Coaching in Vancouver - December 10th 2021

Last night, I had dreamt I was put in charge of the strength, speed and conditioning of a high school soccer team in Vancouver (I have absolutely no idea and apparently it was an easy decision to just pack up and go for a job that probably didn’t pay enough to justify closing my gym and leaving my family so none of it makes sense.)

What I did with the team doesn’t matter, what I did for the athletes after the season ended is important. I opened up conversations with the coaches of the winter sports my athletes were headed to about the current state of their fitness and injury status. I wanted the basketball coach to know about the ankle issues two of the players were dealing with, I wanted the swim coach to know about the hip strain one of the players was dealing with.

This is important information because these kids do not have a clean slate of health and fitness just because a new sports season is about to start. An athlete who is entering their basketball season fresh out of their soccer season is already in shape and doesn’t need to be conditioned the way an athlete who didn’t play a fall sport might need to be. He or she is also probably dealing with some nagging hip, ankle, knee or shoulder issues and the goal should be to give them the rest they need to be back to 100 percent by the first game of the season.

The free flow of information between coaches is pretty rare, but I think its necessary if the goal is to keep the athletes playing at their best throughout all three sports seasons.

Also, the head coach in my dream was an absolute lunatic, but fun to work with. Dreams man, who knows.