I found it easy to organize practices and work with the athletes. I had spent years at the elite level basically being an apprentice under my coaches. They always encouraged us to correct each other and to solve problems as a team. As I coached the collegiate team, I found a lot of satisfactions in helping my athletes correct big mistakes with solutions I had figured out while in the sport. I would even get in the water to show them how to do certain skills or choreography. Since the student-athletes were quite smart and mature, my first coaching experience was more like teammates collaborating and I felt so purposeful to be able to pass along the knowledge I had acquired from my coaches, Gail Emery and Chris Carver.
 I began to find my own way and my own style. I started experimenting with coaching techniques that built upon skills and drills that I had learned and I did some things differently than my coaches would have done. I wasn’t ever afraid to throw conventional ideas out the window and I asked the athletes to be part of the problem solving process. I gave a lot of concise information while being empathetic to the difficulties of being an elite athlete.
I had great results but I didn’t receive a lot of recognition (Stanford won their first two collegiate national titles while I was there). I soon learned that a coach doesn’t receive many accolades. I came to the understanding that many coaches, who were elite athletes, will recognize success when our athletes have increased confidence, measurable progress and do what we have taught them to do. I learned that coaches need each other for support and inspiration as well.
One part of coaching that I didn’t expect was the work load from the administrative duties, especially in collegiate athletics. There are a lot of rules to remember, particularly when it comes to recruiting. I had to learn to develop an administrative mindset to get my job done and then put on my coaching hat when I walked on deck. I didn’t think coaching was so easy anymore.
Coaching started to take a toll on me. I was up at 4AM and home after 8PM many nights. The pay was, well, the typical coaching salary and trying to raise a young baby was proving to tear me apart. On one hand, I was very invested in the success of the athletes and I cared about them in the same way that I cared about my Olympic teammates. On the other hand, I was a wife and mother. So, how would I resolve this conflict of wanting to evoke significant change and inspiration in the next generation yet seeing that I was putting myself and my family on the back burner? I trusted my intuition to take a break and another opportunity opened up.
Even though, in 2000, I left a great situation with a very supportive athletic department at Stanford University, I was offered the opportunity to coach Olympic hopefuls, Sonja & Bianca van der Velden from the Netherlands. They moved to the U.S. to train, they were dedicated athletes who wanted to achieve their dream of becoming Olympic athletes. Since I had Olympic experience, I knew what it would take to get them to that level. They really trusted me and I felt blessed to be able to travel on the European competitive circuit with them. It gave me a valuable perspective on how the rest of the world trains and competes as well as the view of the U.S., which was surprisingly positive.
Going to the Olympic Games again, this time as a coach, was the same but different. I felt the same pride and honor to be a part of the Olympic movement as I did in 1996 but I didn’t really have the same kind of pressure of performing in the water. At times, I would have rather been the one diving into the pool to compete because standing on the side of the pool, while my athletes swam, was more excruciating than any amount of lactic acid I had ever had running through my body when I was an athlete. Talk about not having control and having to let go!
But, what an experience to take them through the whole training, qualifying and living a life’s dream process. By the end of my three years with Sonja and Bianca, they had become the U.S. National Champions in duet and had placed 13th at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. They received a lot of praise from the international community and I learned that I could be an effective Olympic level coach.
After the Olympic Games, I wanted to spend more time with my son, so I started coaching age group, which kept me on one continent for a while. I could attend some of my son’s soccer games and swim meets. I love coaching age groupers because they have so much enthusiasm for the sport, they improve in leaps and bounds and they love you in five minutes. Being a parent helped me empathize with the parents, which is key in age group coaching. Despite the fact that I had had a few parents who would get pretty upset sometimes, I learned a lot of self restraint and empathy.
Through my three year experience in the age group realm, my biggest lessons were to work as a team, with the parents, to help the athletes perform optimally and to have confidence in myself. My standards of excellence didn’t change but my focus changed from producing Olympians to molding my swimmers into well rounded athletes and citizens. My philosophy was to coach with love and to remember to have fun. The swimmers surprised me in their first season by placing in the top three in all events at US Age Group Nationals as well as winning two events. I guess it worked.
I believe that my experience as a coach has come full circle to understanding that I have pearls of wisdom to pass on and the real desire and ability to develop skilled, passionate team players. My hope is that all of the athletes that I’ve coached will contribute to our sport. Looking back, I know I was meant to coach. Even though I had retired from competition, I had so much to give back to my sport.
I hope that all elite athletes are welcomed back and encouraged to come onto the pool deck, the track or whatever venue they may have called home for so many years. There is a strong pull to be excellent at sport. If that pull is still there, after an Olympic athlete retires, that is when the athlete is ready to be a coach. Whether or not we want to coach all of our lives or aspire to other careers the skills learned from coaching and our athletic careers prepares us to achieve other dream goals in life. The dreams we inspire may be the ones we desire.
Nathalie Bartleson is currently in the Management Development Program with the USOC. This program selects two Olympic athletes each year to experience, gain knowledge and work in the administrative side of Olympic sports. |