LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT

MANY PEOPLE WHO attended last December’s Science and Triathlon Conference in Edmonton (Tri Scene, p.68) were there because they wanted to hear Ross Tucker speak. Tucker works for the International Rugby Federation and has become a world-renowned expert on talent identification. It was, in part, that incisive talk that inspired Greg Kealey to approach me about this month’s training feature on athlete development. It’s funny how themes seem to follow themselves. As we were getting this issue to press, I drove our design team crazy (a regular occurrence here at Triathlon Magazine Canada) by rewriting our back page podium at the last minute. I was inspired to do that after a coaching talk at the Triathlon Business International Conference in Tempe, Ariz., where I found myself asking some critical questions of Arizona State University (ASU) coach Cliff English. “How can you look at long-term development for your athletes when your job is dependent on results, not how your athletes do later in their careers?” I asked. As you’ll read in our back-page Podium, Rocky Harris, the man who hired English as the coach of the ASU program, was quick to blow that theory out of the water. He hired English because he was one of the only coaches who didn’t talk about winning national championships. He talked about helping young athletes develop to their full