Wade Gilbert on Coaching Coaches

Dr. Wade Gilbert joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Dr. Wade Gilbert is an internationally renowned coaching consultant and sports scientist, as well an award-winning professor of kinesiology at Fresno State University. He has a great book called Coaching Better Every Season, and he will talk about how that book is constantly evolving in this podcast. Dr. Wade has taught at the University of Ottawa, UCLA, and Fresno State. He has contributed to over 100 publications, serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Sport Coaching Journal, and was the lead author of USOC Quality Coaching Framework. He is a growth minded individual that is always trying to learn and grow. He is at the forefront of coaching coaches, and tries to help them see better, and solve complex problems. In this episode, they discuss what led to him being a coach of coaches (5:50), when he became passionate about working with coaches (9:10), the differences in working with athletes vs. coaches (10:50), whether he focuses more on mentoring vs. coaching his clients (13:40), how he works with perfectionism (15:50), how he’s seen the best coaches shift from preparation to performance (19:20), if he’s ever been around coaches that lack discipline (22:05), what he does to make sure he’s still working on himself (25:20), how he gives himself space to be (27:50), how he thinks about coaching as an art vs. a science (32:10), how he thinks about creating as little unknown while still embracing the unknown (34:30), what he does to help coaches who don’t enjoy games (37:50), what he intentionally does for performing (39:00), the books that have resonated with him over the years (43:20), what coaching with heart is about (45:20), how he taps into the body when working with coaches (47:20), what’s different about working with a CEO of a company vs. a Head Coach (51:20), what he loves doing (53:30), how he helps people who are doing difficult things (55:40), what drives him (59:10), the mechanics of how his job works (1:02:05), how the world of coaching coaches is evolving (1:07:00), and why there isn’t a process for coaches to become certified (1:10:50) Thank you to Wade for coming on the podcast. We encourage you to check out Wade’s book and his newest work at https://us.humankinetics.com/products/coaching-better-every-season, and you can also find Wade on twitter @WadeWgilbert. Wade’s faculty web page can also be found here. Lastly, if you liked this episode and/or any others, please support us at Patreon or follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening. -Brian