Andy Hobdell: “Coaches don’t get wealthy off the game, we get wealthy off the reminiscences”

Katy Barden speaks to a solicitor who additionally has a wealth of expertise relating to guiding endurance runners

Andy Hobdell is a senior solicitor specialising in legal regulation. Along with his ‘day’ job the place he offers with a variety of instances inside the magistrates’ courtroom and the Crown Courtroom, he’s additionally a extremely regarded endurance coach and has guided athletes to 4 Olympic Video games.

Most not too long ago recruited by Hoka and dealing with the Hoka-supported Staff Makou – knowledgeable group that features Callum Elson, Rory Leonard, Scott Beattie, Ellis Cross, Efrem Gidey and Sarah Astin – Hobdell continues to educate Hoka-sponsored athletes Tom Anderson and Simon Bédard, in addition to a bunch of different runners that vary from these concentrating on their first 5km by way of to membership athletes who’re on the cusp of breaking by way of to worldwide groups. 

How did you get into teaching?

It was pure likelihood. I by no means got down to be a coach. I cherished working and I grew up in an period with among the greats of our sport. In my late-20s/early 30s, as I used to be coming in direction of the top of my very own working profession, a 13-year-old lad [Mark Draper] turned as much as one in every of my jogging teams. We went for a five-mile run and as I attempted to push the tempo he was nonetheless there. We have been clipping alongside at six-minute miles and he was simply chatting away. To chop a protracted story brief, he saved turning up and after just a few weeks he requested if I might assist him get match for his county faculties championships. I wasn’t his coach, I used to be simply serving to him out, however after he gained that race he got here as much as me – and I’ll always remember it – and stated: ‘Thanks coach’, and that’s the place it began. 

Has your teaching philosophy modified over time?

It’s modified massively. As a younger coach I felt actually sorry for the likes of Drapes [Mark Draper], Katrina [Katrina Wootton] and Badders [Andy Baddeley], as a result of I learnt by way of them. We made some errors within the early days however we learnt collectively. 

I keep in mind with Badders, we went to his first European Indoor Champs in Madrid and he obtained knocked out within the first spherical. We’d pushed too laborious in coaching and he was cooked. I went to the nice and cozy down monitor and Mark Rowland simply checked out me and stated: ‘Alright coach?’. He stated: ‘That is the place you earn your stripes, that is the place you go in and type issues out, and also you come again and also you’re higher.’ They’re true phrases and that’s what teaching is about, it’s about working collectively.

The fellows I take care of now get pleasure from the 28 years I’ve been within the sport as a coach. I’m extra skilled and I’m very clear on when to push, when to carry again and when sufficient is sufficient. We all know what works; we’ll work laborious when we’ve got to work laborious, but when it’s the time to carry again, I’ll maintain them again.

You joined Hoka as a coach final yr. How did that come about and why is Staff Makou such a great match for you?

I obtained a name from Hoka about 18 months in the past asking if I’d wish to work with them as a coach. I used to be already teaching Tom Anderson and as issues progressed I started working with Rory, Scott and Ellis.

Callum Elson joined us on a camp in South Africa in January – he’d signed for Hoka however I wasn’t teaching him at that time – then fairly quickly after that I began to educate Efrem Gidey, so we then had these 5 guys working and coaching laborious collectively.

The boys, with the help of Hoka, then began Staff Makou. It was very natural, and from my perspective I used to be very fortunate. I solely work with people who find themselves dedicated, who’ve the appropriate mindset, the appropriate chemistry, and who need to purchase into my teaching philosophy, and that is the primary time that I’ve had the chance to work as a coach with a workforce of such proficient athletes.

I need to create an surroundings the place the athletes are 100 per cent centered on their coaching and need to prepare laborious, however as soon as the session is finished they will then benefit from the post-training buzz and have that post-session banter which is far wanted. There’s no higher option to get 110-mile weeks achieved than working together with your mates, getting the identical work achieved and having fun alongside the best way. There aren’t too many locations within the UK, and even the world, the place you will get six or seven guys working collectively who’re all working below 13:30 for 5km, or sub-28 minutes for 10km. That’s fairly particular, isn’t it?

What are the challenges of working with completely different personalities inside the workforce?

Expertise helps, and the truth that I’m invested. You get to be taught concerning the athletes individually, what makes them tick, what will get them excited and what they want from coaching by means of emotional help, however that’s the thrilling half I feel as a coach. It’s not nearly writing a coaching schedule and saying: ‘Simply get on with it’, it’s about seeing how every athlete responds to the coaching stimulus and pushing them on.

In the end, they’re human beings identical to everybody else. They’re so dedicated and centered on what they’re doing that it upsets them in the event that they don’t carry out to the extent they need to or count on. But it surely’s like something, you give them a little bit of area, typically you may simply give them a hug, and also you choose them up by getting them to place one foot in entrance of the opposite and getting again on it. I’ve at all times believed that after you begin to carry out in coaching that lifts you and impulsively you’re extra optimistic about all the pieces. 

Do you discover it laborious to handle expectations when there’s a lot potential inside the group?

I feel the athletes all realise that there will likely be highs and lows alongside the best way. They know the method and what we’re specializing in, but when we’re dedicated and we proceed to work laborious, then the excessive requirements that we set are achievable.

They’re all enhancing and we’re doing the appropriate issues. We’re preserving it easy, they’re working collectively, getting the work achieved, and so they’re getting the rewards. They’re all very completely different however they provide and take from one another. It’s a course of, and probably the most invaluable classes I’ve learnt in teaching is to not rush the method.

What the blokes and Sarah are doing simply now’s one thing that’s wanted in our sport. It’s exhibiting that onerous work and dealing collectively takes issues ahead. It’s exhibiting different runners that it may be enjoyable and thrilling and also you’re not completely reliant on federation funding, as a result of this has been very a lot supported and pushed by Hoka. It’s not a simple factor to do, however we’re constructing one thing fairly particular and I feel if we are able to stick with it as we’re, getting the work achieved, then who is aware of what can occur?

Additionally, the requirements being given to athletes at present are unbelievable. 27 minutes for 10km is completely bonkers. To have the ability to do this it’s essential to have the appropriate backing out of your coach, out of your team-mates and out of your model. You want all the assistance you will get and that’s what we’re all about.

What’s the most important change you’ve seen in athletics because you first obtained concerned? 

After we first began on this sport social media wasn’t an enormous factor. The requirements that the athletes have to realize now are more durable, however the strain placed on them by social media is off the dimensions.

It’s additionally a distraction and I’ve skilled that with one or two athletes over time once they flip as much as coaching and say: ‘Why aren’t we doing this or that?’. It may be very troublesome for an athlete who isn’t 100 per cent dedicated to the coach and who’s distracted by different coaching concepts and philosophies that they hear about or see on social media. 

I make it fairly clear pretty early on that I’m as invested as the subsequent individual in serving to somebody of their working profession, however there must be an understanding that if I’m invested, then they must be equally invested; they’ve do what’s requested of them to the most effective of their capability so we are able to work collectively to assist them grow to be a greater runner. It’s so simple as that. I’ve at all times felt that I’m old-fashioned with a forward-thinking philosophy, so I’ll take a look at all the pieces else that’s happening and I’ll determine what we are going to and gained’t use.

What retains you going?

Once I first began teaching it was with Drapes, then Katrina, then Badders. They have been all pretty folks and a pleasure to work with. As coaches we don’t get wealthy off the game, we get wealthy off the reminiscences and what our athletes do. We get wealthy off them having fun with the game and that’s what it’s all about for me. I can’t consider something higher than working with an athlete and getting them to the stage the place they carry out and do one thing method past what they ever thought was potential. It simply places a smile on my face. It’s like: ‘There you go, I advised you that you would do it’. It’s having perception in an athlete’s capability and exhibiting them that they will do greater than they suppose they will. It’s a quite simple factor, but it surely’s very particular.

» This text first appeared within the December situation 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

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