Minichiello Emphasises Long-term Planning

Jessica Ennis’ coach Toni Minichiello says taking a long-term view is important in developing a prodigy into a medal winner.

Minichiello also believes in a ‘no boundaries’ approach, whereby a talented athlete is able to try more than one discipline or sport.

Talking about his belief in long-term or ‘destination’ planning Minichiello referred to the idea that it takes 10 years and 10,000 hours of training for an athlete to reach the top of their sport. He said this had been the case with Jessica Ennis and Nicola Minichiello, commenting: ‘It wasn’t until I was asked how long it took Nicola and Jessica to rise to truly World class that it struck me, the 10-year idea applied to both of them.’

Discussing his ‘no boundaries’ belief he said that coaching is organic and although an athlete may come to him to be coached in a certain sport, the opportunity must be there for them to experience different, or to change, sports. He said: ‘Jessica came to me with her heart set on being a sprinter, but by convincing her to try a number of events it revealed her talent for high jump and sprint hurdles, events where she is now a British record holder.’

Minichiello has also given an insight into his communication methods. He looks to compartmentalise information for his athlete’s into ‘bite-size chunks’. He also feels that you have to judge the character and mood of your athlete and whether they want to be instructed, advised or asked open questions.

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For more information please contact sports coach UK Communications Officer Chris Pearce: Tel 01132043526; Mob 07974015710; e-mail cpearce@sportscoachuk.org

Notes to Editor 

sports coach UK is the central agency for coaching. The vision of the organisation is UK coaching excellence enabling all children, players and athletes to follow their dreams, have fun and fulfil their potential. To realise this vision sports coach UK supports UK partners to recruit, develop and retain coaches to achieve partners’ participation and performance goals (in the context of the UK Coaching Framework). 

Toni Minichiello was speaking at the 2010 UK Coaching Summit that took place in Cardiff on 29-30 June 2010The 2010 UK Coaching Summit was co-hosted by sports coach UK and Sport Wales.

The Summit is an annual event that provides key stakeholders with the opportunity to review progress in coaching and coach development over the past 12 months, share best practice, reaffirm objectives and commitments, and to network with colleagues from other organisations.