Daily Status Checks: The Energized - Normal - Tired - Sick Scale
Coaches are only as effective as the information we have on hand to guide decision making.
It is difficult to write and administer effective training when athletes are not forthcoming about what they’re going through. The everyday stressors of life do impact training, whether or not we want to admit it.
And this why the bedrock of any successful athlete-coach relationship is trust.
I want my athletes to be honest, forthcoming and candid with me.
If they got drunk the night before, I want to know — not to shame them, but to adjust their training for the next few days. If a female athlete is on her period, it’s valuable feedback which lets me better shape her training that day and perhaps week.
Some of this stuff may be seem too personal and an athlete may not feel comfortable sharing full details with the coach — that is OK. A simple daily status check can do wonders to get accurate intel and appropriately color expectations for the day’s training.
I use the following scale for daily status checks before training session: Energized - Normal - Tired - Sick
I ask each athlete a simple fill in the blank question before practice: “I feel ________ right now.”
How athletes answer will influence my expectation for the training session.
Here is the corresponding numerical scale:
Energized = 10/10 — 9/10
Normal = 8/10 — 6/10
Tired = 5/10 — 3/10
Sick = 2/10 or worse
A report of normal or energized means proceed as planned.
Tired warrants a follow up conversation to get a clearer sense of how tired the athlete is and why. Depending on what is learned, either my expectations or the design of the session are adjusted, oftentimes both.
The response to sick is simple: No training. Send the athlete home for rest.
The feedback from these daily status checks helps me make better decisions in short term as well as the long term. If an athlete has a pattern of feeling tired or sick it creates an opprtunity for me to engage them and explore the root of why they feel sub-optimal often. Or a pattern of feeling normal or tired that then shifts to frequent energized days signals the athlete is primed for a breakthrough perfomance.
Athletes are not machines. They don’t adapt and get better because on paper you have a beautiful training plan. Your plan is a map, not the territory. We coaches are only as good as the feedback we receive. To get better athlete feedback you need to develop their trust in you. A little trust goes a long way. Good coaching decisions made based on the athlete’s experience in real time will foster better athletic development. Their improved ability will result in greater trust and a better coach-athlete relationship which further results in better feedback, better coaching decisions, better improvement, more trust, and so on.
You can see why great coaches understand success in sports is all about relationships.