What Does A Good Coach Really Do?

One of the most common misconceptions I see when talking to grassroots racers is their understanding of what professional coaches really do.  I often hear, “I’m not quite ready for a coach.  I know where I need to go faster, I just need to actually do it”

Does that sound familiar?  If so, I highly recommend you stay tuned here because the truth of the matter is my job as a coach isn’t about identifying the areas you can go faster.  Sure, of course I do that, but that’s the easier part.

My job as a coach is more about knowing which areas to work on first and giving a driver an exact plan on how to actually make the changes we need to see. 

When I ask drivers about where they think they need to improve and how they plan on doing it I often hear things like:

• I just need to brake deeper
• I need to pick up the throttle earlier
• I have to roll in more entry speed
• My eyes are too low

While these things all sound great, I’ve yet to hear a driver know what the underlying issue is that is causing their issue and have a succinct and actionable plan for making the changes they want to see in their driving.

The difference between drivers that make consistent improvements every race or track day weekend vs. the driver that has been plateaued for years comes down to their plan.

My job as a coach is to help a driver have a clear plan every time they are on track.  We list the areas that are opportunities of lap time gain and then I order them based on what needs to be fixed first.  I use the fundamentals of our sport to identify which area has to be fixed first, you can read more about what the fundamentals of racing cars is here.

Once we have our order, I give the driver an actionable plan on how to make changes we want to see.  What I’m really doing here is giving a driers systems built into their driving which creates proper feedback loops for them.   It’s the feedback loops and systems that help drivers make the change and find lap time gains.

These action plans focus on one or a maximum of two things for any session.  This directs their focus to the right things and simplifies our sport. 

Blayze coaches go beyond the “what” and gives a driver the “why” and then “how” behind any change.  We give drivers a process for improvement.  Those processes are mirrored after how the best in the world dealt with the same issues.

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