Coaching the advanced performer

Up to this point, the chapters in this section have discussed learning generically, identifying the changes in coaching techniques that may be useful when working with learners of varying skill levels. The natural progression in adventure sports is to seek out increasingly advanced situations. Indeed, one of the characteristics that distinguishes adventure sports from their mainstream counterparts, and one of their strongest attractions, is the relative accessibility of the highest performance contexts: while there is a limit to how many people can represent England in football in any given year, there are no such restrictions on how many people can attempt a Grade V rapid. There is a wealth of information available for the developing coach who wishes to learn more about introducing people to adventure sports, but relatively little guidance on their later development. This chapter will address this gap in the literature by focusing more specifically on the unique challenges involved when working with an advanced performer who is seeking out these high-performance contexts.