High intensity sport know more about it

The practice of sport is increasingly widespread in society as there is a greater awareness of its importance for health. However, there are people who go one step further and make sport their profession as they present exceptional performance . Such is the case of Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Rafael Nadal, Lionel Messi or Lebron James, eminent examples of high performance athletes.

What is high performance sport?

High-performance sport is one whose main objective is to achieve maximum athletic performance in competitions of the highest level , generally at the national, world or Olympic level. High performance athletes are endowed with a special and innate talent for sports activity, but they have also followed a special training program focused on optimizing their physical and technical resources to develop their abilities to the maximum.

Given that these are very demanding training sessions, the figure of the high-performance sports coach is essential to avoid injuries that affect the athlete’s health and curtail his professional career . In a certain way, the coach is the architect of the athlete’s training process since he accompanies him from the beginning, in the sports initiation stage that usually occurs at a very early age, until he reaches the stage of sports mastery in which he competes. for achieving the best results at the international level.

What skills does a high performance sports coach need?

For an athlete to achieve high performance, they must follow a personalized and perfectly planned training that takes into account their physical form, objectives and potentialities. The high-performance functional trainer is the professional who is in charge of it, so he must have a series of skills and competencies:

  • Communication skills that allow you to clearly explain the phases and steps of training, provide feedback when necessary, as well as transmit your theoretical knowledge to the coaching staff and the athlete to accelerate their development.
  • Positive and enthusiastic attitude to motivate the athlete and get them to give their best in each training session or to continue their efforts despite a poor competitive result or after having suffered an injury.
  • Organizational skills and training preparation of a high-performance athlete. The coach must know the intention of each practice and understand its relevance in the general scheme of training in order to develop appropriate training load control and recovery strategies.
  • Empathy to put yourself in the place of the athlete and understand the transformation process they are experiencing, as well as the challenges they must face, not only physically but also psychologically.

And the role that sport plays in your life.

  • Leadership capacity that allows you to inspire athletes, lead a team of high-performance athletes or direct the technical team. To do this, the coach must have developed qualities such as self-confidence, firmness and independence. You might be interested in more articles on our site.
  • Stress management skills. High-performance coaches must be mentally strong and emotionally mature people who can assertively deal with the stress of competitions and the pressures exerted by the different actors involved in high-performance sport. Therefore, they become a benchmark for emotional management for the athletes themselves when they have to face stress, anxiety or fear of failure.