Difficult Second Posting Syndrome

by Dougie Macdonald - 13:52 on 02 March 2009

Contrary to the proverb “the first step is always the hardest” I’ve always found it easy to start on what appears to be a good idea only to founder when the going gets tough. Consequently, my sporting career is littered with short lived comebacks where enthusiasm for the first few training runs disguised the hard graft that would need to be maintained for success. Committing to writing a blog for the Coaching Highland website therefore ran the same risk. There is plenty of time to prepare for the first entry but once published the momentum must be maintained – would there be sufficient material of interest to generate subsequent entries? Would I succumb to “difficult second album” syndrome? 

Thankfully, the staff at Coaching Highland provided more than enough stimulus for this entry with the magnificent news from the Sports Coach UK 2008 awards ceremony that they had won the ‘Agency in Support of Coaching’ award.  

http://www.coachinghighland.co.uk/UK-Coaching-Awards-2008-g.asp

It is hard to over estimate what an achievement this has been, especially in light of the prestige and funding enjoyed by the next two closest contenders for the title. The regard with which this award is held in is already evident in a growing demand for an account of CH’s success to be delivered at national sports conferences. The gist of my last post was that we were fortunate to have staff working for us that delivered an extremely high standard of service that “went beyond mere professionalism and revealed an obvious personal enthusiasm” and it is gratifying to see this recognized objectively by the UK ’s most important coaching organization. However despite the prophecy of the last post, I am reminded of another proverb, “No prophet is accepted in his own country” and wonder if we can do more to recognize the sector leading performance that has brought this award to the Highlands. Certainly, there was coverage in the local media but I can’t help feeling that we have not made enough of what was really a quite remarkable outcome. Perhaps we are not as good as we should be at “blowing our own trumpets” but surely this was a piece of sporting good news that should have been celebrated more? If you feel as I do – proud to be associated with the success of CH – I invite you to join in congratulating the staff who work for us by adding your comments below. 

Just before Christmas I took the opportunity to meet some of the volunteers who support our work at a Christmas Dinner hosted by Coaching Highland. With the impending holiday season and the news that CH had just won the SCUK award, spirits were high and it was a privilege to be part of the enthusiastic crowd. The dinner was a small recognition of the part volunteers play but it is an essential part of any good club that the enthusiasm shown by volunteers is recognized and fostered rather than taken for granted. Is there something more your club can do to make volunteers feel valued? Perhaps encouraging coaches to develop their skills through courses offered by NGBs or CH might play a part in this. In the “Running Sport” section of the website there is a useful publication “VOLUNTEERS - How can I recruit, retain & reward volunteers?” available for download that may help clubs with their most valuable resource. 

 http://www.coachinghighland.co.uk/Running-Sports-g.asp

http://www.coachinghighland.co.uk/Volunteering-g.asp

Finally, on a personal level, with the good weather making a cautious return there is no excuse for not getting back into shape. Yesterday saw a rare outing in an outdoor hockey match at Dingwall. Playing against a team from Nairn and Moray I turned out for a side that could legitimately call themselves veterans over 15 years ago. Thankfully we were bolstered by some refugees from Highland Ladies and a spectacular display from our guest goalkeeper helped us to a flattering 3-1 victory over our opponents. I’m paying for my lack of fitness today however – I hope I’m not the only one who feels this stiff and sore! Future goals to sustain me on the route back to fitness include the National 6 Stage Road Relays Championships in April and two events in June, a cycling time trial to the top of the ski road from Aviemore and the Caledonian Challenge.  

http://www.caledonianchallenge.com/home.html

They seemed like good ideas at the time! 

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