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Coach Scotty - Sunshine Coast, Qld
“Successful athletes see the big picture and have a long-term approach to their training and goals. They also generally possess a growth mindset. Rather than seeing setbacks as failures and obstacles as a potential risk, they see them as an opportunity to learn and develop.” T:Zero co-founder, Director of Coaching and resident qualified nutritionist Coach Scotty has been “officially” involved in triathlon and endurance sports for over 15 years and “unofficially” running his entire life. Making his debut via sprint triathlons in Hervey Bay in the early 000’s, he subsequently discovered his real love for the sport existed after 7+ hours of anything endurance related … aka “when the fun begins!”. Scotty’s favourite race was Ironman New Zealand 2014 - a day where everything fell into place and he learned how deep he could go and still come out smiling! His favourite leg is the bike, because, as he says, it took him “forever” to get any good at it. As a coach/dad/pseudo dad, Scotty derives his greatest pride from seeing an athlete achieve their goal - especially when he’s able to be there and see it happen in person. An experience, he says, that is second-to-none. While he has some big, scary goals for 2020, at the moment, Scotty’s training purely for the love of it, and is motivated daily by the search for new boundaries and facing his fears. He cross trains with some yoga, Brazilian Ju Juitsu, chasing his kids, mountain biking and surfing. Outside the normal swim/bike/run, he dabbles in gardening, home schooling his kids, bee keeping, reading and listening to podcasts. In lots of ways, Scotty is not your typical triathlete. In his own words, he’s more “laid back than most” and he says that while his process is still “methodical and precise”, he has chosen to do this sport and at the end of the day, “whilst I love it, it doesn’t define me”. His endurance goal for 2020 is to get out there, have as much fun as possible and race something scary and new! Since becoming a T:Zero coach, what is the one new belief, behaviour, habit formed or skill honed that has most impacted your coaching performance? As I become more experienced and my skillset has developed in all areas, I think the most valuable thing to come with the experience is the ability to zoom out (when required) and not get too caught up in the weeds. Educating athletes to be able to see things this way, from a global, long term perspective, is key to kicking over those big goals. Let the coach deal with the weeds and get down to the business of nailing the process ;-) Have you ever had an apparent training or race day “failure” that has set you up for later success? So many. Huge one for me was Kona 2014 and learning (in hindsight) all about the effects of outside mental stress leading into a big race. In order to nail an A race at that level, stress levels on all fronts need to be nice and low leading in, in order to firstly make it there in one piece and then be fresh enough to have a great performance. Best piece of advice for someone starting out in the sport? Or best advice you’ve received? For those starting out: be patient, be consistent and don’t be in too much of a hurry to go straight to full Ironman distance. Play around for a while in the shorter distances and get some decent skin in the game. It takes many years to build true endurance fitness, so be prepared to think in two year blocks as opposed to two months. Do you have any tips for athletes struggling to find some motivation or who may have temporarily lost focus? Take a break. If the motivation is not there and you can’t see the big picture, then either you’re heavily fatigued and in need of a rest, or you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. For the most part, motivation will ebb and flow, but you shouldn’t have to be constantly searching for it … the love of it all should be dragging your backside out the door each day. Otherwise, don’t forget the big picture … not every session needs to be all fancy and motivating. The big picture tells us that the real results come from putting together the big blocks of training, rather than the odd magic session. What is your favourite thing about being a T:Zero coach? I like when I get to share in the journey of ticking off big goals with an athlete, the same goes for sharing our coaching team’s experiences in training and racing. The joy in the lightbulb moments and breakthroughs is awesome. And sharing it means I get to vicariously relive all these experiences over and over. As well as this, I am constantly having my thoughts and perspectives shaped and challenged by the team environment, effectively making me a more well-rounded coach. And one more for good measure (and a big head) … Why do you love being part of the T:Zero Multisport team? Helping athletes and other coaches to achieve their goals is what it’s all about. I got into coaching because I am drawn to helping others and sharing my knowledge, and the more you help, the more you receive in return. I get so much out of working with athletes and coaches. And I’m a not-so-closet nerd… so the technical side of coaching is always fun too.
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