What do you do if your athletes' needs are constantly changing?

Here's how you can address it: - Maintain Open lines of communication: athletes should feel confortable expressing their needs, concerns, and feedback - Implement assessments: conduct regular assessments of athletes physical, mental, and emotional states - Focus on holistic development: recognize that athletes needs aren't limited to physical training - Use Tech and Data: use data analytics and technology to track and analyze performance, health metrics and other things - Be proactive: anticipate potential changes in needs based on competition schedule, training intensity and life events

Athlete's needs are really always changing. You as a coach need to adapt to the circumstances. The 'cookie cutter' style of training only produces mediocre athletes. The adaptive style is tailored to helping each athlete to improve in areas where they might be lacking. I would say that observing their performance, mindset, emotional cues, physical changes (even possible injuries or imbalances) and sudden decrease in performance can give you the answers of where the athlete needs help.

You could use a science-backed tool like the Reiss Motivation Profile to get a comprehensive understanding of an athlete’s intrinsic needs (which in the short term, won’t change significantly). Through understanding the ‘why’ behind an individual’s personality traits, behaviours, decisions, values and preferences, you have all the intel you need to be able to confidently enable behavioural change. You can use this insight to assess behaviour and mindset shifts overtime and easily identify the root cause of anything that seems inconsistent or changing. From there, you can adjust your coaching techniques to ensure their intrinsic needs are continuously being met and their performance isn’t compromised.

It’s not uncommon for needs to change for athletes based on where they are in a season or what’s being asked of them. As a result, it’s helpful to continue to assess their needs and to get feedback about your offerings to support them at different stages.

Support goes beyond the physical aspect. It is an ecosystem that encompasses the mental, the emotional, and sometimes even the social. This might mean working with psychologists to build athletes' mental resilience, ensuring they have access to nutritional counseling, or even creating a team environment where they feel supported and valued. Each member of the support team contributes to the athlete's performance. It goes, once again, beyond the physical and technical aspect. Take the tennis star Naomi Osaka has stressed the importance of psychological support after revealing her struggles with depression. This shows that even at the highest level, athletes benefit from a strong support network that addresses all aspects of their well-being.