New Doors

After yesterday's official closing of one door in my life, this morning I was reminded of the other doors that are opening.

This morning it was back down to Bicton Pool for another bit of coaching with my mate who is looking to get quicker in the pool. Like last week, today's session was another one focused on sprinting, with the word of the day being EXPLODE, with plenty of short efforts off the wall as well as some 33m efforts (which is the full length of Bicton Pool). It was a session designed to get the blood pumping and the arms burning, which I think it just what it did.

Planning and executing the session reminded me that while high level racing might not be an option it doesn't mean that I am done with the sport or that the sport is done with me. I am not quite sure what the coaching journey has for me, but I am quite interesting in finding out.

The transition into coaching is a journey that I am deliberately taking one little step at a time. Over the past few months I have been increasing my exposure to other coaches trying to learn what works for them and in turn what will work for me. What I have been finding is that  the more exposure I have to the coaching of others, and coaching in my own right, the more my confidence in my own abilities has grown. I am also finding that with that confidence comes enjoyment too as you spend less time worrying about what you don't know and more time applying what you do.

Of course I am still painfully aware of just how much I don't know and I am actively working to try and fill those gaps. Sometimes that effort feels like trying to climb a ladder to the stars, a rather unending task, but other times I feel like I am making progress. I guess the thing to remember is that like a good athlete, a good coach never stops learning and so whilst I may never be an expert, hopefully I will know enough to be of use to people.

For now though the journey still has a long way to go, with the slow creep towards my Development Coach qualification the first hurdle to complete. I have now completed 19 of my required 24 hours of observational coaching and so I should knock the rest of that off this week. Once that is done there is just the small matter of completing my assessment assignment and also doing my practical assessment. Once that is done I will have all my boxes ticked and I will be on my way. Neeeeearly there.

On a side note as well as coaching this morning I also swam about 3km myself, which is the furthest I have swum in months. It was rather lovely.