USA 2/18/2010 8:43:41 AM
Triathlon Coaching Career
How you can thrive in your triathlon coaching career
A triathlon coaching career can be highly rewarding. You get to help triathletes achieve their dream, while at the same time being immersed in the sport you love. But no matter how much you love triathlon and helping triathletes, you do have to make money, or else your triathlon coaching career won't last long! Here's 10 Tips to help you, from the Coach Section of the Rock Star Triathlete Academy at http://www.rockstartriathlete.com.
1) Don't just get one certification. Carve out a niche for yourself by becoming a certified bike fitter, USA swim coach, ISSN Sports Nutritionist, or Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach. While the USAT Coaching Certification is a very good place to start your triathlon coaching career,
you'll find that athletes will respect your coaching skills even more if you can become an expert in very targeted areas.
2) You're not a plan writing monkey. The purpose of a triathlon coaching career is not to sit and write "triathlon plans" all day long. You need to be prepared to give customized advice to the athletes you coach. If you write a good training plan, for example, for an Ironman, don't re-write the
plan for every athlete you coach. Instead, use the plan skeleton, then customize it for each athlete, and be available to your athletes for more specific advice.
3) Get a website. No triathlon coaching career can really be highly fruitful without some type of online method of managing athletes, sharing workouts, or even accepting payments. With a website, you'll be able to handle more athletes and also generate other revenue streams, such as e-books or audio products.
4) Brand yourself. You need a highly recognizable logo and a name. Do not just be "coach John Doe". Instead name your business, and in most cases, form it as a sole proprietorship or LLC. By having an image, you'll also be able to make jerseys, shirts, cycling kits, etc.
5) Do everything once. If you write a fantastic workout, save it so that you can copy and paste it to other athlete's programs, rather than remembering and re-writing the workout every time you need it. If necessary, create a "swipe file" on your computer so you can copy and paste workouts quickly.
