Im Steve Bennett I live near Sydney, Australia. I remember watching the 1968 Olympics as a child with great excitement. I was 5 yrs old. I vaguely remember Bob Beamons Long Jump and an Australian Gold medallist Ralph Doubell win the 800m. This inspired me to be an athlete and one day be in the Olympics, that didnt happen. But i certainly enjoy the era near Sydney’s big moment near 2000.

So the first thing i did was complete a coaching course and straight away met renowned coach Lindsay Watson who is always full of calmness, humour and wisdom. Yvonne Melene displayed to me just how thorough coaches can be in their study and planning. She set such a great example. That coaching is research-based and is an applied science and an art at the same time. I also met Keith Connor who was later to become National Coach, a tough administrator who was full of wisdom, communicated without bullshit and taught me how athletes need to be tough mentally to get up when they are knocked down and keep doing that. Later with coaching groups based at Homebush (near the Olympic Stadium) i made great coaching friends like Paul Laurendet with his strong squad of middle distance stars and this enhanced the enjoyment of my squad. We had some great times in the late 1990s.

One of the keys to maturing as an athlete and a coach is to love what you do and that enables you to stay in it long enough to mature. You have to plan your entire environment to optimize your enjoyment of the process as much as possible.

Visit one of Oztrack’s Partner Businesses Verified Lending