behind the scenes at t:zero multisport - part 1

A three part blog series diving behind the scenes at T:Zero to find out a little more about the successful coaching team and what makes them tick.

In order to understand what makes the coaching team at T:Zero so unique, we think it’s important for you to know where we’ve come from, what we’re up to currently, and where we are headed in the future. So, we are going to let you in the behind the scenes of the T:Zero Coaching unit with a mini-series of blogs in the coming weeks. Perhaps we will enlighten, inspire, dispel some myths and bring clarity to what it is that makes our team so special.

Where we started and why we started:
We (Rich and Scotty initially) started T:Zero from a deep love of coaching and all that it brings. We’re sure you can agree that coaching is not really something you ‘choose’ to do, to be a little cliche, ‘it finds you’. Generally speaking, as a person, you need to have a natural affinity for helping others and guiding/educating others along the way, and this, we think, is what lies at the core of what we do.

We love the process of guiding athletes on their own journey and what better way to feel fulfilled than to morph from doing it as a part-time gig alongside our previous careers (as have other T:Zero coaches) into the FT roles we currently engage in. We share very much the same mindset and ethos when it comes to T:Zero’s general coaching philosophy - customised coaching for the individual (no cookie cutting) - which is why we believe T:Zero has had the success and growth we see.

When we first started, we certainly didn’t foresee where things would get to now. We had visions of helping as many athletes as we could personally manage within our own lifestyles, but as far as growing to expand the coaching team and help more athletes collectively, initially, this wasn’t on the radar. However, as you will read more about below, if the right people come along that have a desire to share in the journey of growth and development that we are on, then we are happy to see our team expand.

Why grow?
If we applied a fixed mindset to T:Zero then we would have said no thanks to any new coaches and likely be happily coaching our respective stables of athletes. We would be happy resting on our laurels and be content to ride our own little journey as a duet. That would be okay and probably ‘easier’ in some ways… but where’s the fun in that right? We certainly wouldn’t be writing this right now.

So… instead, we grow. We apply our growth mindset, we say yes to new coaches, and as individuals and as a collective group, we develop and fine tune our process along the journey. Yep, we will make mistakes along the way, but we will learn and carry on.

Five of our coaches (excluding myself and Rich) in T:Zero have come from in-house. T:Zero athletes that have grown and developed their own knowledge and skill base to a point where they feel a level of comfort and a desire to share this with others. The rest of us were lonely orphans adrift in search of a welcome family of like minded coaching gurus :-) and so the relationships blossomed from there.

Do we say yes to everyone? Hell no. We are often met with requests about joining our team and more often than not we have said thanks but no thanks. In the past two years, we have been approached by eleven coaches, of which we have said no thank you to six of them because for one reason or another, they weren’t the right fit for the current team we have.

As far as timing goes, up to this point, this has been organic in nature. Before our latest three legends joined the team earlier this year it was about eight months since our last coach came onboard.

We will continue to grow T:Zero and evolve as opportunities arise. There is no magic number of coaches and athletes we are in search of. We will grow as a unit, no doubt we will face many obstacles along the way too, but we will learn, we will adapt and we will progress.

The most important thing through all of T:Zero’s journey, is that we all adopt and manifest a positive growth mindset within our team. In-house, we can’t stress enough the importance of asking questions, passing on objective advice, accepting advice and objective critique, challenging our own perspectives about areas within our coaching and daily lives and overall, continuing to grow ourselves - little by little. Like we say to our athletes, as coaches, we go wholeheartedly into the process and aim for mastery of our craft, just a little better each day and overtime, things will manifest into awesomeness. And… be honest too, if it’s not for you, then why waste our time doing it in the first place?

Moving forward, as we grow, we will all face new challenges both as individuals within the team and as a team on the whole. As new coaches come onboard, we see this as an opportunity to tap into a new perspective and draw from that person the knowledge and skills they bring, and return the favour when the chance arises. Grow with the flow, embrace the challenge and see more coaches as future advocates for T:Zero and thus, yet another chance to embrace growth as a team.
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Next ‘episode’ we look into the type of person we want working within T:Zero’s coaching team.

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