The Coach Parker

💭 Great minds don’t just produce results & throw far. They collaborate and think together! 🧑‍🎓

🤝 When athletes & coaches come together to share ideas, something exciting, powerful and sustainable happens. 🔥

💡 We all have unique perspectives on our sport, fostered by our upbringing and the environments we’re grown in and experienced. That uniqueness almost always creates insight that through open and honest discussion, can fill gaps in the knowledge of others, but also yield better solutions to some of the challenges we encounter. No one alone has all of the answers. 🙋🏻‍♂️

❓ Getting together is about more than just training or box ticking. it’s about building a community where every insight, every question, and every breakthrough lifts everyone higher and adds to the subsequent sense of achievement.

➡️ For Javelin throwers (and athletes in general), these connections can mean everything. They can form lifelong bonds through the shared experiences of all. The exchange of technical knowledge, mindset & mentality, and experiences through life and sport, can accelerate growth in ways solo practice rarely does.

➡️ I’ve always believed in fostering these conversations and cooperations — your next personal best might come from a shared piece of wisdom that unlocked something within you.

As always, we grow stronger, together. 🎯

➡️ Interested in attending a training camp with elite athletes and coaches who don’t just instruct, but fully understand what it takes to throw far and provide the appropriate feedback through effective coaching and training programme prescriptions, then drop me a message. We have plans to continue to grow and would be delighted to help as many driven and committed athletes as we can accommodate with additional skills, tools and thought processes to facilitate that journey!

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BETTER TOGETHER
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We had our last throwing session this morning before the Men’s Javelin final at the 15th Chinese National Games takes place on 18th November, at 9.35am.

Provincial Athletics in China is traditionally parochial in nature, however the future for Athletics in China, is greater collaboration between provinces, coaches and teams to foster culture, togetherness and competition to drive standards.

I grew up in a generation where it was more satisfying to beat your friends, than it was your adversaries. Bragging rights around the coffee table or over a beer with your contemporaries, reminiscing about what’s just been or past experiences is a huge part of the journey and should be embraced.

China has come a long way, but there are many miles still to travel.

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It’s been a real pleasure welcoming the Tianjin team to our home in Shanghai for the last week or so. Our home is their home!

We’re stronger together. 💪🏼

Sport is, or should be, a microcosm of life! And we should constantly strive for that Utopia that we seek 🙌🏼

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That Little Voice | 心中的那个声音
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It’s not about the grand finale. It’s about the quiet moments of showing up for yourself. What have you done today to make YOU feel proud? ✨

重要的不是盛大的结局。而是那些你为自己挺身而出的安静时刻。今天你做了什么，让你为自己感到骄傲？✨

💭 Your first thought might be: “Nothing.” | 你的第一个念头或许是：”什么都没有。”

❓ But what if that’s the wrong starting point? | 但如果，这个起点本身就是错的呢？

🥅 What if the goal isn’t to do something worthy of pride, but to find the pride in what you already are, and what you already do?
如果目标不是去做一件值得骄傲的事，而是从你本身、从你已经在做的事中，发现那份骄傲呢？

⭐️ Challenge the need for a grand achievement. | 去质疑那种对宏大成就的渴望。

💡 Challenge the idea that pride must be earned from external validation. | 去质疑骄傲必须通过外界认可才能获得的观念。

🔥 Look closer. Dig deeper. The reason is already there.
看得更仔细一点。挖掘得更深一点。那个理由早已存在。🔥

After 3 months away from Shanghai on a training camp in Tianjin we’re heading back to the greatest city in China tomorrow to finish our preparations for the National Games in Guangzhou.

The men’s Javelin in 18th November 2025 where Xu will be defending the title he won back at the covid affected games in Xi’an in 2021 with the games record and personal best throw of 84.54m.

There’ve been a few bumps in the road along the way with injury and loss of confidence, but we’ve done everything we can to get him on track and ready for this championship.

加油！

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🧠 PERSPECTIVE
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➡️ Perspective changes everything.
Whether that’s in sport or more broadly, in life — the way you see the world, will determine how you approach the critical components in your life.
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Here are a few reflections from the last 25 years of coaching.

➡️ It’s not necessarily about throwing more or throwing harder — it’s about understanding the adaptations you seek.

➡️ Every angle tells a different story; don’t be impact by your own confirmation biases. View sport, as life through a different lens.

➡️ Perspective usually separates the emotional from the analytical. Too much of either, is simply too much!

➡️ Step back before you step in — distance gives clarity.

➡️ Training isn’t just about effort; it’s about interpretation and a meaningful feedback/ feed-forward loop.

➡️ A flat week doesn’t mean a failed week. Adaptation sometimes takes time & humans are biologically & chemically complex species!

➡️ Watch. Reflect. Adapt. Overcome.

➡️ Your eyes can lie; your data can’t. Sometimes it must lead you, but you must always be aware of it.

➡️ Slow motion can sometimes reveals what is hidden is the heat of the battle.

➡️ The best athletes zoom out before they zoom in!

➡️ View mistakes as mirrors — not verdicts. I’ve said it before that you need to learn from winning & losing. Neither exists in perpetuity.

➡️ You don’t need a new drill, you might need a new lens. You almost certainly need to understand ‘Intent’

➡️ True progress happens when emotion meets awareness.

➡️ A coach shouldn’t default to critique — they just have a different camera angle & endorse the athletes awareness.

➡️ The biggest leap forward often starts by standing still. Sometimes we need to take time to look round & reflect more. Stillness is peace.

➡️ Be obsessed with learning, not just completing…

➡️ Perspective can turn frustration into fascination. Be a student of your sport & of life!

➡️ The elite don’t chase outcomes — they study patterns. Outcomes are usually an extension of elite deliberate practice.

➡️ Every throw, lift, jump etc is data. If you collect it, use it.

🎯 Perspective builds precision. Precision builds performance.

In just over a month we’ll be competing in this stadium.

I’m sure it won’t disappoint! 🙌🏼

This is a really great read from Eric Cressey regarding developmental considerations for kids.

Some key takeaways from Eric Cressey’s Article on Youth Sports are as follows:

1️⃣ **Avoid Comparisons** – Kids develop at different rates; comparing them can harm confidence and motivation.

2️⃣ **Focus on Effort & Enjoyment** – Long-term success comes from loving the process, not early wins.

3️⃣ **Late Bloomers Can Excel** – Many elite athletes weren’t standouts as kids—patience is key.

4️⃣ **Prioritize Development Over Winning** – Skill-building and fun should trump short-term results.

Great read for parents and coaches! 👉 [Why We Shouldn’t Compare Kids in Sports](https://ericcressey.com/why-we-shouldnt-compare-kids-in-sports/)

Why We Shouldn't Compare Kids in Sports - EricCressey.com One of the more concerning trends I’m seeing on the youth sports scene is the how often the youngest kids are compared to their peers. This is an issue among programs monetizing sports participation, coaches responsible for identifying/developing proficiency, and parents concerned that their kids ...

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**🔥 WORLD JUNIOR RECORD 🔥**

Yang Ziyi from Zhejiang province made another piece of history at the early season throws competition in Chengdu! After a stellar year last year where she threw 64.41m she picked up where she left off in 2024.

At just 16 years old, she threw a staggering 64.83m breaking her own World Junior Record (subject to ratification). 🚀

What’s even more impressive is the maturity of her throwing mechanics for someone so young. Despite her obvious physical attributes, she clearly has a long future in the sport. Another in a growing list of successful female Chinese throwers, following in the footsteps of Li Lingwei, Lü Hui Hui and 2020 (2021) Olympic Champion, Liu Shiying.

With the whole of the 2025 season ahead, the big question is, how far can she go? 🌍✨

The future of the Women’s event is looking really exciting with many throwers bursting onto the scene in recent years.

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**”TENDING”** 🌱
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☘️ A season isn’t built on the actions of one day!

✅ It’s the slow, steady, consistent work over time, cumulative in nature.

📍It can of course be defined in a moment. But a series of moments which act upon and feed off previous experiences can draw us closer to our goals.

➡️ The throws & drills in the cold winter months

➡️ The gym work & lifts when no one is watching

➡️ The many failed attempts in amongst the fleeting successes

➡️ The throws that feel *almost* right, but often feel so far away from where you want to be…

📍With mutual understanding of the process, a thorough grasp of what GOOD is, what GOOD looks like and critically what the processes are that help us to produce GOOD, along with a CONSISTENT process driven message then, despite significant challenges along the way, we will TEND towards the desired outcome with the belief that our stars will align and those moments that make the hairs on the back of neck stand up…the moments that we have dreamt about have a greater chance of occurring!

🚀 When we look back at the winter training, sometimes we forget about the work that’s been done. We forget how far we have come and how we have grown together. We don’t always say or do the right things, and we don’t always get what we deserve, but we never lose sight of the end goal and we never shy away from our responsibilities.

🎯 In an objective sport like ours, there are no prizes for aesthetics. We are judged by the tape measure and that’s something we will never escape. 📏

🗣️ What we have to be able to say, is under the circumstances which we are presented with, we did everything in our power to achieve what we set out to achieve.

🚀 Onwards to 2025 and best wishes to every single javelin thrower out there with dreams! Never let anyone put a limit on you and never let anyone tell you that you cannot do something! 💪🏼

Competition preparation

T - 4 days and counting!

2025 - season start! 💪🏼

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