Extract from 'Coaching Edge,' issue 8
"David Knight - Over the Hurdles"
Having risen to the pinnacle of the athletics coaching world as UKA Technical Director forSprints, Hurdles and Relays, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that Graham’s introduction to coaching was less than auspicious. Having been asked to be involved in athletics coaching by the headmaster of the school where he took his first teaching job in 1967, Graham was then persuaded by parents at a local club to coach there.‘Five of us turned up at the club to take the coaching session (two athletes, the secretary and two coaches). Unfortunately, nobody had told the caretaker and the grass track was still locked up.’
The club was Newcastle Staffs, and Graham did a bit of everything to help in its development in those early days. ‘In ‘68, we weren’t a member of any league.We persuaded local schools to send their athletes along. I was a coach, I ran mass conditioning sessions in the winter, I ran in the league, I was social secretary and team manager, basically a dogsbody role for about ten years.’
The club was Newcastle Staffs, and Graham did a bit of everything to help in its development in those early days. ‘In ‘68, we weren’t a member of any league.We persuaded local schools to send their athletes along. I was a coach, I ran mass conditioning sessions in the winter, I ran in the league, I was social secretary and team manager, basically a dogsbody role for about ten years.’
Graham believes this kind of experience is essential for any coach. ‘I can’t see how people involved in coaching can avoid this situation. Those who want to go straight into coaching at an elite level miss crucial developmental stages of athletes, both physically and in their life in general. I was a teacher for 30 years at secondary level, but I felt I needed experience of all levels of education – primary, secondary, tertiary and special needs.’
This is one of many links that Graham makes between his careers in teaching and coaching, which he sums up simply in a single phrase: ‘A coach is a teacher.’ Graham has known many teachers who were also coaches, bearing his point out.When talking about his early inspirations in sport, he also mentions a teacher. ‘John Dickson was the teacher who taught me athletics and ancient history and he was a real inspiration. He knew nothing about coaching, but encouraged me to join a club, and sent me on performance courses. In coaching, many people have helped and inspired me. Alex Montgomery was the club secretary at Newcastle Staffs, and I still use methods I learned from him today.The BAAB National Coach for the Midlands, Bill Marlow, pushed me onto the British scene. Harry Wilson – who was Steve Ovett’s endurance coach – taught me a lot. I hate to be stereotyped as a hurdles coach. I don’t think coaches should be put in a box like that.’
Nowadays, Graham has respect for everybody in coaching who gives their time freely to try to help others to achieve their potential, and believes that they deserve more respect, in fact, than they are given at the moment. Despite all his years of experience in coaching, his hunger for knowledge of the subject remains as strong as ever. ‘If you think you can’t learn any more as a coach, you should retire. If I ever feel like I can stop learning, reading books on coaching, attending courses and doing Internet searches for information, I will retire. Coaching is a continuous process. It requires an open-minded approach. It’s a continuing quest for knowledge.’ This continuing quest has helped to bring many of Graham’s athletes great success. However, he doesn’t single out a particular achievement as being his most rewarding experience in coaching.
‘It’s the people I’ve met. It’s athletes who get 100% out of their potential. What’s most rewarding is the development of athletes I’ve helped whose life has not stopped when they’ve hung up their spikes.The training has also helped in their life outside athletics. Even if they don’t reach the highest level, I hope they will have learned a work ethic and time-management skills that will be useful to them in life.’
What might be termed a holistic approach also informs Graham’s view of athletes’ development throughout their life. He believes that all coaches who contribute to this development should be acknowledged, not just the one working with the athlete when he or she reaches the elite level.
‘If you ask coaches if they would like to coach an athlete to win a gold medal, they’ll all say yes. I’d like to change the question. I’d ask,“Would you like to help in the development of an athlete who can win a gold medal?” We still tend to put the different stages in boxes. I’d like the whole continuum to be labelled performance development. If all coaches and athletes signed up to the idea of a continuum of performance development, it would be a very, very positive step forward.
For someone who has coached athletes who have won medals, Graham’s proudest moment is perhaps a surprising one. It involved a school under-15 rugby team he was coaching back in 1972 at Wolstanton GS in North Staffs.‘They worked together as a team to achieve a result that a lot of people thought was impossible.Their approach gave me belief in my methods.The group worked together to achieve a single goal. My work with athletes who’ve won gold medals stems from that fundamental event which gave me a lot of self-belief and confidence.’
Graham has a lot of memories from his years of coaching, but this springboard with the rugby team is still the most significant for him. He also remembers the failures, as well as the successes.‘There are 101 reasons for failures in events – an athlete hits a hurdle, a baton doesn’t get round in a relay, someone is taken ill just before an event – and they all stay in the mind.’
That may be part of the reason why the most important thing Graham has learned in coaching is to always to expect the unexpected.‘You have to put in the planning, but however many bases you have covered, something you have not planned for will come up.You have to think on your feet. So make plans, but always expect the unexpected.’
Graham is a strong family man, and believes that he couldn’t have given as much as he has to coaching without the support of his wife and two daughters.‘We tend to take it for granted that coaches can just go down the track. Coaching is crazy, it’s one of the most time-consuming passions there is, and coaches need a lot of support.They have to contribute to their relationship as well, it can’t just be a one-way street, but the value of it is incalculable.’
Graham’s retirement present to himself was a cherry-red Gibson 335 semi-acoustic guitar and he collects rock’n’roll 45s for the family jukebox. He also still has a strong passion for the Greeks and Romans, and travels as often as possible to the Classical world. However, he still aspires to achieve great things with his coaching group.
‘Any coach’s ambition is to train an athlete who breaks the world record in winning gold in an Olympic final. That is the Mount Olympus for coaches. I still aspire to do that and I want to do everything I can to help athletes to get to Beijing and perform well in London.’