The Craft of Coaching is Joe Friel’s ultimate guide to becoming a better, more successful, and happier coach.
What’s Inside The Craft of Coaching
The Craft of Coaching is Joe Friel’s ultimate guide to becoming a better, more successful, and happier coach.
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5 // Assembling a Winning Roster: Managing Athletes & Service Providers
Everyone wins when an athlete feels supported. In Module 5 from The Craft of Coaching, Joe Friel and his hand-picked experts share how to best manage athletes and add service providers to extend your coaching capabilities.
4 // The Business of Coaching
Find out how successful coaches navigated the challenges of getting started, becoming profitable, marketing for growth, and building a team into long-lasting businesses.
The Craft of Coaching Playbooks
Playbooks are free downloads that augment the useful content in The Craft of Coaching with Joe Friel through deeper dives into specific aspects of coaching.
3 // Mapping a Season of Training
Anyone can make a training plan. But a good coach knows how to plan a season that unlocks an athlete's true potential. Joe Friel is joined by a full line-up of master coaches in this module that will expand your thinking.
2 // The How and Why of Coaching
Coaches often focus on methodology over philosophy. Your own path to coaching shapes both, and Joe Friel shows why it matters.
1 // Building a Foundation for Success in Coaching
Coach Joe Friel details what it takes to be a good, happy, and successful coach, then shares how coaches can build the eight most important skills an effective coach must have.
Joe Friel’s Keynote to USA Cycling: The Art & Craft of Coaching Athletes
Joe Friel presents the themes of his new online learning experience, The Craft of Coaching, during the 2022 USA Cycling Coaching Summit.
Joe Friel Live Q&A: The Business of Coaching, Motivating Athletes, Training/Life Balance
Coaches ask their questions during this recording of a live Q&A with coach Joe Friel. This event covered many topics including the business of coaching, motivating athletes, helping athletes reach difficult goals, and how to help athletes balance life and training.
Joe Friel Live Q&A: Heart Rate vs. Power, Communicating with Athletes, How Many Athletes to Coach
Endurance coaches present their questions to during this recording of a live Q&A with coach Joe Friel. This event covered many topics including heart rate, power, communication, and how many athletes a coach should take on.
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How to Avoid Difficult Relationships with Athletes
No one wants to “fire” an athlete. But there are times when the coach-athlete relationship is clearly not working. Coaches need to reflect on these difficult situations and athletes so they can identify problems before things get personal.
Establishing a Positive Coach-Athlete Relationship
For the coach-athlete relationship to be successful, it must be rooted in trust, and trust is earned or compromised from Day 1. Begin any new client relationship with the end in mind.
Coach-Athlete Communication
Coach Melissa Mantak prioritizes communication with her athletes above all else, particularly in the onboarding process. Find out more about the different levels of coaching she offers at The Empowered Athlete, and how communication plays out.
How to Protect Your Time
Managing athletes requires time management skills. Coach Ryan Bolton balances the needs of his pro athletes, age groupers, and a team of coaches. He talks with Joe Friel about his screening process and the groundwork that goes into a positive athlete-coach relationship.
The Secret to Retaining Athletes
Over time, client retention comes down to two things: 1) the athlete's longevity in the sport, and 2) the coach's ability to evolve with the athlete over time. Coach Melissa Mantak talks about how coaches can equip athletes to pursue sports over a lifetime and the ever-growing tool box she has relied on to help two very different athletes over decades of training and racing.
What Was It Like to Be Coached by Joe Friel?
It can be helpful to consider things from the athlete’s perspective. Ryan Bolton was coached by Joe Friel for the duration of his career as a pro triathlete. He reflects on what made that relationship work and the lessons he took from it in establishing his own coaching business.
Expanding Your Coaching Services
More coaches are seeking partnerships with outside experts to better meet the needs of their athletes. Find out how these partnerships work best, giving even the "maverick" coach a competitive advantage.
How Adding Services Leads to Maximal Gains
Coach Grant Holicky describes how athletes are impacted by the additional experts and services that coaches make available to them. In his experience, these changes often lead to maximal gains.
A Roadmap for Working with Nutritionists
Coach Ryan Kohler talks with Joe Friel about how to help athletes navigate the misinformation around nutrition by partnering with the right experts. Nutritionists commonly help athletes improve their daily diet, implement a fueling plan in the lead-up to race day, or address more significant lifestyle issues. The team effort is likely to pay off, both in terms of the athlete's performance and the coach's business.
One Team’s Strategy for Dynamic Athlete Services
Forever Endurance provides additional athlete services both by diversifying the coaching talent on their own team and by connecting athletes with experts outside the business. With more ways to deliver individualized training, coaches are well-positioned to reach more athletes.
The Value of Business Services
Many coaches are happy to focus their energy on coaching, not running a business. Some coaches choose to outsource specific tasks like accounting, business management, and marketing. At Forever Endurance, co-owners Cody Moore and Grant Holicky have coaches lean into the services that an MBA and education program can provide.
Build a Solid Platform for Growth
Coach Philip Hatzis is in the business of positioning coaches for growth, both professionally and financially. He describes the mindset that every coach needs to embrace before they can effectively grow their business.