When to Switch Coaches

THE CREATIVE ATHLETE

Issue 25--When Might You Consider Switching Coaches?

If you have followed the suggestions outlined in the last three issues of The Creative Athlete and have found a good coach, then you should be set for at least a few years. You will reach a point, however, when you will wonder if it is time to move on to a new coach. Almost everyone does. Maybe you're not progressing anymore, or you're bored, or all your friends are training with someone else.

Changing coaches might be appropriate under certain circumstances:

1. You need better athletes to work with.

This is the best single reason to switch coaches. Your coach may be great, but if you're not training with other athletes who are at least as good--if not better--than you are, you're probably not being pushed to your maximum potential. Even if your coach is good at spotting your weak points and helping you correct them, you don't have the benefit of being challenged by other athletes who are trying to surpass you. When you can see your potential competition training right in front of you, you're less likely to become complacent. Example:

Jovan Kirovski moved from Escondido, California to Manchester, England in 1992 at age sixteen when he was invited to play soccer for the reserve squad of the Manchester United. Even though he had to leave his family behind and had the additional challenge of attending high school in a foreign country, he saw this as the next step in his sports career. "To play at the highest level, I knew that was where I had to go." (1) Kirovsk is currently a member of the U.S. men's national team and also plays pro soccer in Germany.

You'll know it's time to switch coaches if:

A. The only time you see other athletes at your skill level is at competition. And then you're surprised at how good they are.
B. Your workouts are never productive enough because you can't find anyone to practice or train with.
C. Your coach has you spending more time working with and motivating his or her less experienced athletes than focusing on your own goals.

2. You've hit a plateau.

This is why many athletes leave coaches. Training has become repetitive and predictable. Your progress has stalled. The relationship between you and your coach feels stale. Example:

In 1993 tennis player Gabriela Sabatini left her coach, Carlos Kirmayr, in hopes of reviving her career. Kirmayr helped her achieve her biggest win, the 1990 U.S. Open, but an extended slump led her to believe she needed a change. "It was like a marriage, but now it's finished. I was afraid to end it, but I felt I needed to if I wanted to improve. And sometimes it's not bad to suffer a little bit.

"I'm not the kind of person who changes coaches all the time, but Carlos had reached his limit with me."

In response, Kirmayr said, "I know it's part of the position; I never fooled myself that it was going to be eternal. But when it comes, it's a shock. We had a little overdose of everything in 1992: we traveled 40 weeks together and it was too much." (2)

It's difficult to perform at your best when your enthusiasm is gone. The problem can be with your coach or it can be with you; but either way, a sense of burnout has set in. As a result, switching coaches, even temporarily, may seem like a good idea. But before making any major or permanent changes, try taking a week or two off instead. Even giving yourself a free afternoon can help. See a movie, go for a drive, call a friend. Not every slump requires or should result in a change of coaches.

Switching coaches is worth considering if:

A. You dread coming to practice sessions because you're bored and discouraged.
B. Your coach helps other athletes to perform techniques that he or she can't seem to help you perform.
C. You find yourself feeling frustrated and defensive when your coach makes a suggestion.

But if you do leave, do it on good terms, because you may want to return someday.

3. You've outgrown your coach.

Many athletes confuse this problem with the one above. But there is a difference. In the first case, you've reached a limit in your relationship with your coach. In the second case, you've reached the limit of your coach's abilities. The first case may or may not require a change, but the second case definitely will. Example:

Gymnast Jason Gatson started his training at the age of six with coach Mike Naddour at a gym in Mesa, Arizona. After Gaston became the top junior gymnast in the country, Naddour knew he needed to move on to the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where the U.S. men's team trains. "He had done everything he could here." (3)

Gatson became a full-time resident at the OTC in 1996 and in 1997, at age 16, was the youngest athlete ever to make a U.S. men's world championship team.

Outgrowing your coach means you feel your coach has taught you everything he or she knows. You feel your talent and knowledge about the sport have surpassed his or hers.

But don't be quick to assume you're now smarter than your coach. While exceptional athletes do outgrow mediocre coaches, some less talented athletes sell their coaches short and decide to leave them prematurely. This tends to happen when an athlete begins winning competitions and assumes he or she needs and is ready to move up to a more famous coach. Keep in mind that if you've been doing well with your present coach, there is probably little reason to change. Thinking you need a new coach and actually needing one are two different things.

You've probably outgrown your coach if:

A. Your coach no longer sees room for improvement in your performance. This is especially the case if he or she discourages all of your attempts at change and experimentation.
B. Your coach is isolating himself or herself from other coaches and officials and not keeping up with recent developments in the sport.
C. Your coach won't consider letting you seek outside feedback.

4. Your coach is not good for you.

Maybe you picked the wrong coach to begin with or maybe something's changed him or her, but either way you now realize you're in a destructive situation. DEFINITELY switch coaches. Even a mediocre coach is better than a destructive one.

Unfortunately some athletes don't leave bad coaches when they should, either out of fear of failure or retaliation, a misplaced sense of respect and affection, or pressure from parents. This last situation is especially troubling. A number of abused athletes have said that they either didn't tell their parents what was going on or did and weren't believed. Examples:

Said a former national men's gymnastics team member who had been sexually abused as a child by his coach, "I thought that nobody would care (about the molestation) as long as I was winning. And what was worse than the thought of my parents not believing me was the fear of them believing me and not doing anything about it because my gymnastics was so important." (4)
When a medical student in her mid-twenties decided to turn in her former volleyball coach for seducing her at age 17, her mother's initial reaction was to try to talk her daughter out of doing so. Then the mother realized how wrong her own perceptions had been. She cited an incident that had occurred during her daughter's training. "I was drawn into the program. I remember standing up in a hall where people were questioning why he wouldn't allow parents in for closed sessions. I absolutely trusted the man implicitly. And I stood up and gave a testimonial." (5)
Mariah Burton Nelson describes what happened to her in her book, The Stronger Women Get, The More Men Love Football: "At sixteen I did not dream of telling my parents I was having sex with my [swim] coach, although I felt confused, ashamed, and obsessed. I knew I was in over my head, but like many children, I took responsibility for the man's sexual behavior. Though my parents were not punitive people, I feared I'd get in trouble." (6)

You should leave if:

A. Your coach abuses you physically, sexually, or verbally (through humiliation, embarrassment, or threats).

In recent years there have been a number of reports of athletes who have been sexually abused by coaches. Perhaps the most notable case has been NHL hockey player Sheldon Kennedy, who was subjected to six years of molestation by his junior league coach.

Increasingly, responsible coaches are taking steps to avoid even the appearance of improper behavior. They won't work with, meet with, socialize with, or travel with individual athletes. They ensure that never is one coach is left alone with one athlete. Example:

Don Peters, a long-time gymnastics coach and gym owner, noted, "I think that the solution to this problem lies in supervision and designing facilities where there are no closed spaces where people can be alone with the child, and that includes me.

"I'll give you an example. We finished up one night with one kid leftover, because her mother was late picking her up. The mother called from her cell phone and said she was stuck in traffic. She said she would be here in about a half-hour, and asked me if I could stay with her daughter or take her home. But I said, no way. So I had to make another coach stay with me until the mother arrived to pick up the child." (7)

B. You are being manipulated rather than motivated. Example:

One very successful track coach used manipulation to encourage his athletes to take steroids. His techniques included "ingratiation through flattery, establishment of trust, persuasion to use performance enhancers and rejection if the athlete disobeys instructions."

According to one of his ex-students, "He zeroed in on women athletes because a lot of them have image problems because of their athletic bodies. He zeroed in on that insecurity and made them feel wonderful about their athletic self." (8)

C. You're being pressured to do or perform in ways which are unsafe or inappropriate. Example:

In her book, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, sports reporter Joan Ryan catalogued a number of incidents where gymnasts were pushed by their coaches to train injured or beyond their capabilities.

If your athletic endeavors are giving you more negative feelings than positive ones about yourself and life in general, think about switching coaches.

What Are Some of the Reasons You Should Hesitate Before Switching Coaches?

Don't be quick to make changes when abuse isn't involved. Switching coaches too frequently or on whim is never advisable for several reasons:

1. You're going to lose ground.

Each time you go to a new coach, you'll most likely spend time going back over the basics, relearning them according to his or her methods. Rarely will you find a coach who doesn't want to change a thing. In fact, most will assume that you are switching because there was something wrong with the way your previous coach taught you or you wouldn't be changing in the first place.

2. You're going to create hard feelings.

Even if you have perfectly legitimate reasons for leaving your old coach, he or she is going to see it as rejection (unless, of course, your coach told you to leave). Not only is losing an athlete an affront to a coach's ego, he or she is going to see it as a professional threat as well. Every defection lowers his or her standing as a coach and every recruitment raises it.

3. You're going to be considered unreliable.

Athletes who switch coaches frequently are seen as coach-hoppers and will ultimately be viewed as malcontents who are uncoachable. As long as you're paying for a coach, you'll probably always find someone willing to work with you. But, at the same time, you may find yourself treated with an increasing amount of indifference. Coaches won't invest much time or energy into your training if they assume you'll be leaving soon. Example:

Gymnast Kerri Strug worked with four different coaches after her coach Bela Karolyi announced his retirement in 1992. Said Tom Forester, the last coach she was with before returning to Karolyi (who came out of retirement), "I knew from the beginning she wasn't intent on finishing out her career with us. She never said that, but you don't move five times and then decide on a club like ours that never has produced an Olympian." (9)

Still, most athletes do not retain the same coaches throughout their careers and there are appropriate reasons to move on. (More on how to switch coaches in the next issue.)

What Shouldn't You Do If You Want to Switch Coaches?

Because many problems between athletes and coaches are more likely the result of misunderstanding than from insurmountable differences, talk to your coach before walking out on him or her. If your coach has been a good one, he or she deserves to hear your concerns directly from you. Quite simply, it's a matter of professional courtesy. Whenever you hire or work with someone, you should give him or her clear feedback if you are dissatisfied with the job he or she is doing. Besides, it's also very likely you can find a way to solve the problem. (If, however, you or your teammates are being abused, get out of the situation as quickly as possible. Find a new coach rather than attempting to patch things up with your current one.)

You'll also find that in the long run, you'll generate fewer hard feelings with your old coach if you let him or her know beforehand that you'll be talking to some other coaches. While your coach may be threatened by this, he or she will still handle it better than if he or she finds out after the fact and feels betrayed. The best way to deal with the situation is to tell your coach up front why you'll be talking to other coaches and what you are hoping to find out.

But before you actually start meeting with other coaches, do your homework. Talking to them should be the last step you take, after you've already learned about their coaching styles through observation and investigation. You're much less likely to be forced into doing something you'll regret if you've kept your thoughts to yourself until you've checked out what your options might be.

It also goes without saying that you should avoid making disparaging remarks about your old coach. It's okay to explain your differences to other people when they ask (and your accurate observations may help them decide if your old coach is right for them), but don't intentionally try to damage his or her career. And even if you are dealing with an abusive coach, it is better to talk to authorities rather than attempting to publicly correct the matter yourself. Try going through the proper channels before using the media to blow the whistle.


1 USA Today, October 5, 1995.
2 The New York Times, May 23, 1993.
3 The Arizona Republic, April 1, 1997.
4 Los Angeles Times, May 20, 1995.
5 Volleyball, April 1996.
6 Mariah Burton Nelson. The Stronger Women Get, The More Men Love Football. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994.
7 Los Angeles Times, May 20, 1995.
8 Dick Patrick, "Track coach tied to steroids," USA Today, April 6, 1989.
9 The New York Times, July 25, 1996.

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