Lessons I’ve Learned and Applied to My Work From Coach Ted Lasso

For 14+ years, I’ve been coaching triathlon and running for clients in-person and online.

Periodically I organize group workouts for my local athletes including a fun post-workout social portion. If I could invite one person to attend it would be Coach Ted Lasso, even though he is a completely fictional character.

For anyone unfamiliar with Coach Lasso, in a nutshell, he knows very little about the sport he coaches, so he learns from others that do. Coach Lasso is humble, personable, funny, and a tremendous motivator bringing his team to unprecedented success. His advice helps his athletes succeed – not only in their sport but in their personal relationships as well.

Social media also loves Coach Lasso as I found his top ten leadership lessons on Instagram. My favorite three are ‘Believe in yourself,’ ‘All people are different people,’ and ‘Stay teachable.’ I apply these lessons to my coaching style. As a result, the athletes I coach perform better, and my business is built on integrity, peppered with heart, and pragmatism.

When athletes hire a coach, they are looking for someone knowledgeable in the field who can analyze performance, teach relevant skills, and provide encouragement. They are looking for a leader, a coach who embodies and role models “belief.”

Like Ted, I never hit the panic or snooze buttons, especially when it pertains to my athletes. I never give up on my athletes and foster a “yes, I can” mindset.

I believe coaching geared towards each individual athlete is the secret ingredient to go from average to exceptional coaching. No two athletes I work with are alike when truly considering ability, experience, personality, and motivation. Coaching centered around the individual requires more time and effort on the coach’s part, but the result is high performance and client satisfaction.

Sure, it’s easier to copy and paste the same workout for all athletes. But basing a training program on data and feedback from the previous weeks helps the athlete establish a proper foundation of skills and fitness as they proceed forward. For example, in the case of beginner swimmers, a 3000-meter swim in the first month is probably not the most realistic workout for a swimmer exhausted after 1000-meters. The stroke begins to fall apart, and the swimmer likely defaults to poor mechanics to complete the distance.

I love this lesson from Coach Lasso. To me staying teachable means keeping an open mind to new ideas and ways of doing things. It also means being honest and open to learn and talk about ever-changing approaches. The science behind the sport expands, so sometimes the old approach might become outdated or less effective than newer approaches. For example, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is gaining popularity because studies show when added appropriately HIIT increases VO2 max allowing the body to use oxygen more efficiently”.

Learning from other knowledgeable sources helps me include a variety of training programs. Opportunities from social media forums, continuing education webinars, and coaching symposiums are just a few examples that exist for multi-sport coaches.