College
2017 USA Track and Field Coach/Educator of the Year
“For every coach who spends all their time investing in others, but feels like no one has time to invest in them, Martin Rooney hears you, and Coach to Coach is lesson number one.”
Nick Winkelman, PhD
Head of Athletic Performance and Science for Irish Rugby Football Union
“Coach to Coach was my reminder of why I wanted to coach. Every athlete will leave sports someday and need skills for real life. This book inspires coaches to be positive role models and do our job to instill these skills. Read this book and you will help more people succeed.”
Shauna Rohbock
Olympic silver medalist in bobsled
Assistant coach, U.S. National Bobsled Team
President's Council on Sports, Fitness, & Nutrition
MARTIN ROONEY
AUTHOR OF TRAINING FOR WARRIORS
COACH to COACH
AN EMPOWERING STORY ABOUT HOW TO BE A GREAT LEADER
Copyright © 2020 by Martin Rooney. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: Rooney, Martin, 1971- author.
Title: Coach to coach : an empowering story about how to be a great leader / Martin Rooney, Author of Training For Warriors.
Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2020]
Identifiers: LCCN 2019047743 (print) | LCCN 2019047744 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119662198 (hardback) | ISBN 9781119662211 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119662204 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Coaching (Athletics)
Classification: LCC GV711 .R66 2020 (print) | LCC GV711 (ebook) | DDC 796.07/7—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019047743
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019047744
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Images: Whistles: © LuisPortugal/Getty Images, © _laurent/Getty Images
To my old coach Bill Scarola, who taught me you must first be on fire before you can make someone else burn.
“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
∼∼∼∼∼
“If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Foreword
In this book, Martin Rooney is going to try to convince you that coaches have the most important job in the world. And although this sounds like a bold statement, I believe it to be true.
But I'm going to take that idea one step further.
If I were to ask you, “Who is the most important coach in the world?” you might name world leaders, powerful heads of business, or top coaches of sport organizations. You might mention an influential coach you've had in your own life, such as a special teacher or mentor, who has been the greatest help to you.
While I agree all of those people are incredibly important, I have a more personal answer. Now that I've transitioned from being a professional athlete to a coach, I realize the most important coach in the world is the person who coaches our children. And that realization is why I stand so strongly behind the message and mission of this book.
I have known and trained alongside Martin Rooney for 20 years. In many fitness and training circles, he is known as “the man” because of his technical knowledge. But that knowledge was only part of the reason I entrusted him to coach my kids. The other part was because he was able to get them to apply that knowledge through his ability to connect as a coach. During those years he spent coaching my boys, I witnessed the same strategies that Martin features in his book and I know they work.
If
