Athlete responsibility is where you the athlete take responsibility for who you are, what you do and what you put into yourself. Of course, young athletes have parents/guardians and coaches who can dictate and influence these aspects of their life, but good practices can still be taught and adhered to.

I like to teach athlete responsibility to all the athletes I work with, regardless of age and ability. A large part of this is teaching them to hold themselves accountable and responsible for what they do, or in some cases choose not to do. This accountability is very important for athletes because at the end of the day its them out in the competition arena, not their coach.

Good practices are essential to athlete responsibility as it creates continuing good habits that are transferable into many facets of an athletes life. It has been well documented that successful athletes are able to transfer the skills they have learnt to academia and the business sector where they can also have success.

Part of a coaches job is to educate their athletes, but at some point an athlete must look for understanding and knowledge about the sport and their performance beyond one coach.

Below is a list of things an athlete can do to improve responsibility and ownership of your performance:

• Good time keeping and punctuality

• Positive and professional communication

• Use positive terminology

• Be prepared for each training session

• Have a positive mental attitude

• Listen to and learn from your coaches

• Don’t blame others for losses

• Hold yourself accountable first

• Take ownership of all aspects of your performance

• Be prepared to the best of your abilities

• Try to continue to learn and develop your own understanding of sport

During an athletes career they will have to solve many problems and create an environment around them that is best suited to give them the peak performance they want. As an adult or senior athlete, coach selection and performance path can be the hardest choices to make because you only have yourself to hold accountable for such key decisions.

Keep training hard, Dave

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