When a human is moving in a certain direction in life, it takes a specific amount of momentum to change direction. That may sound deep and cryptic, so let’s simplify it – until something significant (read catastrophic) happens, humans would prefer to conclude they are heading in the right direction.

Now, to relate that to sports and physical training, and competition.

How does an athlete know if their training is on track to achieve their goals? The scoreboard.

How does an individual training in what we call the general population space know if their training is on track? If it’s achieving their goals.

Before you conclude that the questions are asked and answered, allow me to dig deeper on this discussion.

In relation to the athlete, if you assume the primary driver is the scoreboard, then the feedback about the direction may be enough to redirect the training effort. However, that is a flawed assumption, for reasons I share below.

And when it comes to the general population, assumptions about their goals can also be misleading.

Case studies

Over the last five decades, I have been involved in numerous case studies of individuals, athletes, teams, sports coaches, and physical coaches. Here are a few of them.

The athlete said to me, “I have been on the World Cup circuit for 7 years now and never stood on the podium. If I don’t do that this year, I am going to quit racing.”

Hearing that clarity in metrics was music to my ears. We were on the podium in the first World Cup race of that next season.

Easy.

The athlete came to me as the two-time reigning gold medalist in their event. They knew their current trajectory was going to result in missing out on being selected for the next Olympics. They were taking action. We went to the next Olympics and got on the podium again.

That’s a relief because the stakes were so high.

The athlete came to me after making their decision to go to their third Olympics. They were so far off the pace that they would not even qualify. They had improved their Olympic result from Games one to Games two and wanted more. We went to the third Games and achieved the best results in not only their history, but their country’s history.

Tick.

The leadership group came to me and said, “We failed to make the playoffs last year and do not want to go there again. Can you help us?”

They were in the Grand finale the next year, and were back-to-back Champions two years later

Done.

The athlete came to me because an athlete I worked with suggested it. They were the reigning Gold Medalists and the first person from their country to hold that title in a country rich in that sport. They were struggling and even though the next Games were some years away, they may have been sensing the training direction was off track. I shared my thoughts, and they didn’t take them up.

The athlete never returned to the Olympics.

The athlete came to me because an athlete I had worked with suggested it. They had been selected to represent their country in their first Olympics the year before, but had been seriously injured in the lead up to the Games and were not able to go. I shared my thoughts, and they didn’t take them up.

A similar injury that prevented them from attending the prior Olympics has since occurred and we will have to wait and see what the future holds at the Olympic level.

The athlete came to me to qualify for their third Olympic Games after a long life happens layoff. Due to age and life odds were against them, and they recognized it. Not only did we qualify for the next Olympics, but the athlete set national records in the lead-up up to the Games, and the Games result was very encouraging.

After that Games, the athlete changed direction, failed to qualify for the next Games, and never returned to the Olympics.

The young would-be physical preparation coach asked me the question: “What’s missing? I can’t seem to attract athlete clients or teams?” I shared two key points – you have to pay your dues first, and in the meantime, gave them a strategy to put food on the table through general population clients.

They took action on the second part and rejected the first part, saying, “You think I’m being impatient. I believe I’m just driven.”

History shows they have general population clients; however, they have never achieved their once-written goal of working with elite athletes and teams. Or many athletes at all.

It was not the only time that I have seen instant gratification over-ride decision making in young want-to-be-significant-yesterday physical coaches, despite the obvious gap between their experience, competencies, and value in the marketplace, and who they believe they ‘deserve’ to be working with.

The two key variables – Care and what’s missing

I have come to conclude that there are two key variables in the path to sporting success. Caring enough to change direction and knowing what direction to pivot to.

Care is not as simple as it sounds. I could say an athlete who fails to successfully pivot and achieve at the level or fails to redirect to return to the highest level, doesn’t care. But that is potentially inaccurate. It’s more than ‘do they care’ – it’s what do they care about?

The initial assumption is often that they all care about the scoreboard and being the best that they can be at all stages of their career. I have learnt this is not so.

In the 1980s, I felt many of Australia’s Olympic athletes were just over the moon to get to the Olympics. Medaling was not high on their priority list, based on my observations. Alternatively, there was no individual or collective expectation that could or would occur.

And that observation is not restricted to the 1980s. I have and still this this in some athletes today.

Other factors that may be the self-selected dominant key performance indicators for elite athletes over and above the scoreboard may include:
• Pleasing their coach
• Gaining approval from stakeholders
• Getting noticed and getting attention’
• Looking good (e.g. what I call the ‘closet bodybuilder’)[1]

In my observations of the general population, factors that may be the self-selected dominant key performance indicators for the general population over and above their expressed goals may include:
• Just having the motivation to be consistent in training
• Feeling good about their training
• Feeling good about the short-term visual impact of their training

In summary, when I say whether an athlete cares, what I mean is whether the scoreboard is their dominant KPI. I am not judging them when it is not, however, I am going to call it ‘they don’t care’ (NB. About the scoreboard being the #1 KPI!)

Now let’s talk about what’s missing.

I don’t expect an athlete to know the answer to the question of what’s missing. Or more accurately, I appreciate their need for third-party guidance in seeking the answer to the question. I just hope the guidance they are given is optimal.

If I were to create general categories of athletes about the variables of care and what’s missing, this is what I would say:

Let’s dive deeper into my experiences with each category.

Category 1 – Don’t care, don’t know

These athletes don’t care about their performance limitations or declines at the highest level because, in my opinion, that is not their KPI. As they don’t see a problem, they do not buy into the thought that something is missing.

There is no shortage of individuals who will put their hand up to train these athletes, as they have more than enough credibility to post on their social media accounts.[2]

They don’t need my help to underperform. They do just fine all by themselves.

Category 2 – Care, don’t know

These athletes care about their performance limitations or declines at the highest level because the scoreboard is their KPI. They care less about what they look like; in fact, ideally, they don’t care at all, provided what they look like is shaped by the optimal nature of their training.

They may have some idea or no idea what is missing – that is far less important than their willingness to seek answers.

There is nothing more impressive than the nation or world’s best athlete having the humility and the courage to acknowledge training is off track and seek guidance. I just hope the guidance they get more than rewards them for their willingness to seek guidance.

These are my kind of athletes.

Category 3 – Care, know

These athletes care about their performance limitations or declines at the highest level because the scoreboard is their KPI. However, they have the answers to what’s missing, or believe they do. Are they on track?

If the proposed answer is:
• From the same pool of thinking that created the performance decrement[3], or
• From a third party with a poor track record; [4] or
• From a third party with limited to no track record, let alone a track record of success.[5]

Then I have less optimism for a successful outcome.

Category 4 – Don’t care, know

These athletes don’t care about their performance limitations or declines at the highest level because, in my opinion, that is not their KPI. They know there is a problem, and any idea of what’s missing, they have had the potential to reverse the rot. But they don’t care as their KPI is to be able to remain a professional athlete for as long as possible, to keep getting the rewards of such – media, social recognition, and income.

Most coaches and trainers would give a body part to be seen as associated. I prefer to be the pig (committed to winning), not the chicken (associated with someone who was once a winner).[6]

Window of opportunity

I am going to contrast the window of opportunity to pivot and change direction in training between the athlete and general population.[7]

I sense that the general population may be happier to pivot or change later or slower. They have a lot of time on their hands, considering the rough life span estimate of 80 years.

Athletes, on the other hand, at the elite end, do not have that luxury. If an athlete makes a decade at the top level, they have done well, and two decades is excellent. I see more and more athletes blowing their chance because they failed to pivot or failed to do it in a timely manner. But then again, I am using the word ‘fail’ relative to the KPI of the scoreboard. If we recognise other more dominant goals, they didn’t fail at all.

Yes, as rewards grow in sports, athletes are hanging in there longer. However, the window issue still remains.

Conclusion

As an athlete or end user in the general population, I trust you have found value in the simple message, based on five decades of experience and built on the simplicity of two key variables – do you care, and do you know the answer to what’s missing?

Yes, care needs to be matched to true drivers and not judged as a failure or a success.

Other synonym includes information and action. There was a time pre-internet when an individual may have been willing to take action but could not find the information. Such as how could anyone around the world back in the 1960s and 1970s get their hands on the magazine articles written by the great former Mr Universe bodybuilder and actor Reg Park or how could one get their hands on West German training literature before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989? Or their hands on training literature from the former Soviet Union before the same year?

However, the question is now less about whether you can get the information.

The challenge is now, which information? You have so much offered up, especially on the internet, by so many, that the risk is who or what you choose to guide you, not the absence of information. It’s great to have freedom of expression and vehicles for such expression; however, if the criteria for expert status are a keyboard, an internet connection and the desire to be significant even in the absence of competence, it creates a challenge for the consumer.

I commend you if you care that something may be missing in your training. I am even more hopeful for you if you are seeking answers and solutions because you realise you may not have all the answers to what may be missing or off-track in your training.

I just hope the guidance you are given is optimal.

Footnotes

[1] This is a term I coined some decades ago to describe any athlete who is more concerned with how they look than how they perform in their sport. These athletes never fulfil their potential.

[2] Case in point–an athlete failed to make a certain Games due to injury and yet post the Games was marketed by a coach on the basis of their qualification, without any reference to the failure to fulfil their potential due to injury. The athlete did not return to their chosen sport, pivoting sports instead, and was ruled out of that second-choice sport with more injuries just a year or so later.

[3] Case in point–I helped an athlete prepare for their first Games, and despite the success of those Games(the color of the medal was favorable) I expressed my concerns for the future. The athlete was successful in returning many times to the Games and podiumed more than once subsequently. However, in my opinion, they underperformed on what was possible. The answer to what was missing was, history shows, off-track. Was it because the solution had been potentially sourced from within the same thought pool that created the problem in the first place? Or was it that the solutions obtained from outside of the stakeholders were off track?

[4] Case in point–a professional team were the reigning champions when they sought to do one better and set records as well as win the championship. They hired a coach who, in my opinion, had a track record of helping top-of-the-table teams decline down the ladder. The team didn’t have my intimacy with performance tracking on that individual and moved forward. I called a collapse before the end of the season, and that came within the last few games. The coach was cut after one season, but the damage was done.

[5] Case in point–A multiple-time Olympian and reigning national record holder moved to a coach with no prior experience in that sport at that level. They got what you would expect–no further involvement at the Olympic level.

[6] Case in point–A service provider promotes a meetup with a once high-profile ‘client’ athlete who, unbeknownst to the uniformed, had over the years slid to a ranking worse than 1,000. And a few weeks later, the athlete entered a top-level competition only to withdraw early due to injury. The athlete was squeezing the last out of a successful and profitable career, and at least they have earned that…

[7] My experience with the latter is limited, so anyone who wants to throw a rock at that, I will have to accept that. However, when it comes to my personal conclusions and observations about elite athletes, it is not so easy to dismiss.

© Ian King 2025. All rights reserved.