Coaches Corner - Liam Adcock

Where passion meets performance. In this series, we shine a spotlight on the incredible work of coaches across our athletics community. Celebrating the stories, successes, and impact they have on and off the track. From grassroots to greatness, these are the people shaping the future of our sport.

Our Coach today is Liam Adcock.

Fresh off a silver medal at the Diamond League on the weekend, Liam Adcock is not only soaring in the long jump but also shaping the next generation of athletes as a dedicated and thoughtful coach.

As a current athlete, what has motivated you to step into coaching, and how does it complement your identity as an athlete?

I started coaching in 2020 at the school level, and initially my motivations for coaching were around earning an income that was flexible around training and didn't require full time commitment. At the time I was trying to work full time and continue competing but I was unable to manage injuries and so on, so I moved towards coaching for flexibility. I really enjoyed my time as a coach and was excited to see progress from the athletes that I worked closely with. Additionally, after the passing of my former coach, Gary Bourne, there was a big gap in the high-performance jumps space in Brisbane and I felt I had to move to Sydney to work with a high-performance group with Andrew Murphy. So, trying to fill some of the gaps left in Gary's passing has been a motivator for me. Coaching has helped my own journey as an athlete as it’s allowed me to shape my approaches to training and competition more effectively. I’ve viewed how athletes I’m assisting take on feedback, whether it be constructive or positive, and it has allowed me to better shape my own responses that have led to better training and competition outcomes.

How have your years dealing with injury shaped the way you coach athletes, particularly when it comes to managing physical setbacks and motivation of your athletes?

Given the mismanagement of some of my injuries in the past, I try to be very careful with the athletes I work with when they are managing injuries or setbacks. As an athlete I often felt I wasn’t important enough to ask for adjustments to training loads or programs when I was dealing with issues and would try and push through problems on my own. This led to extended injury periods that could have been dealt with much faster. So, with the athletes I work with I endeavour to ensure they are comfortable talking to me even about the smallest problems and we can work together to make the required adjustments. I think motivation is an interesting topic and it’s not something I often think about as I trust the athletes to bring their own motivations to training and I do my best to keep it fun and competitive, so they want to keep turning up.

You competed in multiple sports as a junior before focusing on athletics. How do you think that multi-sport background has helped shape both your performance and your coaching philosophy?

In terms of my own performance, the multi-sport background has been beneficial as some of the skills such as proprioception I developed from participating in other sports have translated well to training and allows me to pick up cues quite easily. Sometimes it’s difficult from a coaching perspective, because I focused on athletics later in life, I never really struggled to understand movement patterns or technical positions that athletes often have trouble with and my expectations for rate of change can be a bit high at times. From a coaching perspective, I think the main learning from the multi-sport background is that at the end of the day, sports should be done for enjoyment and making that a priority is important to me.

As a coach, what are the key technical, physical, or mental elements you prioritise when developing young jumpers?

I think in general, the biggest movers from a technical perspective are hip position in running and on takeoff. Physical elements in the jump’s events are speed, speed and speed. Strength is also a big part of it, but I can’t overstate how important sprint speed is for horizontal jumpers. From a mental perspective, how an athlete views failure and setbacks would be my main priority.

You’ve worked with some great coaches over the years. What are some of the key lessons or coaching principles you’ve taken from them into your own coaching?

The best coaches I’ve worked with have cared a lot about the athletes they work with and not only from a result’s perspective. They want the best for the athletes in all aspects of their lives and just want to help the athletes become the best versions of themselves in their sport and life. This is something I have been working hard at achieving. However, I’ve also learnt it can be quite taxing physically and emotionally for the coach so setting appropriate boundaries is something I strive to do.

How do you help your athletes stay focused/motivated when progress isn’t linear?

By understanding an athlete's own internal motivations and guiding them back on the path towards achieving their own goals. I try to do this by making sure the athlete understands the work they are doing whether it be on the track or in the gym, so they know for what reasons they are putting in effort to help with mental ‘buy-in’. I’ve found from my own experience, the best results come from when an athlete believes in the work they are doing.