20 Jun MMA Coaching Roles – Building Your Team
No fighter is or should be on their own in preparing to fight. Behind each and every performance is a team of individuals dedicated to bringing out the best performance on fight night.
Who should be involved in the team? How do you choose? I will break down my thoughts into broad categories while also involving sub categories to give more details.
Head Coach – I will break this out into another post entirely. This is a huge missing component for most fighters, it goes overlooked and is underappreciated but it is so vital to long term improvement and success.
Striking – Any Coach tasked with improving you striking on the feet. Some fighters will only have one while others will use multiple. You need a coach who is available for teaching strategy, techniques and holding pads.
Examples: Boxing Coach, Muay Thai Coach, Kickboxing Coach, Karate Instructor, etc
Takedowns- Wall takedowns, open mat takedowns, shooting, clinch takedowns, throws. If you opponent starts standing and ends up on the ground, or you want to remain upright these coaches will guide you.
Examples: Wrestling Coach, Judo Coach, MMA Coach
Ground Work – Submission, positions, defense, standing back up, and ground and pound all comprise aspects of the ground work.
Mental Game – Getting your head in the right place for a fight is an aspect of the game that can not be left unattended. Having someone outside of your skill development work with you on this can add extra and beneficial perspective.
Examples: performance coach, hypnotist, meditation guru
Strength and Conditioning Coach- Someone must be building you up physically making sure you achieve top performance in both the short and long term.
Example: S&C Coach, gymnastics coach, O-lifting coach, yoga instructor
Physical Recovery – For any new fighters: you will deal with injuries and overtraining. Recovery practices are tantamount in success.
Examples: Masseuse, chiropractor, body work specialist, physical therapist, yoga instructor
Business – It can’t be ignored and it will make or break you. Getting the right fight at the right time, with the right sponsors, and right distance from all business dealings so you can focus on fighting is imperative. You do not want to be the fighter that is cutting weight, driving around town to collect ticket money, and arguing with the promoter the day before regarding terms you previously agreed on.
Examples: Agent, Manager, (less official roles that still help out i.e. ticket money collector, person who takes control of cell phone and answering texts 24hrs before the fight.)
Teammates/Sparring Partners- Whether it is being around a group of like minded individuals or having someone with the right attributes or skill set to push you forward you will need a strong team. You main sparring partners will end up in key roles in your camp so they are certainly a factor to be considered.
When you look at the sum total you end up with a large team surrounding you. You may have certain individuals serving in multiple roles. Especially for up and coming fighters you often see a coach serving as a head coach, manager, and mental coach, however the more elite athletes tend to use more coaches who are elite in each speciality. Take a tip from those at the highest level and put together the best team you can based on your level, time and budget.
Future posts will look at how to select coaches and the Head Coach’s role within a fighter’s development.