Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #40: Gill1918 presents Joshua Thomas "What I Learned Coaching a Para-Athlete for the First Time"

Transcript

#40: Gill1918 presents Joshua Thomas "What I Learned Coaching a Para-Athlete for the First Time" · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
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  coaches, for coaches powered by Gill Athletics.
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  Think of this as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
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  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
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  you grow as a coach. We'll bring in the once a year
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  track clinic straight to your ears daily.
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  Interested in creating your own episode?
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  Everyone's welcome to participate.
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  Check out the show notes below For more information.
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  Now let's get into today's topic.
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  Hi, everyone. This is Joshua Thomas, assistant
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  track coach at some great high school.
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  Today I want to talk to you about the process of coaching a
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  para athlete for the first time. So a little background about
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  myself, I started coaching in 2020, been coaching track for
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  about 5 years now and as a former athlete I never competed
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  in track and field. So I had to pretty much learn
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  how to coach shot put and kind of put it all together.
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  And the resume kind of speaks for itself.
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  But this year with being at Summer Creek Cross, a new
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  challenge that I've never really had before and then as coaching
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  a pair of athlete for the first time, the challenge was
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  exciting, it was fun. However, it was a lot of
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  obstacles that we had to overcome, a lot of stuff that we
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  had to figure out in order to make sure that the athlete is
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  successful and then just make sure that everything is taken
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  care of outside of the athletic events.
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  So I'm going to share with you just a couple things if you ever
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  cross this bridge or have the opportunity to coach a para
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  athlete, just a few things to kind of keep in mind for you to
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  have success this past year. Marquez Barnes qualified for all
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  three events, the 100, the 400, and then also the shot put.
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  Shot put, he finished four Fest State and then for the 100 and
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  400 he finished six and which is outstanding for his first year
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  being a freshman and this is his first time competing in track
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  and field. So this is something that we
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  don't take lightly and there's obviously room to grow.
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  But the first thing that I would suggest, the number one tip is
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  get as many connections as possible.
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  Coach Greg Jones at George Ranch High School in Richmond, TX,
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  he's a dear friend of mine. He's been coaching pair of
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  athletes for the past couple years.
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  This is his second pair of athlete that he has at George
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  Ranch High School. And there was a lot of questions
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  that I had that I didn't know, you know, exactly what equipment
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  is needed for his shot put stand, the transport of his
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  equipment to track meets, things of that nature.
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  I really didn't have a clear understanding exactly how or you
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  know, how we're going to do certain things.
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  So I reached out to him and he gave me some great insight on
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  how to get those things done. So the biggest thing is just
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  building a network with coaches that have done it before and
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  kind of just pick their brain. The second thing that I suggest
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  is, you know, be creative as far as the training.
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  So dealing with a para athlete, their disability may limit them
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  to do certain things. So with that you have to find
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  different avenues to get the training done so they are
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  successful. So with Marquez, the first thing
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  that we did, because it was his first time, we got him in the
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  stand and we threw a lot. But with the throwing, we're
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  taking our time. We're making sure that the
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  technique is where it needs to be and kind of go from there.
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  Later on, we built in the shrimp schedule, getting him some
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  weights and getting him some other just little things to help
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  him out and enhance his performance to the best of our
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  ability. But those are things that you're
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  going to have to create and find out as soon as possible with
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  your para athlete. And I'll be honest with you,
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  just because they have a disability, they will surprise
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  you. I remember briefly Marquez was
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  in our weight room and we're doing bench press and he was
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  doing 225 for sets of four. And he's just a freshman.
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  He he is strong, powerful, but now knowing that going into the
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  summer, there's some stuff that we can do to maximize that as
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  best as possible. The third step would, and this
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  is just an any coaching profession, be positive.
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  Every day you get a chance to work with a pair of athlete,
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  it's a blessing. One most of the pair of
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  athletes, we all are aware of the different obstacles and
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  challenges that they have to deal with, but a lot of them are
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  extremely positive and they don't make excuses.
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  So that's a bright side of being a coach and being able to coach
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  those athletes. But to be positive, you're not
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  going to have the same outcome every track meet.
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  And what I mean by that is I remember our first track meet, I
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  think Marquez hit around 18 feet in shot put throwing.
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  And then the next one, he kind of went through a slump.
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  And I think the best he got was like 1617.
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  And you have to pretty much navigate a kid through that, you
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  know, positively. Now, there are some come to
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  Jesus meetings. I mean, that's part of coaching.
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  But remaining positive gives them hope that, hey, trust the
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  process and everything. We'll go from there.
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  And then the last tool, the last tip that I'll give everyone, and
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  this one is something that it took me quite some time to kind
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  of understand it. Treat them no different than you
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  would treat the other athletes. And it's human nature that you
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  see a athlete with a disability and you kind of have that soft
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  spot in your heart. And there's nothing wrong with
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  that. There's nothing wrong with that
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  at all. But they chose to compete in
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  athletics to be challenged. So with them being challenged,
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  you have to put aside their disability and treat them just
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  like everyone else. And it took me a minute to do it
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  because the simple fact I've never worked with a para athlete
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  before. So the athletic ability I always
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  believe will always come. It's the mental aspect of any
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  athlete. And Marquez was the type of kid
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  that wanted to be pushed, pushed to the point where it's like,
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  hey, I feel like I got better. And that first week for me, it
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  was like, hey, let's take it easy.
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  Because one, I just didn't know what I was getting myself into.
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  Now knowing the type of kid that I'm dealing with, he wants to be
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  pushed. He wants to be pushed to the
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  limits. He wants to make sure that he is
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  maximizing his training sessions and getting better each and
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  every day. And then I said that was the
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  last one, the one that just came to my mind.
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  That is something that I think that dealing with a para
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  athlete, you got to prepare for. Go ahead and get a membership at
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  Home Depot, Lowe's. You're going to have to make
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  sure your toolbox is on porn. There's a lot of different
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  things that they require. Allen rants, screwdrivers, drill
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  bits, drills. You, you know, the whole 9 and
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  you have to be prepared to be available when needed.
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  I remember briefly going into regionals, we're looking at his
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  racing bike. Both of his tires were pretty
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  much shot just because of the practice, the wear and tear of
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  these of the season. So one practice I'm literally
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  you know, on the turf fixing his bike for about an hour and a
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  half, you know, getting that stuff situated so that he it's
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  successful. So you just got to make sure
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  that you are prepared in every aspect.
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  I carry 2 backpacks with me every track meet we go to one
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  with just extra towels and chalk if him or any other athlete
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  needs it. And then one backpack,
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  especially for him with his in ground stakes for to secure the
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  stand, just extra equipment just to make sure that we're ready to
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  go. But that's pretty much how I
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  navigated my first year. Asked a lot of questions.
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  Build relationships with other coaches in the community.
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  They're friendly people because they all want to see athletes be
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  successful. And then on top of that, just be
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  creative with the workout. Find out what they can do.
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  Be positive is never going to work exactly how we always plan
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  every single day. But remain positive and then
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  treat them like everyone else. Don't have that.
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  And like I said earlier, it's human nature to have it.
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  But treat them like everyone else and you'll see the the buy
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  in and the success of that athlete once again, my name is
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  Joshua Thomas, assistant track coach at Summer Creek High
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  School in Humble, TX. You can follow me on Twitter at
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  Coach J Thomas 79. Hopefully you learn something
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  from this. I appreciate it.
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  Thank you very much. Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here.
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  Hey, I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Guild 1918
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  Project series. It's really my mission, my
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  passion to bring you massive amounts of value and I hope this
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  one hit the mark. The Gill 1918 Project is really
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  your voice, to have your voice heard you have something to say
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  and teach other coaches out there.
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  So please get a hold of me, e-mail, text message, Twitter,
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  smoke signals, get a hold of me and let's help create your
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  Hope you enjoy today and we'll see you tomorrow.