athletes, show them what they are capable of rather than showing them what YOU think is wrong with them, and sometimes they just need to train and race to find their belief.

Once you look beyond the smoke and mirrors of the wonder physio there usually is a great therapist in there. They just have to trust their knowledge, humanist skills and faith in what people are actually capable of. Find this out by knowing your athletes. My most successful outcomes are usually achieved by simply listening and talking.”
Source: https://thesportsphysio.wordpress.com/2015...
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AuthorJoel Filliol

Olympic Coach Magazine

"Olympic Coach is a publication of the United States Olympic Committee Sport Performance Division/Coaching Education Department." 

If you've not seen USOC's free magazine for high performances coaches, check it out. Many good articles in the back issues on topics relevant to coaches.

2015 Summer Olympic Coach click here

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AuthorJoel Filliol
TagsUSOC, Olympic Coach

Richard Murray I Am Specialized Video

When @iamspecialized_tri came to visit: A little insight into our camp and the powerful Richard Murray who has helped build this since the beginning ‪#‎jftcrew‬

Find the link in below for the full video of our days in Les Angles with @rd_murray and the Joel Filliol Training Crew. 

We asked what makes #JFTcrew a super group:

http://www.iamspecialized.com/…/richard-murray-and-the-joe…/

South African triathlete Richard Murray is spending six weeks in the French ski village of Les Angles, training under the guidance of Joel FIlliol. Specialized spent three days at the altitude base to understand the location, the dynamics of the group, and their road to Rio.

"To go out to train, that's the success really!" - @rd_murray 

‪#‎3DaysWithRich‬ ‪#‎Triathlon‬ ‪#‎JoelFilliol‬ ‪#‎Inspiration‬

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AuthorJoel Filliol

TRS Triathlon Interview

Listen to my interview with Ben Hobbs of TRS Triathlon 

http://trstriathlon.com/radio/

"Finally, legendary coach, Joel Filliol, shared his views on clean sport, high performance coaching and what separates olympic medalists from those who finish 20th. Who dopes more - age groupers or professionals? Do more than 30% of the Kona professionals take perfomance enhancing drugs? His answers might shock you."

http://therealstarky.libsyn.com/trs42-joel-filliol

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AuthorJoel Filliol

London WTS

Congrats to Katie Zaferes and Sarah True - both podium performances at the 2015 London ITU World Series  

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AuthorJoel Filliol

Chop Wood, Carry Water

Alicia Kaye and Andrew Yoder getting the work done in Boulder: 

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AuthorJoel Filliol