Failure is Alway An Option: 
Accepting Failure as A Part of Sport & Life

       Over the last 3 years, I, as a coach, have undergone a major philosophy change. In 2016 I had the opportunity to learn from Greek Weightlifting International Coach Christos Iakovou. The time I spent with about 30 other weightlifters and coaches learning from the legend of a coach was for a lack of better words, priceless. Over the course of 28 hours, I learned as much as I could about the Greek weightlifting program, everything from training times, overall programming and, lifting fundamentals. Among all the things I learned during the seminar, the one thing that has stuck with me the most, other than a little Greek man telling me to add more weight after I had just beat my old clean and jerk max by nearly 4kgs, was the idea of missing lift.

            I can't remember the exact way the lecture got onto the topic but, we were discussing how to handle an athlete who is missing attempts during training. I thought it was a very interesting topic. What was even more interesting was Coach Iakavou's answer. His answer was simple, "it's part of the sport". With 5 simple words, I was both confused and at the exact same time, my mind was blown.

            This man, literally, just reprogramed my entire thinking process of how to deal with failure in sport. Then something else happened. It got me thinking and most importantly, noticing, how other coaches, in other sports, handle failure from their athletes. Over the course of a month, I started seeing a pattern. Regardless of the mistake, failure, whatever, nearly all coaches, freak out on the athlete. I found it so interesting that I was seeing the same reaction but in different ways. For some there was, cussing, swearing out the athlete (usually the collegiate level coaches), the throwing of a clipboard or something in the hand, and, of course, yelling, yelling, and yes, more yelling. The other aspect that I noticed was the failure was usually followed by some sort of punishment. Sprints were the common theme.

        Looking back on it now, I laugh because here was this man, this legend, of a coach in weightlifting, and all he says is, "It's part of the sport." Mind, officially, blown. So this whole thing got me thinking, what is the thing about failure not being an option? Yes, I understand there are things that failure is not acceptable, like designing a building so it doesn't collapse on itself, or open-heart surgery. I get it. But when it comes to other things such as athletics (the primary focus) and academics, failure should be completely acceptable. If anything it should be welcomed.

        I honestly believe we as coaches and athletes, need to change our viewpoint on failure. As I have told my younger athletes, there are 2 people in the world of athletics, winners, and learners. With every "win" we solidify what it is we are doing, and with every "lose" we learn what needs to be fixed. So in a way, if we want to grow to the greatest extent we can, we need failure. Most importantly, we shouldn't be afraid of failure. Like a friend we don't see often we should be welcoming and if it occurs, accepting of failure. 

        The final aspect that I have adopted is keeping my head when athletes are failing. After observing other sports coaches, I began to notice that many times the athletes were tentative during the next go-around of practice drills. I see 2 things wrong with this situation. 1) they are now thinking too much and not allowing the body to do what it knows it needs to do. This can easily lead to a decline in performance. 2) They are typically more afraid of screwing up, which in most situations, leads to further screw-ups due to their mind focusing on not upsetting the coach instead of being on the drill. Each situation leads to a vicious cycle that doesn't allow the athlete to perform at their best all because the coach is upset/anger/mad. Long story short, a coach that freaks out doesn't help the situation at all.

        As a coach, one of my jobs is to now teach my athletes that we grow through failure. And, as hard as it is, we must also be accepting, when a failure occurs. Remember, just like throwing an interception, missing a serve, or whiffing a pitch, ever missed lift is "part of the sport".

Take Care,

Coach A