How his advice can be applied to sports
A few months ago, my sister mentioned the Face to Face speaker series at Wake Forest University. I had never heard of it, but my ears pricked up when she said Trevor Noah was slated to be one of the speakers. Besides being funny he also has interesting ideas. I’ve been enjoying his podcast, so what now?. I ventured out of the house on a weekday night (very rare for this early to bed girl) to see Trevor Noah in person.
What does this have to do with sports? As a coach I have read and studied sports performance for sixteen years. However, coaching is a complex profession as are athletes. Coaches need to understand the science behind training and how the body responds to exercise. But there is also an equally important human relationship component to coaching. You won’t find those lessons in exercise physiology textbooks. Experience plays a big part, but I also like to hear lots of different types of experts talk. Life coaches, Buddhist monks, journalists, entrepreneurs, comedians. They all offer certain useful information that influences how I interact with athletes.
The format of the Face to Face speaker session was a casual interview. Journalist Sam Sanders led the interview with Trevor Noah and they covered topics ranging from growing up in church, Apartheid in South Africa, how he first visited America, politics, and social media. There were three things Trevor Noah said that made me think about coaching, sports performance, and athletes.
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Limit Your Time Online
Trevor mentioned that he has put screen limits on his phone allocating only 5 minutes per day to Instagram and 10 minutes per day to Twitter. He discussed how social media algorithms highlight divisive posts meant to enrage people. He also expressed concern over the fact that many heads of social media companies don’t allow their children to use their own products – a red flag.
Application to sports: Be intentional about the information you consume.
When I open my business Instagram account, it would appear that every coach out there is doing more and earning more than me. Their athletes aren’t just getting PRs at races, they are getting Boston Qualifiers, running back to back ultramarathons, going to the Olympics all while doing some latest fad diet.
Does me consuming this information make me a better coach? Absolutely not. In fact, it likely makes me a worse coach because time spent focusing on this input is a waste of valuable time.
From an athlete perspective, I would encourage you to do an audit of information you consume online. Does it make you happy? Does it help you become the best version of yourself?
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Always consider that you may be wrong and that it likely isn’t about you.
When Trevor Noah said these two things you could feel the audience squirming in their seats. We all knew we were guilty at times of assuming we were right in an argument. Also, the many situations where our feelings are hurt and we assume the transgressor had malicious intentions. Trevor said once he adopted these two things his whole life changed and opened up in a positive way.
Application to sports: This one is for the coaches.
Consider that a training approach or something we say or do may be wrong – particularly for some athletes. Also, when athletes move on from a coaching relationship or hurt your feelings/ego consider that it may not be about you. It’s their athletic journey, not yours.
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We will have more productive conversations about ideas if we don’t open them with labels.
The example Trevor used in this instance was when watching the news and a politician is on to discuss an issue, their name is at the bottom with their political affiliation right behind their name. We may decide if we agree or not based on their political affiliation vs. critically considering the issue for yourself.
Application to sports: There are many applications here.
Don’t place more value on a fast vs. slow athlete’s training regime. I will give you an example. I volunteered at a local trail race last weekend. First place was a 25-year-old young man who ran 1 hour 26 minutes for a trail half marathon. Last place was a 72-year-old man who ran just under 4 hours. There is a good chance that the 72 year old who can still run a trail half marathon has more training wisdom than the really fast 25 year old. Do you place a lot of value on what professional athletes say and do? If you removed the labels, what information would you value most?
Do you listen more to coaches who are coaching professional athletes vs. a local high school coach who has been coaching for 30+ years? The people with the most wisdom and valuable information to share may not be concerned about labels.
When it comes to sports nutrition – could we more objectively consider various diets and their pros and cons if there were no labels attached. For example, if an athlete is on a vegan diet but opens the conversation with, as a vegan plant-based athlete this is what I think… it may not lead to as productive of a conversation as if they had opened up the conversation with the many nutrients and minerals found in fruits and vegetables.
It was refreshing to listen to these ideas and consider them. It made me consider who and what should fill my life to help me fulfill my human potential and serve with greatness and integrity.