Top compound Schloesser presents at World Coaching Conference

The world’s number one ranked compound man was among the experts to speak at this weekend’s World Coaching Conference in Lausanne.

Mike Schloesser joined a panel that also included the head coaches of the Turkish and German national teams, Goktug Ergin and Oliver Haidn, compound and statistics expert Marcel van Apeldoorn and Sally Park, who took Malawi and Bhutan to the last two Olympics.

Schloesser and van Apeldoorn are both on the Dutch team.

“The most interesting part was Marcel and Mike’s presentations because Marcel spoke about the coaching approach, while one of the most decorated athletes of all time explained the athlete’s expectation,” said Ergin, whose own session focused on training drills.

“It is valuable to see that archer and coach are almost aligned but there’s still room to improve communication. It was really good to get feedback from the athletes’ side.”

Other subjects covered included strength training, diagnostic tools and evidence-based training, and coaching philosophies.

Park, who is currently a resident coach at the World Archery Excellence Centre, spoke about her work in developing countries, lending new perspective to the facilities and methods required to train international athletes.

Some 30 elite coaches representing 18 countries attended the three-day event at the World Archery Excellence Centre in Lausanne.

The previous elite coaching conference was held in 2018.

“This is the only event at which coaches from around the world can share knowledge,” said Ergin. “We spend a lot of time together on competition fields but there’s no time to focus on bettering ourselves.”

The Turkish coach is also a member of the World Archery coaches committee, which is responsible for organising the conference. He presented – but was also a willing participant.

“I learned that we must accept that there are always solutions. As archery coaches, we are addicted to defining missing or difficult issues but it should be completely the opposite,” said Ergin.

“We should only focus on solutions, not excuses.”

World Archery secretary general Tom Dielen closed the conference with a look at recent rule changes and upcoming major events, including a look at Olympic and Paralympic qualification, as well as revealing an ongoing review of the federation’s coach education offering.