I think that it would be in the best interest of weightlifters being coached and for the sport overall that weightlifting coaches should have some experience as competitive weightlifters. By weightlifting coach I’m referring to those individuals who are coaching athletes in weightlifting competitions.

Writing as an instructor in the USAW Coaching Education program, there is no requirement that coaches in the sport should have to verify their credentials as an athlete. This can give newcomer coaches the impression that they do not have to have competitive athletic experience to be a coach. When the coaching education program was first developed, this was not a problem as virtually all coaching candidates came from the athlete ranks. This does not reflect the current situation and this lack of experience can become an inhibiting factor in the development of a coach.

The opposite is not valid either

In the U.S.A. we have often believed that great athletes would make great coaches. This is not entirely true either. Looking across a wide spectrum of sports, many of the best coaches were not superstar athletes.

It’s the experience that matters—not the level

In the old Eastern bloc, which had the greatest coaching education program ever, the requirement for incoming coaches was that they achieved Class 2 competency, which is certainly not world beating but enough to provide competitive experience while not disqualifying the less talented.

The major was factor was that the coaching candidate had undergone the competitive experience, the training for it and the dynamic of the coach/athlete relationship.

Here is a list of experiences that come from athletic participation and can greatly enhance the ability of the coach to deal with the athlete.

· The understanding of exercises: An athletically experienced coach has performed all of the exercises he or she is asking the athletes to perform. A knowledge of the correct technique of performance, the effects and aftereffects on the body, and how they transfer to the performance of the competitive lifts is an absolutely necessity.

· The understanding of programming: An athlete will be able to viscerally differentiate between the various phases of training. The coach needs this understanding in order to modify training to suit the existing conditioning of the athletes and to know when to modify as the athlete develops.

· The understanding of lifestyle: Competent athletes cannot and do not live the types of existences that most (citizens) non-athletes do. A coach must convince the athlete to modify the lifestyle to match the circumstances of training and competing. Only a familiarity with this lifestyle can enable the coach to make a convincing argument.

· The altered state: An experienced athlete is transformed on the competition platform. The coach understands this transformation and knows how to communicate with the athlete when he or she is in the altered state. At competitions I frequently observe coaches who are not speaking to the altered athlete because they have never personally encountered this transformation. This can lead to a less than optimal performance and does not well serve the interests and drives of the athlete.

· The athlete mentality: True athletes are extremely focused individuals who have learned when to be impulsive within the contest of performance. They have also learned to understand the coach/athlete dynamic and how to respect the roles of each. This can only be learned through experience.

To become the best coach possible, a coach should have competed under the tutelage of an experienced coach and developed an understanding of the roles of the coach and the athlete. If you are a developing coach consider your athletic experience a part of your coaching development.