The Rio Olympic Games – A Coaches Reflection with Steve Macklin 

It’s September 2000 and I receive a phone call from my old PE teacher Ted Coakley asking if I would like to come back to Douglas CS and coach the athletics team a few days a week. By now I had just completed the Leaving Cert and was starting a degree in Commerce. I took him up on his offer and began coaching the athletes there; little did I know where it would lead in time. Along those early years I dreamed of coaching a team to a national title, an individual to a national title, qualifying athletes to Irish teams, qualifying an athlete to the Olympic Games with the ultimate goal of becoming an Olympic medalist or Olympic champion. In late 2015 that Olympic opportunity arrived and I relished the challenge. Coaching Olympians is different to coaching junior athletes in that they drive and take ownership of their programs more but the human element remains the same, building a good relationship and trust is key!

My journey to Rio began at Christmas when I met with the Performance Director of Pentathlon Ireland Andy McKenzie at the Lo Cal Cafe next to the Phoenix Park in Dublin, a venue which has now become my regular meeting spot and post run eatery!!! Andy and I hit it off from the start and I knew I would like to work with him. I was asked to come on board as the run coach for the High Performance Modern Pentathlon team and to especially aid Natalya Coyle and Arthur Lannigan O’Keeffe in their preparation towards the Olympic Games in Rio. It was a challenging start as the group had to change from an old coach and change the style of training slightly. Getting the trust and buy in when a change like this happens can be difficult but we formed a string bond from the off and it made life easier for everyone. I am always reminded by a mentor of mine Liam Moggan to never forget about the “How” of coaching, it’s not always about the “What”. You are dealing with people and good open honest communication and building effective relationships is key.

The Pentathlon year is quite crazy, especially when athletes are chasing points and Olympic qualification. Arthur was safely qualified for Rio so we could plan all his training, competitions, training camps for the year. Tal on the other hand had not qualified yet so her build up was extremely complicated, having to compete in every World Cup event, do lots of traveling and it all impacted on the training that could be prescribed in between. We had some rough winter/spring days in the Phoenix park and on the track in Santry where the group battled the elements and then perhaps 1-2 hours later had to be at their next location for training of another event. Their days are long and the weeks even longer and the more I educated myself on Modern Pentathlon the more respect I had for these guys. They threw everything into their preparation for the Rio Olympics, made countless sacrifices and difficult choices, battled through the days they were extremely fatigued or demotivated and came out the far side of Rio with incredible performances for many reasons.

The Rio Olympics began for Team Ireland at the holding camp in Uberlandia. I was extremely honoured to be asked to attend and help Tal and Arthur in their final preparation into the Olympic Games. As a team we made sure everything was done to make sure that final camp was as close to perfect as is possible. A fencing coach was brought out as well as two young promising fencers to train with Arthur and Tal and also a young junior athlete I coach Darragh McElhinney was brought out to pace Arthur in all his running and Sive Brazzil to pace Tal in all her running at the camp. I must say Darragh and Sive contributed more than they know with their support during the camp not just in the training but in creating a fun environment outside of the training. They were both critical in helping Arthur & Tal in their final preparation. Training camps can be intense and it’s important that the athletes switch off between training sessions and relax, saving mental energy is needed. We used to head off for a sneaky frozen yogurt with chocolate toppings most nights, a nice treat after a long day! The hotel in Uberlandia was excellent, the facilities, the food, the staff etc . We had a team room on the bottom flow set up with snacks, pool table, fridge, tv etc and also a physio/medical room where athletes could get treatment when needed. Giles Warrington was the camp manager and did a fantastic job in organizing everything and keeping everyone happy. There was a very positive vibe and great camaraderie amongst all the athletes from the various sports at the camp which really helped. Everyone there had a job to do and did it to the best of their abilities.
These cheap cialis symptoms occur between moments of an onset of a migraine to days before the same. And please remember: The Acai Kapsule contains all the healthful substances of the fresh berry, but levitra without prescription none of them are suitable and effective enough but when it comes to self defense, women rely on safety gadgets but little do they know that these gadgets can work for a longer time. If you observe that your child had experienced this, bring him immediately viagra from canada to a child psychiatrist. This retention of blood concentration at the local site of the injury in 95% of cases. purchase cheap levitra

That final camp is all about putting the finishing touches to the training, keeping the athletes healthy and injury free and keeping them mentally in a good place. Sometimes the pressure and realization that the Olympics is so close can get the better of the athletes and this is perfectly normal. Every athlete is entitled to blow off some steam at this point in the preparation and it takes many forms from tears to an angry outburst etc. We had our moments too on the camp, one day in particular during and after one of our final key run workouts. This is a challenging time for a coach, in what you say and how you say it. But most important is to make sure the athlete comes out the other end and leaves the camp and heads into the Olympic village knowing they are ready to perform. I think we achieved this even though the camp had quite a big workload, but it’s part of the game in Modern Pentathlon with several different sports in it, the athletes must get used to performing when fatigued. The guys were physically ready to go but I sensed they were a little mentally fatigued at this point of the camp. We planned some days for them to refresh and be ready to perform. As a coach at this point you always wonder about the training load and was it too much, was it just about right and was it too little. Are they easing down at right time, not too far out from the competition and are they mentally in a good place. So many questions at this time but you rely on your intuition and gut feeling and experience from all the years you have coached. You are always learning as a coach from every athlete your encounter and every experience you go through good and bad. You are building up a bank of information and experience that guides you in future scenarios. No coach has the perfect answer for everything but you try to rely on that coaching instinct to guide you through.

The Olympic Games is the pinnacle of many sports, only on every 4 years and so tough to even qualify for. Darragh and I headed into some other sports to sample the atmosphere one day and really enjoyed it. It’s great to see different sports and learn from them. Arthur and Tal were not competing until near the end of the Olympics, so always a waiting game and the mental preparation most important here. Tal was first up and she finished an incredible 7th place, a monumental performance after the horrific year she had traveling and competing to just qualify, which impacted on her training a lot. I must admit I had tears in my eyes seeing that performance from her and knowing how hard she had battled all year. Many a workout during the year I might tell Tal to leave off the last rep as she may be too fatigued, yet she would defy the words and battle it out. She is a true competitor on the big occasion. Arthur had a tough job to follow this performance but he more than matched it. He unfortunately had an off day for the fencing which left him back in 26th place and on the final event the combined run/shoot he ran his heart out to finish in 8th place with his run up there with the best guys in World. He was only 11 secs off a bronze medal in the end and with a few wins on the fence he would have been right there. He was mentally in a very bad place following the fence, releasing his Olympic medal dream was over, but he bounced back and showed the character that epitomizes an Olympian and proved to everyone what an incredible competitor he is. I was so proud of them both with two top 8 performances. They defied the odds with many obstacles thrown at them throughout the year, at the final camp and throughout the Olympic competition, yet both took everything that was thrown at them showing tremendous resilience and grit and got their rewards. Watching them celebrate at the finish with their family and close friends and support team was a special moment and those are the moments and reasons you coach. It was a very special Olympics for Modern Pentathlon, under the excellent lead of Andy McKenzie who did everything possible to help them achieve their goals.

Coaching is a tough gig, far more to it than meets the eye, there are so many highs and lows and the lows can be quite hard hitting. Nobody is tougher on themselves after poor athlete performances than a coach, they are their harshest critics! You can be quite depressed when it doesn’t go well and begin questioning everything and looking for answers. Coaches feel pressure on the big occasions hoping their athletes will perform and no bigger an occasion than the Olympic Games. The hours spent planning, the hours spent coaching, the sacrifices in your family & social life can be extremely tough but extremely rewarding when you witness great performances and or see an athlete blossom as a person. For me personally the Olympic Games was a fantastic experience, I have learned so much and gained valuable experience for the future. It has motivated me even more to become the best coach I can be and continue to learn from wherever and whoever I can. The endurance athletes I coach, the Munster & National squads I work with and the Pentathlon gang motivate & challenge me each and every day and I look forward to what the rest of 2016/2017 and beyond brings.