Episode 1081 The Unique Edge: Coaching with Sensory Mastery

Hi everyone, away we go. This is episode 1081 of Blind Magic in Alice Springs. I am your presenter and host Murray Stewart. And you know, if you've seen my profile, that I am the world's only totally blind track running coach. I say that because I'm proud of it. I'm very, very proud of it.

So what do I think I can lend to athletes that other coaches find difficult? Well, what I lend is based on the fact that I have been totally blind all my life. Other qualities that I have are that I have studied applied science as a myotherapist. And I've also been an athlete. Yes, I have been out there running hard, trying to win running races. And with all of this, I have always had to use my other senses in order to be good at everything I do.

As an athlete, not only was I out there running my own race, I was listening to the footfall of the other athletes. I was. I was listening to them as they came closer and closer or as I was able to break away from them. And with their footfall, I was able then to establish establish what their gait was like. That's right. Were they running confidently or was their style falling away because they were getting tired? I was also able to establish that by listening to their breathing. Yes, the rhythm of their breathing. Were they panting or did they have control of their breathing. And once again, that gave me all of the information I needed to either continue putting the pressure on by upping the pace or to relax and enjoy what was happening.

Yeah, so being able to listen to someone's footfall and being able to listen to someone's breathing breathing is very important when it comes to coaching. And that is a quality that I absolutely bring to the table as a totally blind person because listening is what we do to survive. The other thing I bring to the table is my touch skills. That's right, not only as a myotherapist, but also as a blind person who needs to employ tactile skills every day of my life. And this being the case, I can employ those skills to ensure that an athlete's body is in very, very good shape, their muscles, their hard tissue.

And it's not just about their biomechanical integrity. It's also about their emotional integrity, because tension in the muscles tells me that they are getting, you know, stress episodes occurring, emotional stress episodes. Perhaps the nervous energy is building. So there's a lot you can gauge through having good sensory awareness, both of hearing and of touch.

Yeah, combine all of these things together, whether experience as an athlete, experience as a myotherapist, experience as someone who has lived with a vision impairment all my life, I think I'm in an excellent position to be a good coach. And belatedly, in the last couple of years since my strokes, I think I've added a new dimension to my coaching. Yes, the fact that my brain has had to utilize neuropathways, I've developed techniques to strengthen those neuropathways, to find brand new neuropathways in what I am calling my second life. Once again, I have developed brand new skills that I can now lend my athletes.

So yes, I may be blind and I may be brain injured, but wow, can I lend my athletes some unique skills that belong to me that now can belong to my athletes. I treasure that. I truly do.

All right, folks. I hope you've also treasured this episode. This has been episode 1,081, a Blind Magic Communications production.