If the answer isn't social media or YouTube, then who is developing the coach?

Darren Cahill coaching Jannik Sinner ahead of Roland-Garros. (Getty/Tim Clayton)

One of the biggest things I've recently reflected on through conversations with many coaches is this:

We spend so much time building coaching businesses, designing programs for athletes of various levels, creating lesson plans that look visually impeccable, and running sessions that appear "perfect" out of fear of outside-the-fence judgment, retention, and the pressure to constantly improve players.

We spend endless hours creating drills, planning sessions, and thinking about how to make athletes better.

But who is building the coach's development plan?

And let me tell you this — it's definitely not social media or endlessly watching YouTube videos.

My question to coaches is:

HOW are you actually living these coaching experiences?

This thought came about when I realised something important.

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Many of the mentors I had throughout my journey were incredible coaches and life mentors, but there was still a major responsibility that sat with me to seek out my own opportunities for growth.

Whether it be learning from coaches across Australia, Europe, and the United States, coaching under different philosophies and personalities, or spending time across junior fundamental stages, national-level, semi-professional, and professional environments, I took something from everybody whilst discovering my own identity away from those voices.

I constantly challenged myself to see whether I could create the response, engagement, and learning outcomes I was searching for from the athlete or group.

Some may say I became slightly obsessed with becoming the best coach I could be, but sometimes it takes a relentless attitude to become the best version of yourself — no different to a player.

Although, when you truly love what you do, it rarely feels that way.

My advice?

Never say no to a coaching experience where you may only take one thing from it, because sometimes that one thing moves you in an entirely new direction.

Sometimes it ignites a flame where there wasn’t one to begin with.

As coaches, being afraid to fail is often exactly what our athletes experience.

So, is it really any different for us?

As coaches, no different to athletes, we should:

• Be afraid of becoming stagnant

• Be afraid of never failing at all

• Be afraid of not attempting the job application because of rejection — because isn't rejection itself a form of building resilience?

• Be afraid if every session and lesson plan always goes perfectly

  
  

Because the reality is, tennis is chaotic.

And as coaches, we operate in a constantly changing and chaotic environment, too.

Which means we also need to become:

• Resilient

• Adaptable

• Intentional

• Creative

• Reflective

• Forward-thinking

We constantly hear the phrase "step outside your comfort zone," but if coaches remain inside theirs for too long, are they evolving enough for the athletes continuing to walk through their gates?

So my questions include:

What About the Coach? Who is challenging the coach to grow? To reflect? To evolve? To better understand what they are actually teaching and why?

Some of the best conversations I've had with coaches recently haven't been about drills at all.

They've been about:

• The art of coaching

• Athlete experiences

• Communication

• Creating environments that genuinely develop people and players

• Understanding pressure and decision-making

• How we continue evolving ourselves in an ever-changing sport

I truly believe coaching requires understanding far more than just technique.

It involves understanding:

• What the athlete is experiencing

• What learning is actually taking place

• What behaviours are being reinforced

• Whether learning transfers under pressure and competition

• How to bring the best out of each individual athlete

And sometimes that requires coaches to become creative, adaptable, and innovative themselves.

To conclude, the best coaches I've been around have remained deeply curious long after their qualifications were complete.

They continue:

• Learning

• Questioning

• Observing

• Reflecting

• Evolving

• Challenging themselves

Because great coaching doesn't have an endpoint.

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