Judo Olympian and celebrated coach Jimmy Pedro has proven his skills once again this summer with the success of Travis Stevens and Kayla Harrison in the Rio Olympic games.
Pedro had a specific vision in sight and focused plenty of newaza which ended up playing a crucial role in most of Kayla and Travis’ victories.
Still he’s quite adamant about some things when it comes to a working relationship. A lot of the time an athlete will become a coach after he retires so he may fall into a trap of being friends with the athlete he coaches. In Pedro’s opinion this is detrimental.
“(Coaches) need to make a clear separation, coach and athlete. And it’s nice to get out on the mat and help them warm up and help to do stuff but you need to command respect. You need to differentiate yourself and not you know go out with them after every practice and not hang around them all the time but let them understand. Set the tone that you’re the coach, they are the athlete and they have their time together you have your own space with the staff.
And with that they also need to understand that they’re in charge and they need, that you know help the athlete, gain the trust of the athlete, work with the athlete to be a good coach. And I think some coaches fail in that area of commanding respect and making that separation. “
