How I Pick Starke Coaches... Blog Post by Paul Dyck

Canada Day 2016 From left to right Coaches Laurie, Caitlin, Cat, Paul, & Caden

How I Pick Starke Coaches
By: Paul Dyck

Recently I've had several people asking when the next Starke CDP program will be starting up. With all the planning and prep for Starke 2.0 we won't be running another CDP session until November 2017.

Currently we are finishing up our January CDP session with Jon coaching classes and me shadowing them. When potential coaches start out they're a bit nervous and reserved. As time goes on they start approaching members more and more and are able to give better cues and suggestions for each individual athlete on how to modify an exercise or how to attack a workout.

One of the things I love seeing the most is the increased confidence when delivering a workout to a class. The first time they start running a group warm up, putting 15 people through the Burgener warm up, or explaining a workout on the whiteboard keep in mind it's not going to be pretty. You're nervous, you'll forget what you're doing, stumble on words, or just freak out a little. This is normal and it gets better and goes away the more you do it.  

When I look for coaches for the CDP program I keep a few simple things in mind.

1. Are they good people? This is the biggest and most important factor to me. If the person is someone I can't have a relaxed conversation with or someone I wouldn't be able to hang out with in or outside of the gym then it's probably not going to work out. If I don't feel like I can be honest with them or have a good relationship with them then how can I expect that to happen with my members. 
2. Are they coachable? I want to build great coaches for our members. If they don't pay attention in class and aren't willing to put in work on suggestions from coaches then it's probably not going to work. I had a potential member come in a few weeks ago and wanted to bypass our Base Camp program. They where training at another gym (not a CrossFit gym for the record)  and said "I have a Kinesiology degree and I don't think you could teach me anything". My response was. "You're probably right". Whether its a member or staff member, your cup should ALWAYS be half full. There's always room to learn more, become better, and refine skills. If your cup is always full and you know everything, then you won't make a good coach or student and I don't want you on my team. 
3. Do they want it and are they willing to learn? The CDP program doesn't pay anything, it doesn't guarantee a job afterwards, and there's no guarantee that you'll finish it. These people have to want to sacrifice time, learn, research, and be open to to criticism. I will guarantee that you will learn as much as I can teach you. I'll help to give you all the answers that I made mistakes on and leaned the hard way. I will teach you the best possible movement and mechanics that I know for athletes without restrictions and athletes that need modifications. This isn't a free ride and in the end I still decide whether these candidates will be allowed to coach our members.  
4. Are they a current member? Current members have the best exposure to what we do, what we expect, and how we do it. If the candidates are sponges in class, are willing to be coached, and are always asking questions, that's a good sign. Building up a member to become a coach from our community has been well received. I'm constantly getting positive feedback from our community that they appreciate us training members to become coaches.
5. Why are they doing this? I want Starke coaches to be coaching because they love it. I want them to be caoching because they are passionate about training and they want to help people. That quality is reflected in your attitude and coaching style every single class. If a coach is just here to run people through a workout and point to the whiteboard and say "that's your workout" then they're not the right fit for here.  

It all comes back to the attitude of the coaches and who they are inside and outside of the gym. To have my team wearing Starke clothing, promoting the Starke brand, and being role models for our community is something I'm critical of.

On July 1st 2016 several Starke coaches took part in a warm up and CrossFit demo for the inaugural Canada day run in East St. Paul Manitoba. It was an awesome day and our team put runners and spectators through a circuit with tires, sandbags, battle ropes, and kettlebells. They pulled people in to do things that "They only saw on TV" or something they've never tried. It was an awesome day and a great experience for the team, runners, and spectators.

Something I haven't forgotten was after the event was over, we loaded up the truck and everyone took off. I pulled onto Henderson hwy. headed back to the gym. Caden was ahead of me in his car and had slowed down a little. There were cars coming from behind in the left lane and we were in the right. Once there weren't any cars coming from behind he pulled to the left a little to give a cyclist some extra space. This is what impressed me. The cyclist had space if Caden would have kept driving, but Caden consciously choose to slow down and give him more space than he needed. Caden wasn't being tested and did this because he choose to, he did this because he wanted to, and he did this because that's the kind of person he is.

It's small things like this that make up our great coaches. These are the kind of people I want on my team and coaching Starke members. These are the kind of people I want to be around and trust with my gym something that I have put everything into for the past 5+ years.

So if you're wondering what makes a good Starke coach and who I look for. I hope this gives you a good idea...

Paul