Dream Big Triathlon Coaching 



Have you ever been watching college football and seen little stickers on the players’ helmets? At Ohio State, they get little buckeyes. At Florida State, they get tomahawks. Everyone’s helmet has a different number of stickers on them. Now most people probably know the concept behind this, but for those that don’t, here’s the general premise behind them. They are little incentive awards. Each time the athlete achieves a certain stat, maybe a sack or a touchdown pass, then they will get a sticker to add to their helmet. I’m sure every school’s system is different, but I thought, ‘Why not implement this into triathlon?’ I’ve never seen it done anywhere, but thought it would be great to encourage my athletes to reach their goals. If you’re one of my athletes, then you have a set of goals set out before the season. We pick outcome, process, and performance goals to work toward.



In an attempt to help my athletes reach those goals, I will mail stickers, with the Dream Big logo on them, to the athletes each time they reach a goal. They can put the stickers wherever they wish, but I think it would be really cool to see them rocking on their helmets like the football teams. That way, when you see the Dream Big athletes out tearing up the race courses, you will know they are taking the steps to reach their dreams.



 



                                                                                   (Achievement Sticker)



Achievement stickers will be given for the following:



• Achieving any of the athlete’s outcome, process, or performance goals during the course of the season. (Each athlete has at least 3 of each of these, so that’s at least 9 different ways to earn a sticker.)



• Achieving a PR (Personal Record) during a field test. (Example would be a timed swim test.)



• Achieving a PR at any race distance.



• Achieving a PR split within a triathlon. (For example in a half ironman, if the athlete bikes the 56 miles faster than they ever have in any other half ironman, even if their overall time is not a PR.)



• Special “embrace the suck” stickers will be awarded if an athlete overcomes some kind of adversity during the course of a race.

             * Learning to overcome difficulties by having a strong mental attitude is something every successful triathlete needs to learn. I believe this can only be learned in small segments of hard races or workouts when   things get very tough and you learn to battle through them.