Gabriel Sylla

Training with a hypoxia  mask makes breathing harder, but that does not necessarily mean you’re going to get an improvement in your cardiorespiratory fitness

Here is the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth about this craze for this popular mask!

We see them more and more, on FB, in our weight rooms, parks, MMA fighters and in karate

Do not get me wrong, I’m very much in favor of gaining even small benefits in training with accessories!!!!

But, is it really an advantage to train with a Hypoxia mask, which aims to improve your cardiorespiratory fitness by simulating a fewer oxygen intake?

“Such a device is the same principle as putting your head in a bucket to simulate swimming.”

While some users claim that they breathe better after using an altitude mask, I bet if I put a cushion in someone’s throat and I asked him to run a mile, he would indeed feel that he breathes better once removed.

Joking aside, the sad truth is that altitude masks simply do not simulate altitude time. In addition, some people wear theirs while performing their anaerobic workouts like bodybuilding, fitness, kumite which uses a completely different energy system that does not even need that much oxygen anyway

One good point for MMA fighters: wearing these masks makes it hard to breath and “smothers” the user so that they have to adapt psychologically to wearing them and thereby become prepared should an opponent block their breathing in a fight it won’t have as dramatic of an impact on the training mask user

The altitude mask: no pressure

Why altitude masks do not simulate altitude?

At high altitude, the atmospheric pressure is reduced. The partial pressure of the oxygen or the total number of oxygen units per unit area given is also reduced.

The air is simply “finer”, which is why breathing at high altitude is more difficult.

As a result, there is reduced oxygenation of the blood, which leads to less oxygen transported and used by working muscles.

When the body is exposed to a diminishing altitude pressure, it reacts by increasing myoglobin/hemoglobin content and capillary density and consequently increasing the transport of oxygen to the muscles.

These adaptations could certainly offer performance advantages.

However, this process takes weeks or even months, living and training at altitude, not just a few minutes

of interval training with a gas mask on your face in your favorite gym or at the dojo!

Furthermore, until you adjust to the altitude, the performance decreases.

The VO2 max is a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness that actually decreases by about 10% every 100 meters above 1,100 meters.

In addition, the intensity of training and the volume of exercise decrease, resulting in a decrease in the quality of training and contributing to an overall reduction in performance.

If you train at altitude long enough, you adapt to the lower partial pressure. At this stage, there may be some benefits to be gained for an athlete endurance athlete such as:

1- increase in hemoglobin concentration
2-  increase in capillary density
3-  increase in mitochondrial volume
4- Increase in lung capacity

The disadvantage of altitude training, however, is that physiological adaptations usually disappear within 3-4 weeks.

More importantly, the results of studies on training and performance adjustments in simulated hypoxic environments mixed in the best way, for the most part, show no benefit of hypoxic training.

Restriction of oxygen and anaerobic training

This brings us to the altitude mask and lifting weights, or doing sprints which is not very wise.

We will use a squat protocol with a lot of repetitions for example. A set of 15 to 20 squats may take 20 seconds. The use of oxygen is not a major determinant of performance for short, high-intensity exercise. With a mask, however, your workout is more likely to suffer because of your restricted breathing as you push.

Instead of breathing deep and in sync with each phase of the exercise (concentric or eccentric), you get a short breath, which does not affect the control of your weights. If you do not have enough air, you can not increase enough intra-abdominal pressure and stabilize your trunk.

There is absolutely no scientific evidence to suggest that the altitude mask provides beneficial bodybuilding and fitness adaptations.

Think about it: you will reach a higher level of intensity by breathing freely.

Restriction of oxygen and aerobic training

This brings us back to the altitude mask.

The partially reduced air pressure at high altitude is very different from limiting the air intake with a mask.

In fact, there is not a single person with a minimum of knowledge of physiology that will support the ability of elevation masks to increase hemoglobin.

Elevation masks do not change the pressure of the incoming air like in high altitude conditions, all they do is simply reduce the total amount of airflow to the lungs.

Imagine trying to run while breathing through a straw, or with the aforementioned pillow attached to your face. This is essentially restricted air training, also called “inspiratory muscle training”

Respiratory muscle training is an incredibly effective and well-used tool for people with the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It can make improvements in inspiratory muscle strength, endurance and exercise performance. But with a normal sports population? Not really!!!

Endurance performance is not defined by the amount of air you get, but it is defined by the amount of oxygen that is in the air and how you use it.

Improving the strength of the diaphragm and being able to exhale and breathe with more power, (what the mask does), will not improve your aerobic capacity or stamina.

Observe elite endurance athletes: they are incredibly metabolically effective and their success relies on that. Remember, a stronger diaphragm and reduced breathing efficiency will diminish performance.

Practice improving your VO2 max, your lactate threshold, and your hydrogen ion buffer capacity with proven methods.

Instead of deep breathing and quality in sync with each phase of exercise (concentric or eccentric), you get a short and shallow breath, which does not affect the control of your weight. If you do not have enough air, you can not increase enough intra-abdominal pressure and stabilize your trunk.

There is absolutely no scientific evidence to suggest that the altitude mask provides beneficial bodybuilding and fitness adaptations.

Think about it: you will reach a higher level in intensity by breathing freely.

A coach must recognize his own leadership style and practice it wisely. In my last post about leadership, I reflected on my evolution as a coach(leader) and the phases I had to go through.

At the beginning of the HP program at UBC, we did a Practicum Enhancement survey
and an NCCP competency self-assessment. I want to reflect on the last two NCCP leadership core elements because I had a lower average than the rest of the cohort: 1-Empowers athletes, team members to develop and take responsibility for…  2-And Creates the vision and has a clear picture of the future.

1-Empowers athletes, team members to develop and take responsibility for…

An effective leader uses frank and direct communication with his teammates to develop interpersonal relationships based on mutual trust and respect; The leader is able to positively influence the members of his team, he knows how to sell his ideas in order to motivate his troops;The effective leader is also the one who guides the team towards success and who knows how to offer support and encouragement when needed. I scored myself low because at that time I had always been in my career an assistant coach and I didn’t perceive myself as a true leader, I lacked confidence in my leadership abilities, then I read  Kouses and Posner “The Leadership Challenge”. This book has shown that there are five primary ways they interact with those around them:

• Model the Way
• Inspire a Shared Vision
• Challenge the Process
• Enable Others to Act
• Encourage the Heart

After reading this book I realized that as an assistant coach I was very much in a leadership role and that my peers, athletes and other staff members rated me higher in those categories than I did myself in a 360-degree feedback process.

• Enable Others to Act and Encourage the Heart are my strong suits, they have always been, they are part of my personality, I learn this year to recognize it and use them to the fullest. It gave me enough confidence to start my own karate club. I work with a small group of athletes who were in a traditional karate system but were looking to develop as high-performance Olympic style karate athletes! We are already starting to have success at the provincial, national level.
• One of our athletes recently went to the youth world cup pushed an athlete that was ranked as high as number 7 in the world to a draw (lost by decision of the judges)

2- Creates a vision and has a clear vision of the future

A leader must have a vision for the future and be able to anticipate events in order to be able to effectively manage the changes that may occur! I lacked the confidence to be that man that inspires a shared vision.

By creating my own club I build a platform to be that kind of leader, I worked on how I presented myself  as a coach, I used Facebook for that by putting up  inspiring  training videos, I wrote articles and shared my personal views on nutrition strength and condition and WKF (World Karate Federation) karate.

I didn’t recruit anybody, these athletes and parents came to me. Some instructors and not happy, but that is exactly how I was able to have the small team that I’m working with today. I was able to anticipate some of these reactions and calm everyone down. I was also able to anticipate the difficulties and obstacles these young athletes might face making the transition from tradition karate to sports karate.

I’m always looking  to positively influence my team  and guide them towards a common vision:

-Be the best that they can be!

-Be willing to work hard, with discipline and passion!

-Do things for the right reasons (performance at all costs is out of the question)

-Believe that they can achieve anything!

-Perform well in school and go to the highest heights in their sport: I recently invited Alexandra Recchia who is a five-time world championships medalist, many times European champion and France National champion but most all a lawyer in Paris. She passed her Bar exam one month before winning two gold medals at the world championships!

Inspiration is everything and I’m willing to do anything to inspire my team and keep them on the path on that common vision we all share.  Communicating with my team and practicing active listening is critical
Identifying the concerns and aspirations of people around me, not just my own, allows me as a leader to join, inspire more people to my cause. athletes in a club need to have a common vision that they share with each other and their coach to be even more involved.

I share inspiring personal stories all the time and talk about my vision for the future, and how I arrived at that conclusion. I plan and share with them short- and medium- and long term objectives, show them how they can contribute collectively to the obtain expected results with Gap analysis presentations, structured annual plans. Last but not least I always acknowledge their accomplishments and make them feel good about themselves, the human growth experience is one of the main reasons why I’m coaching!

In my last blog about this core competency, I talked about doing things for the right reasons and not letting our egos getting in the way of our decisions as coaches

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A few months have gone by since that blog post and I have been confronted with major decisions concerning my coaching career. When I started the HPCTL program my goal was to secure a job on the Canadian national team. I was an “event coach” on the national team and I was advocating an assistant coaching position because it did not exist at the time. Our national federation finally opened assistant coaching positions! Naturally, I applied thinking I had a very good chance of landing one, but unfortunately, I wasn’t chosen! My dream and my goal since 2005 was to be a coach on the national team and representing Canada all over the world helping athletes reach their goals.

So I started to go for my NCCP level 1, I was a coach on the provincial team for a year since 2004. I was extremely proud of being a provincial coach!  Then eventually, I did my levels 2 and 3.

I became a permanent resident in 2008, it’s a long story but it took me 20 years to get my permanent resident status, the odds were against me but I persevered, that’s the story of my life and also the story of my coaching career.

I went on to be the first karate coach in Quebec to complete the comp-Dev coaching program, that meant that I was getting closer to my goal. In 2013 I applied to the National Coaching Institut in Quebec and got accepted and became the first karate coach in Quebec to be accepted at the Institut to complete the advanced coaching diploma since my mentor during my UBC program Mr. Gerard Lauzière.

In January 2014, I finally got my Canadian citizenship and a few months later I was chosen as an “event” coach for karate Canada and went on to represent Canada as a coach at the Pan American championships, it was one of the proudest happiest times of my life.

Fast forward to February 2017, I found out that I wasn’t selected as an assistant coach on the National team! I must admit that it was one of the most depressing times of my career. It forced me to think about my career, the impact I had as a coach on athletes, the people that I worked with and how I was perceived by the people making the decision, board members, administrators etc…

In the past, I rarely took the time to reflect on those things, and my program at UBC helped me realize that. I learned to develop my critical thinking skills! I also learned that by taking responsibility for our own coaching critical thinking processes, we are taking action to analyze and adapt our approach to decision-making and mostly problem-solving. By doing that we put ourselves in a much stronger position to lead and succeed in our profession.

Last April, I received a phone call by a French coach (of Senegalese origin) and he offered me an opportunity to work with him on the National team of Senegal! I met this man in 2012 at the world championships in Paris and he told me that he had been following me on Facebook because I posted a lot of training video’s and notes, and that wanted to work with me someday. Every time I saw him in international competitions we used to talk for hours about coaching in general and gap analysis! He was named the head coach for the national team in my country of origin and immediately thought of hiring me on the coaching staff!

So I was now faced with a big decision to make:

– Putting my career on hold for another chance to coach for Canada or stepping outside my comfort zone and taking the job on the Senegalese national team?

I’m from Senegal and very proud of the land of my forefathers but I have been living in Canada for the

past 32 years, I did all my professional career in this country, I’m about to graduate from UBC in high-performance coaching, I was forged in the Canadian system! I  fought and sacrificed a lot to get my Canadian citizenship against all odds.

Decisions come with consequences, and I came analyze the impact of my decision on the I athletes of my own dojo that I started to develop. I also work with Canadian National team athletes on their strength and conditioning, I was still a provincial team coach and most of the athletes on that team are on the Canadian team…The word conflict of interest came to mind! So I consulted with a Leadership coach,  Miss Dina Bell Laroche and this is what came out of that meeting:

 topic: To ensure I am managing conflict of interest situations in accordance with my values

Main insights:

• Conflicts occur all the time. The key is to manage them in accordance with legal expectations, organizational policies and procedures and one’s values.
• Ensure that I am clearly communicating with all the parties so that everyone involved understands situations when I might be conflicted and the measures I will take to avoid or eliminate the conflict, including recusing myself.
• Create a “Code to live by” that is shared by all the coaches and athletes that can help people understand how they are to deal with situations, including conflict of interest, when it arises.
• Ensure that I am aware of the impact these situations might have on me and to provide the necessary self-care required to balance all the pieces

Biggest takeaways:

• Seek the advice of an expert legal counsel

I also consulted my athletes who were all happy for me and told me to go for it, told me that when one door is closed, the other is open!

Gerard Lauziere my mentor told me that many great Canadian coaches went abroad to coach and came back a few years later better than ever, so this is an opportunity that I couldn’t pass by.

I accepted the job, and unfortunately, I had to let go of my position as a provincial coach that I occupied for the past 13 years.

Last June I went to Yaoundé Cameroon for my first competition with the Senior team, and we had lots of success, it was the African Championships. We won a few individual medals and won the most important one, the Team competition against the host country in the final it was amazing! So  I started off on a good foot!  The athletes and the coaching staff welcomed me and accepted me with opened arms right away!

This is by far the best professional decision I ever made! I’m blessed and I seized a great opportunity and I’m extremely happy today.

In conclusion,

Critical thinking is the ability to deal with the contradictions and problems of a tumultuous and unstable field like high-performance coaching. The best decisions are made using an approach that is fair, objective, accurate and based on information that is relevant to the situation.

I think that if it wasn’t for my experience at UBC, I would have made lots of mistakes in this process but instead, I took the time to reflect on myself as a leader, as a coach and the impact I have on people around me (good or bad) and went out and sought advice from my peers from my cohort, my mentors, my athletes and of course my family and at the end of the day I’m happy and comfortable with my decision!

Professional Coaching! A missunderstood profession!

INTERACT with the rest of society

In my first blog about the NCCP  core competency interacting, i refflected more on the relationships you build with your athlete, administrators and co-workers wich is key to any kind of success in my book. We are human beings first, and everything is build on relationships and interactions.

I decided this time to put my focus this time on this interacting sub category:

• Is aware of how he/she is being received by others

I think that examening external forces and how we are percived as coaches in society is very important for self-estime and  over all confidence. we must be aware about who we are and what we do and reflect on our place in society.

As i reflected on this, I came to realize  that Coaching is one of the most misunderstood occupations in our society,  with the workload, stress and the traveling, the job of  a professional coach is highly demanding. There is always also the possibility to be fired at any time or not having your contract  renewed for various reasons. It is highly recommended  to constantly study and be updated on all latest research and training methods to optimize the performance of athletes at the highest level. A certain psychology, patience and listening ability are essential to being an effective coach, we must manage individualities, a collective, egos, etc.. A good resistance to stress is also necessary. There is also an ungrateful side, one has to be organized, meticulous,  work crazy hours , and when the athletes perform well all is  great, but when they under-perform  or  get inconsistant or Bad results, often, all eyes turn towards the coach or coaching staff.

I’m reminded every time i travel that our profession is misunderstood and even underestimated

Typical conversation on the plane or in the airports:

X: “What are you going to do in this or that city ???”
Me: “I will participate in a karate competition as a coach.”
X: “Super, I used to practice a long time ago, it was my favorite pastime
Otherwise WHAT IS YOUR REAL JOB ??? (COLD SHOWER)
In general, already at this level of conversation, I begin to look at my watch.”
ME (grrrrrrrrr inside):” but … calmly I answer, I am a strength and conditioning coach for high level athletes and  i have been a karate coach for several years
For the past 20 years,  i have been getting certifications, coaching diplomas and  going for university degrees just to enhance my craft, this  is my full time is my job and the career i chose to do!”
X: “Oh wow ok I understand, we tend to associate  coaches with the leisure activities like dads who are coaching volunteers for the soccer team of their sons or daughters. I understand  that elite competition  is something else, i’m sorry!”

Me:.  “Don’t worry this is not the first time, when I travel for the competition, I barely have time to breathe, my time is separated between the hotel and the competition venue. Not to mention the stress of foreseeing the unexpected, to put the athletes under our responsibility in the best possible conditions to perform. We must not forget the endless hours spent on PLANNING the training beforehand, and all the hours of training with the athletes before going to competition, without forgeting the time away from our families etc … It is really Intense at all levels, I have hardly any time to go sightseeing, even if I travel a lot, but this is the job that I have chosen and I am very passionate about it!”

I always make sure my profession is understood and respected! Sometimes I even have this kind of conversation  with longtime friends … When I come back from competition, they often swing me: “how was your vacation?” ( Me: GRRRR)

Here is a summary of a Typical Competition Week:

MONDAY:

-Arrival: making sure everyone has arrived (follow the schedules of each person) and

Check-in at the hotel

-Small training

– Rest and  recovery
Briefing with the whole team
Logistics of the coming week

TUESDAY;
Training in the morning
Visit of the competition venues – Visualization session
Accreditation and registration for referees and coaches
Sometimes, coaches Written exam
Meeting of coaches with the event manager
Briefing with athletes –

WEDNESDAY
Proclamation of the results of the examinations of coaches or referees
Briefing of referees and coaches
Training with athletes and video analysis session
Supervision of athletes who are at the limit of the weight of their category

THURSDAY:
STRESS RISES AND THE RACE STARTS
Registration, Draw sheets

coach meeting

Meeting with the athletes

FRIDAY:
Qualifiers & Individual  kata M and F
Opening ceremony
Finals kata IND M and F Presentation of medals

SATURDAY
The race continues
IND M & F Preliminary & Draft
Lunch if possible / Finals and awards

Coaches meeting

Team meeting

SUNDAY:
Kumite & Kata Team Preliminary events  M & F Lunch
Finals and medal ceremonies closing ceremony

Coaches meeting

Team meeting

MONDAY:

Coaches meeting

Team meeting

Airport and  headed back to home ( working on coaches final report in the plane or airports)

I work really hard at perfecting my craft and I want to make sure people understand and respect the profession that I love so much and that i take very seriously.

Thank you

Reminder : the Coaching Association of Canada sees coaching as a respected and viable career choice for those who decide to make it their life’s work. We see a sports system centered on the athlete, but directed by the coach. The top professional coach has the highest level of education, experience, competence and ethics in the field of coaching.

I though it would be interesting to compare my coaching philosophy back in 2014 and my coaching philosophy today. Like i mentioned in my first post about valuing, among the NCCP CORE COMPETENCIES in my book VALUING is the root of them all! All my decisions as a coach are rooted in my personal Value system. My coaching philosophy is established by those values. Since i joined the HPCTL program i noticed to my values haven’t changed much but my coaching philosophy has evolved.

Coachin philosophy in 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w24flKdwlCI

2014 coaching philosophy  summary: my coaching philosophy is athlete-centered. You have to take the time to get to know the athletes. I think that in order to help them to develop  in their quest to achieve great goals you have to take the time to personnaly know your athletes to allow them to build good work habits and ethics that will serve them for their everyday lives as well as their lives after athletics.

– Always seek to create a pleasant, stimulating and nurturing training environment and surround yourself with positive individuals who like to face challenges and who can confront us in a constructive way to help us evolve as an individual and as a coach!

-My goal is to transmit  my passion for combat and  help optimize the human machine and also help them learn from their successes, as well as their failures in training and competition to evolve as Athlete and as an individual.

Coaching philosophy in 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmx9TBFOcrg&t=68s

2017 coaching philosophy summary : 

In my last blog about the subject i put up the picture above, showing where i stood in this NCCP competency compared to my peers at the beginning of our program and the area  where i was the most behind the class average was : “takes responsibility for improvements or problem solving.”

I took it upon myself to improve in this area to become a better coach, during my studies at UBC i came to realize that in my coaching career i was always behind someone who took all the big responsabilities and a person who had all the pressure. I was always the”assistant” , always in a supporting role! I was hesitant to put up my own ideas upfront for improving the athletes.

Early in my career my assumption was: the head coach makes all the final decisions, that is his role, he should know all the answers, he should delegate  tasks and break things down, not delegate responsibilities or keep us (assistants) accountable.

“Leaders venture out none of the individuals in our study sat idly by waiting for faith to smile upon them”

“Those who led others to greatness seek and accept challenges”

When i graduated from the Canadian Sport Institute in Montreal, i started to have a different mindset, and started to evolve as a coach and a leader. The UBC program inspired me to take on more responsibilities to improve athletes, i decided 6 months ago to step outside my comfort zone and open my own dojo to create a competition team. I could not hide behind anybody, this was my project.

Since we became an Olympic sport more and more traditional karate athletes are making the transition to “sport karate”, once i declared that i wanted to start my own competition team, the word got around and i started to have athletes wanting to make the transition come to me. I did not solicitate anyone because that causes problems with other teachers and coaches. Most of them keep a traditional base with their original “dojos”  and come to me for sport karate.

I immediately started a problem solving culture and a continuous improvement culture, getting athletes, to think for themselves.  In my problem solving quest in training, i started to explore more deliberate practice and I also made them understand that fighting is a constant problem solving game and that led me to add cognitive dimension to my coaching.  Instead of telling them what to do all the time, i put them in situations that make them understand  The “why” and let them figure out the “how” and i wanted to have them concentrate more in practice. I started to design challenging practices to improve performance.

Despite repetition, most people fail to become experts at what they do. It doesn’t matter how many years they spend they stop getting better. Experience does not equate to expertise.( Atul Gawande 2002)

i had an athlete who had trouble creating openings to score, so i filmed him and reviewed the film with him and asked him why he had trouble scoring. He figured out by himself that he wasn’t creating any deterrences or faints, he was coming in too directly and his intentions were too obvious to his opponent. He had a big smile on his face, and the next practice i told him to choose 3  different attack technics and he had to find tree different ways to score for each attacks. It took a while but he found by himself 9 effective strategies. The next steps was, the testing, so i had him spare in practice without telling his teammate what i was looking for, and he passed the test.

A few weeks later we had a minor competition, a perfect setting to put him to the test, and he finished 2 nd  and  scored a lot of points in his matches. I learned a lot as a coach in this experience and improved his offensive repertoire dramatically!

References

CRITICAL THINKING: is the ability to reflect on your own actions and decisions within a given coaching/leadership context .

HOW AM I DOING? ARE MY METHODS STILL EFFECTIVE OR OBSOLETE ? HOW CAN I BE A BETTER COACH? DOES MY EGO GET IN THE WAY OF COACHING EFFECTIVENESS?

These are questions that help me step outside my comfort zone and help me grow. In my book, every coach should regularly look in the mirror, and ask themselves if their methods are working or are up-to-date , they should ask themselves if they are doing the best they can to optimize not only the performances of their athletes but also their potentiel as great human beings. In this profession, if you are not carful, your EGO could get in the way of your progress and critical thinking. In the last 20 years, i have seen too many coaches, karate “Masters”, technical leaders sailing off on their EGO TRIPS, and some of would take it a step further and blast off on their space ships, million miles from reality.

Coaching is a constantly evolving profession, and we can’t let our egos get in the way of our progression,. We have to do things for the right reasons which to help THE ATHLETES reach their full potential and acknowledge that we don’t know everything!

THE leadership practices inventory (James M Kouze and Barry Z Posner)

It is a process that is usually utilized by organizations to get information from diverse workplace sources on an employee’s work performance. Most often, information solicited in a 360-degree feedback process will include feedback from an athletes in our case, peers (colleagues), and Head coaches or Team managers etc…as well as a self-evaluation by the coach him or herself. I think all coaches should go through the 360 feedback process we have to go through as students in this program and the advanced coaching diploma because this exercise literally opened my eyes. I must admit i was always avoiding getting feedback from athletes, colleagues and technical leaders because i’m a very sensitive person. This is the exercise that got me to see how i was perceived as a coach, and leader by my athletes and peers. The process overall was nerve recking for me and later on led me to analyse the gap between how i perceived myself and how others in my work place percieved me.I went on to do some major adjustments. For instance, i didn’t know how to ask or when to ask feedback from athletes, all i did was just assume that they understood the tasks i gave them when they executed them well. But did they understand why they did that certain tasks? how did they feel doing them? I just told them what to do and i didn’t spend much time on the « why » and the « how » and i never asked them how they felt about the training sessions and what could be improved in their opinion .

I changed all that and started to empower them get them more involved in the training process and saw them having fun while work harder. As a coach i started to focus more on the “Why” and “How” and started to enjoy my work more. I kept the discipline, respect and work ethics of traditional karate but challenging myself to question the traditional way of teaching was the best decision i made for my coaching career.

I never perceived myself as a dictator but that is the style used. After more that 35 years of traditional karate that’s what i learned, the “master” is the supreme leader and his method should never get questioned by his disciples or pupils. It is a highly hierarchical system. But even though our sport is deeply rooted in traditional martial arts, it should be treated as a sport, and coaching athletes for performance is not the same as teaching karate in a “DOJO” ( the place we practice traditional karate). When you are used to being called “Sensei” or Master it can very easily go to your head if you are not careful. I think i started being a coach when i looked myself in the mirror and made the clear distinction between the sport, and the martial art, between the coach and the “sensei”. I became a coach when i found the guts to challenge my colleagues and head coach sometimes to think outside the box.

I refuse to be called Sensei in a sport setting anymore, the athletes i work with just call me coach! After the 360 experience, I sat down asked myself, why i was coaching? I realized that i wasn’t coaching for the right reasons. My father (RIP) always told me to do things for the right reason because sooner or later you are going to be exposed..At the heart of what we do is the athlete, once we forget that, we are not coaches any more in my opinion. I talk more with my athletes now, i pick there brain and try to find out more about their lives, because i understand now that for good and consistant performances the athlete has to have balance in his life. i design visual chart below

This chart is a constent reminder that is posted in my office: Seek balance for performance

The scale is at the center because it represents the right equilibrium, a good formula for success . All around this scale are all the major factors that influence performance, if one of them is affected it changes the balance of things, and there is a good chance your athlete’s performance is going to be affected. As coaches we have to know our athlete well in order to help him or her perform better, that is the list we could do. We have to acknowledge that there are things that are out of your control too, like their family, and private lives. I also realise that i have a lot of influence in a young person’s life and i make sure they understand my “Balance to perform concept” so they can make the right decisions for themselves. They also know that my door is always open if they need advice or just someone to listen to them. A coach also needs to have balance in his life to help others. I used to let athletes call or text me anytime, one time i received a text at midnight. It started to bring tensions into my marriage and i had to draw the line somewhere. I told all my athletes that 8 pm was the limit for texts and calls. My family is my number one priority!

CONCLUSION

The Ego can be a prison, that will keep the “coach” from improving . In a field that is constantly evolving, you will be left behind if you get stuck in that “prison”. i think that the cancer of coaching is rigidity or status quo. I’m coach because i have passion for karate(specially in it’s sport version), i’m a coach because i love teaching, inspiring and transmitting great values like discipline, good work ethics, dedication, and determination to young men and women. Hopefully these values will a help them in their lives after competition, and gear towards being model citizens and help them inspire others someday. As long as i am coaching, i vowed to regularly nourish my ability to reflect on my own actions and decisions in my working context, to never let my ego get in the way of seeking new effective ways to help the athletes feel good about themselves and perform better, to practice accoutability for everyone around me, including myself. The whole process started when i did my advanced coaching diploma and now with the HPCTL program i have to opportunity to take it a step further and develop towards my true potential as a coach.

I was coach as a child without even knowing it, when i look back, at the time karate was my main sport, but i was constantly outside playing soccer, basketball,running, racing with my friends etc…I was very competitive and wanted to beat everybody at everything, it was very important to me. My friends looked up to me from advice on soccer strategy,to  doing proper push ups, to running form, i was 9 years old! A coach was born! I mostly learned everything by watching, my brother who was a national champion in sprinting and an excellent soccer player. I read every track and field magazine and soccer magazine he brought home, watched every world cup and olympics with him and my father, and the very next day i was practicing in the backyard, and emulating my sports heroes. All of this to say that coaching came naturally for me, because i put in the work the others didn’t, and they came to me for guidance and that’s when the interaction and communication skills started.

Relationships and communication:

The HPCTL program and the leadership modules i had when i was doing the advanced coaching diploma have brought me to reflect on my coaching and interacting methods. I used the Kouzes and Posner[1] literature suggested in the program as my reference, my coaching “bible”.

The relationship you build with your athlete and co-workers is key to any kind of success in my book. We are human beings first, and everything is build on relationships and interactions, i always try not to forget that fact in my daily practice as a coach. So building trusting relationships is very important to me and my success as a coach because everything else depends on it! I will always to try to create a positive culture and environment, by taking steps to building that trust with everyone i’m in contact with. I don’t force anything, i’m genuine . authentic and share my passion with enthusiasm and vision. I lead by exemple, by practicing what i preach. I will put in the work to find out what makes them “tic” by having them fill personality forms, observing them, sitting down with them just to talk. By just asking them how they are before every practice you can have so much information on what is going on with their lives.

By being always aware that every person i deal with is different, i will always try to adapt to get the most out of them. I have learned by experience that some athletes need to be challenged constantly to perform and others need to be calmed down all the time. This is what i love about coaching! It is all about knowing your athlete ( and staff). Before knowing your athlete you must know yourself first, and establishing my coaching philosophy in both the advanced coaching Diploma and the HPCTL has brought me to realize that i’m an athlete centered coach, “the servent ” leader ! “Only leaders who serve earn commitment” Kouzes and Posner[6]

The more you show you ability of solving problems and meeting their needs, the more credibility you are going to have with the athletes, but you have to make sure also that they don’t take you for granted, it’ a knife with two edges.

The athlete Centred Coaching philosophy is one a set of values and coaching attitudes, where the primary goal of the coach is to help their athletes take responsibility for their athletic behaviors that will eventually help create their results, as described by Rainer Martins 2012[2] . I also want to have that relationship and trust that will help me coach the athlete in a way that will appeal to him so that he or she will thrive!

Athlete Centered Coaching is a coaching philosophy underpinned by a set of values and coaching behaviors, where the primary goal of the coach is to help their athletes take responsibility of their sporting behaviors that create their results. It not only important for me to help them take greater responsibility and have ownership of their results but it is also important for me to help build better men and women that will thrive in society ! Having that martial art background also influenced me to be that way as illustrated in the following picture Dojo Kun [5] I seen theses principles on every dojo i have been to since the age of 9, they are profoundly rooted in me and influenced my coaching style today.

The importance of regular feedback :

“Learning requires feedback” Kouzes and Posner[6]

I used to be always scared of feedback from my athletes or colleagues, because i’m a very sencitive person. The leadership practices inventory 360 helped me deal with that fear, it helped me make sens of the feedback of my peers and athletesby enhancing certain areas and closing the gap on others like “challenging the system” never settling for the status quo. I came to theconclusion that the “cancer” of coaching is the status quo. It is by nature an always evolving field and the nature of our job is to push the boundaries.Stepping out of that comfort zone to grow. After this experience, i’m looking for feedback now: How m i doing? by asking that question i get more information on how i influence and affect the performances of others around me.On the other hand, giving feedback to the athlete is a very delicate operation, but necessary. There is no power to exercise in this relationship. Rather than giving feedback, the coach offers feedback to his coachee so that he can use it and self-regulate in adjusting his performances and that will condition the acceptance, assimilation and use of feedback by the coachee. The quality of the relationship is the most important in my point of view.

Without any confidence, without empathy, without respect and “unconditional acceptance” of what the coach wants to reveal from his message and vision, feedbacks become weapons against which defense mechanisms will be deployed so that nothing changes and does more Of the same or things could even go worst.

i came to understand in this program that the coach is the one who promotes the emergence of a personality, its intrinsic values and specific talent. He lays the grounds for the athlete to allow himself to be his true self. I used to have an athlete who was “uncoachable”, we used to butt heads all the time, i didn’t know how to approach him. I couldn’t give him any constructive feedback, until i realized that his former coach used to be rough on him, and the only feedback he was used to was negative. I told him that the athlete he used to be should give up his life, so he could go on to realize his full potentiel. And that opened the floodgates of bottle up emotions and our relationship grew from there for the better. His performances started to griadually improve also. He is totally different person today. I’ve learned since than to listen more, and i decided to pay more attention on my communications skills.

I’m also a strength and conditioning coach and i mostly have karate athletes as clients, some of them come to me on their own and the communications with their sport specific coaches is sometimes non existant. I figured that i coach the same sport, so i know exactly what to do! But after reflecting on my coaching practices in this program i realized that it is essential for me to communicate with the specific coaches to better help the athlete, because for instance if the specific coach is working one specific aspect, and i’m working blindly on something else it’s a recipe for disaster. I always question the athlete on what he is doing with his coach and i also ask them if they have a Yearly training plan wich most of the time they don’t. But that is not enough, so i started to build better relationships with the specific coaches, which was not an easy task in some situations because some karate coaches have huge egos and want to control everything even if there are not strength and conditioning experts. i try to make them understand that it is the interest of the athlete if our communication and trust is solid by giving them specific exemple what could happened if we both worked blindly, and it usually works.

Coaches looking in the same direction

Becoming an effective leader

Some are natural born leaders, but, it takes time to build an effective leader.

An effective leader must be able to comunicate with ease first and foremost, and if one wants to share or sell their vision and have individuals buy into it, they have to be convincing, genuwine. You also have to be able to handle and minimize “resistance to change” and that takes skills.

•Jim Collins – From good to great and the social sectors (2006)

•Leading change ljohn P Kotter, 1996

It takes phases to build a leader, and if one of the following steps is skipped, you could be having trouble being an effective leader:

George, B. (2007) True North, Jossey-Bass.

My reflection on leadership since i have joined this program has led me to this important thought: ” a leader must big confident enough to surround himself with people who are better than him” i have been on many coaching staffs over the past 20 years and i have seen leaders getting rid of staff members just because they were better than them in certain areas. This should be true in many domains but specially “sport martial art federations”. The martial arts world is very hierarchical and a master in his “dojo” is never challenged and he is the supreme ruler, so the problem is when the same “people” want to run a sport federation they tend to do the same thing and forget that they are not in their dojos. They have a hard time changing leadership styles and that creates all kinds of frictions are personality conflicts! leadership is all about communication and bringing people to share your vision. By feeling implicated and empowered athletes and staff will be inspired by your message.

Public speaking is the number one Phobia in North America? The second greatest fear is death! it is among the findings of the Chapman University Survey on American Fears (2016) In highSchool that was a big issue for me, I used to even go to the point of having panic attacks while trying to speak in front of the entire class.I never thought i would be the leader that i’m today. i certainly never thought i would be able to coach or train national team athletes either.I overcame this fear by teaching karate, to kids. These kids made me step outside of my comfort zone without knowing it and made me feel like a super hero, I used to have the nick name: “Black Dragon” ! In 2002, I worked for a company that used to specialize in kids animation “Caméléon Animation”, if i wanted to keep my job i had to overcome my fears.

In a span of 8 years I taught karate in over 20 schools, in the same period I was also teaching adults in dojos, and than i started training athletes and discovered my true calling. I owe a lot to these kids, because they were natural, they made me forget my FEARS (specially the fear of being judged) and focus on fun and karate.

After all these years of coaching, going through the advanced coaching diploma and having the opportunity to reflect on my coaching through the high performance coaching and technical leadership program through the NCCP core competencies, i’m now in a position today to mentor younger coaches, so i want to imagine mentoring a younger version of myself and this is the advice and basic principles i would give him about being an effective leader:

• Be genuine

•Do not be afraid to take risks

• Develop a solid coaching philosophy

• Find a mentor

• Never compromise on your core values

• Know your topic before speaking publicly. The more you understand and care about your subject and the more you care about the topic, the less likely you’ll make a mistake or get off track and have a panic attack

• Find a non judgmental audience to practice:
This will put you at ease, and help build your confidence

• Get organized. Ahead of time, carefully plan out the information you want to present, know you cues by heart, Preparation is key

• Film yourself, and analyze the video, do it over andover until you are at ease and learn from your coaching mistakes

• Visualize your success. Imagine that your speach or message will go well. Positive thoughts will help decrease some of your anxiety about your social performance and relieve that unnecessary stress.

• Focus on your message and your passion, not on your audience.

• Don’t be afraid of a moment of silence. If you lose track of what you’re saying or you begin to feel nervous and your mind goes blank, it can seem like you’ve stopped talking for an eternity. Use humour…(in good taste)

• Doing things seriously without taking yourself so seriously.

•Inspire and empower people around you

• Learn to say “NO” sometimes (take care of your self)

In conclusion after reflecting the concept of leadership, i think that leadership is driven by energy and a leader has to manage 4 types of energies in order to be efficient

Ø1- Spirituel: vision, mission, core values and ethics

Ø2- Mental: Direction of attention, perspicacity and attitude

Ø3- Émotionnel: Communication, Optimism and courage while facing adversity/problems, Favouring positive emotions

Ø4- Physique «Walk the talk» and lead by exemple, Coherence between saying it and doing it

Thank you for reading me, please do not hesitate to comment or give your opinions on the subject

Gabriel