Since graduating from The Coaching Academy, Mental Performance and Lifestyle Coach Midgie Thompson has created a very successful niche for herself coaching athletes to become world-class.
A ‘serious recreational athlete’ herself, Midgie began marathon running as a veteran (that is, over the age of 35!) and now participates in Olympic-distance triathlons. She has coached individuals who wanted to take part in marathons and triathlons for some time but for the past two years, Midgie has been the official Mental Performance and Lifestyle Coach for the Herbalife Triathlon Academy. Her work has attracted media interest and has been covered on the BBC website, and in The Guardian, The Independent and the Evening Standard newspapers as well as in magazines.
She provides mental skills coaching to individuals and teams to help them achieve peak performance in their sport while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. She also coaches business executives and individuals in peak performance.
So, how did she become the official coach for the Herbalife Triathlon Academy? ‘Very simply, I asked! I came across some information last year that Herbalife was sponsoring athletes for the London Triathlon. The editor of 220, a triathlon magazine, was involved in the selection of the Academy athletes and as I had previously written articles for the magazine, I asked the Editor to put me in touch with the Director of the London Triathlon.
‘I just approached the Director and offered my services. I said, “Hey, this is what I do. Would you be interested in offering it to your athletes?” That’s how it began … simply by asking! I’ve also worked with the Herbalife Triathlon Team, the Nike Running Team and the ASICS Running fitness Team. I’ve spent a couple of years working with marathon and triathlon athletes and now I have something to show other companies.
‘The first year with Herbalife, I didn’t get paid and this year they had a budget. They were somewhat reserved and sceptical in the beginning because I wasn’t a sports psychologist so they wondered what difference I could make. The athletes last year highly rated my services and said that it made such a difference to their performances and to their personal lives, Herbalife offered me a contract for this year’s team. As a result of my involvement with them and the London Triathlon organisation, I’m getting more and more exposure and that gives me more credibility. People are getting to know my name and are coming to me to help them achieve their sporting and personal goals!’
The Herbalife Triathlon Academy was launched in 2006 by Herbalife and London Triathlon Ltd. to provide four people annually with the opportunity to realise their triathlon ambitions. The people who are selected are almost newcomers to the world of triathlons – to qualify, they must have competed in the London Triathlon the previous year as first-timers. Each athlete is offered mental performance coaching, Olympic-standard athletic training, kit and nutritional advice. This weekend, the 2007 Academy athletes took part in the world’s largest triathlon event, the London Triathlon, along with over 9,000 athletes.
The Academy athletes have already qualified to take part in the World Triathlon Championships in Hamburg, Germany at the end of the month. This will be the second year that the Herbalife Triathlon Academy team has qualified for the world championships. ‘Last year, I went with them to the world championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, to provide support and last-minute confidence boosting strategies,’ says Midgie. ‘It was similar to some of the athletes I worked with for the London Marathon: I saw them the day before the race – I met up with them and worked with them doing some last minute reminders of what their goals were, why they were doing the marathon, dealing with some pre-race nerves and how to calm those nerves.’
This weekend, she provided the same last-minute confidence boosting and coaching services to the team as they prepared to take part in the Michelob ULTRA London Triathlon.
‘I always encourage my clients to develop the skills themselves rather than being dependent on me. However, seeing me just before a big race gives them an extra bit of hand-holding just to get them in the mindset. It’s really dealing with nerves and getting them to be calm. It really is the last-minute stuff – calmness, focus, and mental rehearsal of the race.’
The athletes have been receiving two telephone coaching sessions a month for the past seven months and so has a team of journalists who are also part of the Herbalife Triathlon Academy. ‘I’ve been working with five of the seven journalists,’ says Midgie. ‘They have been supported in the same way as the four athletes have been. Additionally, there were occasions when I met face-to-face with some of the athletes – such as helping getting over their phobia of open water swimming!’
Typically, her coaching begins with the individual athlete’s goals, she says. ‘I talk about their goals and what they want to achieve and also help them to look at the big picture of their life. Where does their sporting goal fit in with everything else in their life? I then help them develop lifestyle strategies that enable them to do what they want to do. Once the foundations are in place, we look at the mental preparations element and develop specific skills that help them to prepare and perform.’
‘I start all of them off with goals, motivation, values and beliefs – they are the cornerstones of most any coaching regardless of the arena you are coaching in. With some of the clients, we focus more on lifestyle issues: dealing with fitting their training into their work, juggling all the demands on their time then we move onto the mental strategies of confidence, of focus, and of concentration. It depends on the needs of the individual but in the end we cover all the bases.’
After the World Triathlon Championships, Midgie will conduct a final session with each of the athletes. ‘Just to close the loop. It’s so they review, reflect and highlight all the skills and strategies they’ve learnt through the coaching process and drawing parallels between what they’ve learnt and how they can use them in the rest of their lives.’
If you saw the London Triathlon (or London Marathon) and vowed you’d be there at next year’s starting line, Midgie’s advice is to begin your preparations NOW! ‘It’s a good time to start developing the mental skills (as well as the physical skills) so that you can begin practising them and putting them into place before the event. You need to time to strengthen that mental muscle before you can use it with confidence. It means when you come into the training season, you have the foundation and structure to work with.’
For further information
Please contact Midgie Thompson, Mental Performance and Lifestyle Coach at Bright Futures Coaching. Tel: +44 (0)1273 906 216 or +44 (0)7899 806 893 or visit the website at www.brightfuturescoaching.com. |
