James Thie’s teaching journey

Former world 1500m finalist nonetheless likes to drag on his racing spikes when he isn’t main coaching periods, lecturing, occasion organising, asserting or commentating

On the peak of his monitor profession James Thie was a world, European and Commonwealth 1500m finalist. Now a senior lecturer in sport administration and efficiency at Cardiff Metropolitan College, in addition to head coach for Coopah, he’s a a number of masters world champion and coach to a profitable group of athletes that features present and alumni college students from each Cardiff Met and Cardiff College.

Along with his core coaching group, Thie additionally hosts a midweek ‘run membership’ – an open monitor evening for runners of all talents inside the area people – and is a revered occasion organiser, announcer and commentator.

How did you get into teaching and who did you study from?

I used to be fortunate to have some wonderful college and membership experiences by means of varied coaches after I was creating, however I used to be pretty distinctive in that for many of my grownup aggressive profession I used to be self-coached.

Mark Rowland coached me for round 18 months in 2001 and I realized an enormous quantity in that point. I rapidly realised that there was no straightforward path to success, no magic wand.

I began my very own teaching journey in 2008 whereas I used to be nonetheless competing [as a senior athlete]. The Scottish athlete David Bishop was trying to enhance his 1500m time and he requested me if I might assist him run 3:45 to get a scholarship to the US. I’d by no means coached anybody aside from myself, however I keep in mind considering: “Let’s simply do what I’ve been doing and tweak it”. It labored as a result of he hit the time and received the scholarship. He was my first cost and it was good as a result of it went full circle – when he returned to the UK I coached him to the Commonwealth Video games in Glasgow in 2014.

I started taking care of college college students at Cardiff Met across the similar time as working with David. I ended up teaching athletes who different folks wouldn’t coach, or those that didn’t have coaches. I felt so lucky to have these athletes as a result of, though they didn’t realise it, I used to be studying by means of them. Each coach has to start out someplace, and by teaching somebody. It’s a kind of issues; you solely ever study by means of follow, you study by means of folks and truly very often you solely study by means of errors.

Firstly I had forex as being an athlete so folks had been coming to me due to that. Though I’ve by no means stopped being an athlete, they’re now coming to me as a result of they consider me as a coach and that’s a pleasant feeling.

Reputations are laborious to construct up, however I prefer to assume that the proof is within the environments you create. If athletes take pleasure in what you’re doing, and in the event that they’re bettering or experiencing success due to it, then you definately’re doing one thing proper. In the event you create an setting that’s not pleasurable however persons are having a great deal of success, the second that success begins to hit a couple of street bumps then teams disintegrate. It’s the identical the opposite approach; if folks benefit from the coaching setting however they’re not bettering or getting success, then these teams can disintegrate, too.

What’s your teaching philosophy?

I’ve at all times cherished serving to individuals who ask for assist, and that’s on the core of my philosophy. I believe it goes again to being self-coached; I need to be the coach for others that I might have needed for myself.
In the end it’s about being there for my athletes, supporting them to be the perfect they are often whereas additionally ensuring they’re wholesome, blissful and having fun with the game.

Teaching student-athletes can current totally different challenges to these skilled by membership or skilled workforce coaches. What challenges have you ever confronted and the way have you ever navigated these?

It’s an interesting one and I’d prefer to assume I’ve largely received it proper. When athletes come to school right here they usually have their very own coaches [at home], in contrast to within the US the place their school coach turns into their coach. The thought of our group in Cardiff is that anybody can soar into periods, however there’s not an assumption that I’ll coach an athlete simply because they’ve moved right here.

Piers Copeland [2019 European U23 silver medallist] is an efficient instance. On the time [he came to Cardiff Met] I used to be teaching Jake Heyward [2022 European silver medallist and Welsh 1500m record-holder] and other people assumed Piers would come to me, however he was blissful along with his “dwelling” coach Bob Smith who’s good, so he would simply soar in each few periods with us. That’s a win-win as a result of he had his personal set-up that was working very well, however he felt like he may very well be a part of our workforce and will take part on coaching periods with us, too.

It’s a little bit of a rotating door with college college students. You don’t personal any athletes. Athletes would possibly come to Cardiff Met or Cardiff Uni then go off to do a Masters within the US. Once they come again I’d find yourself selecting them again up, or they find yourself going some other place, but when they’re nonetheless working, nonetheless progressing and nonetheless having fun with it – and if I’ve been a part of that – then that’s nice.

One other problem for student-athletes is shifting away from dwelling and the transition to residing alone. As a college coach it’s one of many hidden points we’ve got to take care of. With coach schooling we discuss programming, planning, all of that, however pastoral care is essential and goes again to my philosophy of caring for athletes and searching for them.

We’re fortunate to have an awesome group in Cardiff and I prefer to assume that new college students really feel a part of one thing immediately. I maintain them on the grass for so long as attainable and we attempt to keep away from the monitor within the first few months as a result of it’s a bit too prescribed. I simply need to maintain athletes wholesome and blissful in that first block as a result of there’s nothing worse than selecting up an harm within the first two to 3 weeks of college.

We go right down to Merthyr Mawr sand dunes close to Bridgend [made famous by Steve Ovett] nearly religiously each October, a couple of weeks after the scholars begin college. After the session the athletes fiddle within the sea. I keep in mind years in the past one of many college students stated to me: “That is the perfect factor I’ve completed since I began college”. She nonetheless runs now and that sticks with me. It’s the change of setting, you’re out of Cardiff working barefoot on the sand. I used to like happening there myself and it actually made me take into consideration the affect of that have, particularly for brand spanking new college students.

It may be laborious as a coach since you need to maximise a runner’s potential. I might throw 100 miles per week in any respect my athletes, however just a few would succeed. I believe I’m generally responsible of under-cooking folks however that usually results in them having an extended profession within the sport they usually take pleasure in it extra. It’s about ensuring that they’ve at all times received someplace to go, that there’s at all times room for development.

What, if something, has modified in teaching because you first received concerned?

The basics haven’t modified, however I’m always studying. The Norwegian double-threshold, the impact of tremendous sneakers. It’s important to evolve, you must change, or in any other case you’re completed for as a coach.

What’s the perfect piece of recommendation you’ll go on to new or aspiring coaches?

Coaches, or individuals who need to coach, have to get out and get teaching expertise. There are such a lot of totally different teams on the market that want volunteer coaches they usually don’t survive with out them. Individuals have this unrealistic expectation that you simply’re going to stroll straight right into a paid job or a paid teaching function, however there are so few paid alternatives on the market.

I look again on the time after I was teaching college students as an “unknown” coach and there was no strain, no expectations. I really keep in mind in 2010, two years after I’d began teaching, I out of the blue had this huge group and I stated to my spouse: “I by no means deliberate for this to occur.”

It was by no means my objective to have such an enormous group or the driving pressure for my teaching, however the group simply grew organically. The athletes had been the voice of the group they usually turned the recruiters, quite than me.

It’s additionally essential to have a very good assist community round you – mates, companions and many others, and to make use of mentors. Teaching is time-consuming, so these closest to it’s essential to perceive how difficult it may be.

What’s probably the most precious lesson you’ve realized in your teaching profession?

It’s a rollercoaster of feelings however the highs are unbelievable they usually maintain you going by means of a few of the decrease moments in sport. In the end it’s essential to take pleasure in it and it’s essential to keep genuine to your self.

Don’t ever put success as absolutely the driver. In the event you create the precise setting and also you take pleasure in what you do then success will come from that, however it shouldn’t be to the detriment of the athletes, their well being, your well being or your loved ones’s well being. You need it to be long-term so it’s essential to have a steadiness to make it sustainable.

Lastly, although teaching may be all-consuming, there’s at all times time to coach! I nonetheless run [and compete] as a result of I like the game and I believe that’s a very good instance to set to my youngsters and the athletes I coach.

I really feel actually lucky that athletics has given, and continues to offer, my youngsters a optimistic expertise, even unknowingly. My daughter Bella now involves our open monitor evening each Wednesday with a few her mates. I mainly simply blow a whistle they usually run, however there’s a pleasant collective of individuals – up-and coming younger athletes, dad and mom and their children – and it’s only a good approach of giving one thing again to the neighborhood. For me, it’s additionally time with Bella and which means loads.

» This text first appeared within the November challenge of AW journal. Subscribe to AW journal right here, take a look at our new podcast right here or signal as much as our digital archive of again points from 1945 to the current day right here

The put up James Thie’s teaching journey appeared first on AW.