Success in riding could be made so much easier if there was a published recipe to follow of the ingredients required. Like 1 cup of natural ability, 3 1/2 cups of perseverance, 1/2 cup of business management/people skills, 1 tablespoon of imagination, 1 teaspoon of luck, a cooking time of a couple of decades, and then out of the oven would emerge the extraordinary product.
It’s too bad it doesn’t work like that, but that same conceptual exercise can be applied to coaching, more specifically the battle for the US Coach position. John made an attempt at a “Let’s Discuss” post a few days ago, and despite the fact that he was stealing my thunder as I usually do those posts, the question he posed of qualities needed in the next coach was a good one and received some really good responses.
Each week from now until the short-list of Candidates is announced, we’ll take a look at a different aspect and how it compares between the candidates. While our Armchair Quarterbacking will by no means encompass all of the elements involved, if nothing else it should at least provide a solid background of each candidate. In an effort to avoid redundancy with all our recent commentary of the coaching debate, I’ll leave it to you to make your own conclusions.
We’ll start with competition results. Riding and coaching have their differences, but a competitor is a competitor, whether it’s producing a winning result for oneself or one’s team. (PanAms not included)
Phillip Dutton: 1 CCI4* win, 2 Olympic team golds
1996 Atlanta Olympics- Team Gold2000 Sydney Olympics- Team Gold2004 Athens Olympics-Competed on Australian Team2008 Rolex Kentucky CCI**** Winner
Competed at 5 WEGsFair Hill CCI*** Winner- 1996, 2000, 2007
David O’Connor: Individual Olympic gold, 2 CCI4* wins, 4 international medals
1996 Atlanta Olympics- Team Silver1997 Badminton CCI**** Winner1998 World Equestrian Games- Team Bronze2000 Sydney Olympics- Individual Gold, Team Bronze2001 Rolex Kentucky CCI**** Winner2002 World Equestrian Games- Team GoldFair Hill CCI*** Winner- 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002
Jimmy Wofford: Individual WEG bronze, 4 international medals
1968 Mexico City Olympics- Team Silver1970 World Championships- Individual Bronze1972 Munich Olympics- Team Silver1978 World Championships- Team Bronze1981- Rolex Kentucky CCI*** Winner1986- Rolex Kentucky CCI*** Winner
Leslie Law: Individual Olympic gold, 4 international medals
1999 Bramham CCI*** Winner2000 Sydney Olympics- Team Silver2002 World Equestrian Games- Team Bronze2004 Athens Olympics- Individual Gold, Team Silver
Andrew Hoy: 5 CCI4* wins, 3 Olympic team golds, 5 international medals
1979 Burghley CCI**** Winner1986 World Championships- Team Bronze1992 Barcelona Olympics- Team Gold1996 Atlanta Olympics- Team Gold1996 Luhmuhlen CCI**** Winner1997 Bramham CCI*** Winner2000 Sydney Olympics- Team Gold, Individual Silver2004 Burghley CCI**** Winner2006 Rolex Kentucky CCI**** Winner2006 Badminton CCI**** Winner
So I’m leaving it with you, Eventing Nation. Does personal success have any correlation in success as a coach? How much correlation?
Go Eventing.
