USAT Level One Coaching Clinic

By Bill Daniell: Associate Coach, Grasky Endurance Coaching

One of the challenges we face in the coaching world is staying in touch with the latest and greatest in the endurance sports coaching world. Science is constantly reminding us that we are still learning a lot about the human body and how to train it effectively. This is especially true in the sport of Triathlon due to the fact that the sport is so young. Fortunately there are a lot of great educational opportunities for endurance coaches and at Grasky Endurance we are constantly looking at ways to improve our knowledge in an effort to help our athletes. Recently, Coach Brian Nath and I attended the USAT Level One coaching certification clinic in Santa Monica and both walked away with a lot of tools that we know will be beneficial to all the current and future athletes working with Grasky Endurance.

The USAT Level One clinic is a three day seminar that involves approximately 12 different sessions which covers topics such as nutritional strategies, strength training for endurance athletes, mental training, and program development for endurance athletes. We were truly blessed at the Santa Monica clinic because we had several presenters who are considered the leaders in endurance coaching and are current members of the USAT National Team coaching staff and members of the United States Olympic Team coaching staff. As a coach with a very strong swimming background I was even impressed by the amount I was able to take away from the presenter on instructing swim techniques. It was just another reminder about how much we can continue to learn, regardless of how much we may already know. Brian and I were both very impressed by Bobby McGee who gave great talks on mental training for endurance athletes as well as a phenomenal session on proper running techniques. We cannot wait to bring this information back and share it with our athletes. In between all the training sessions Brian and I were able to squeeze in a nice ocean swim (the water was nice and toasty but I think the kelp got the best of Brian!!). We were also able to sneak in a couple of runs and got to experience Venice beach from an up close and personal perspective. Let’s just say that there are some things you can only see in LA!!!

Overall this past weekend was a tremendous learning and networking experience for Brian and I. I am already looking forward to our next educational seminar and even more so I am looking forward to working with our coached athletes and our GEC camps for 2010 where we can take this new found information and share it. As I mentioned before, these seminars make me realize how much great information there is that can be found, and I really think that one of the great benefits of working with the coaching staff at Grasky Endurance is the fact that we all are open minded and looking for new ways to learn from our coaching peers. This not only helps us become better coaches but also makes our athletes better which ultimately is our goal at Grasky Endurance Coaching.