A Coach for a Coach
Mentorship
“When I began coaching, I was luckily enough to have some of the best coaches in the world to lean on for support. They were open with what they knew and they were supportive of my goals. My goal is to support the next generation of coaches in the same way I was.” – Justin Trolle
2022 – 2023 Mentorship Program
As coaches we all want to know more, and to understand the complex concepts that make up Triathlon coaching at all levels. At Vanguard Endurance, we understand this and have for the past ten years run one of the most successful Triathlon mentorship programs in the USA.
Our goal has always been to develop coaches towards their progression up the USA Triathlon coaching ladder. In this process we have been very successful placing more coaches onto the USA Triathlon level 2 courses than any other independent coaching group and from there onto Level 3.
This mentorship program is about helping you as a coach define your place within endurance sport, and helping you develop to your full potential. Understanding what we want and how to get it is often difficult. We help you, in the same way you help your athletes. We provide a pathway forward and put your dreams in reach.
“The Vanguard Endurance Mentorship Program is made up of 5 distinct Parts. Monthly Educational Webinar, Online Group Discussions with other coaches, Personal one to One Sessions with your Mentor and Inperson Practical Coaching Clinics.”
The program is guided and lead by me as your personal one to one instructor.
My primary focus is on helping your turn your coaching goals into manageable steps to help you quickly and effectively increase your coaching knowledge, skills and confidence. While also creating a pathway to get to the level of coaching you choose with the athletic community you want to coach.
Not all coaches what to work with elite athletes but regardless of what groups of athletes you want to work with we can help.
As part of this program, you will have access to the support materials and systems I use to work with my athletes daily as well as training data and metrics from some of the best athletes in the country.
Whats Included
Three Month Program
Individual Webinars
Group Zoom Discussions
Camps & Clinics (Optional)
One to One Consultation Sessions
Become a Better Coach
Mentoring- What to Expect
When I first arrived in the USA back in 2007 I was recruited to be the USAT athlete development manager. This required looking after the planning and guidance for a lot of new and very talented athletes. In order to do this effectively I coordinated closely with coaches about the best possible pathways for their athletes to get to the top. As you can imagine this is not an easy process and for a lot of the coaches the task was often above their current skill set. If was because of this that I created the first USAT mentorship programs. I have continued to provide this service ever since, with a lot of USAT level 2 and level 3 coaches going though the program over the years.
As time has gone by and the USAT coaching education program has evolved, I have adjusted the program considerably, to meet the changing needs of coaches and the athletes that they are working with. However, the goal has always been the same, to help coaches develop to their full potential, while providing a smooth pathway from beginner to elite coach while traveling up the USAT coaching pathway.
The current program is made up of 5 parts, outlined below.
Monthly Education Webinars.
Each month we will cover at least one webinar that is either specific to the time of year or to interests expressed by coaches on the program. Also, as part of this you will also have access to all past webinar presentations created and recorded for the program.
Two Monthly Coach Group Discussions
- The first of these discussions will be based on that month’s webinar looking at discussing the topic in greater depth and ensuring you have a complete understanding of the topic. There may also be some homework involve but I can assure you it will be fun, and you will be better for it.
- The second group discussion will be open, the goal of this discussion will be to cover topics in greater detail that are of interest to the coaches on the program. I like to let these conversations be unstructured so we can allow it to go wherever a topic takes us. Also doing these discussions in a group allows for greater combined knowledge than that of just me as the discussion leader.
Two Monthly One to one Consultation Sessions with Your Mentor
These conversations are specifically about you and your coaching, business and goals. They are specifically unstructured so that you can discuss any topic of interest to you that you feel would be beneficial. This direct communication with me allows for me to help guide you in the direction you want to go while often helping you avoid many of the pitfalls that developing coaches often fall into.
Support Materials, Training Plans, Workout Libraries etc.
Over my 30 years of coaching, I have amassed a lot of coaching materials that I use on a daily basis for working with athletes from beginners all the way through to world class elites. As part of the program, you will have access to any of these materials that I use in presentations, or in the examples that I use with case studies involving my athletes.
Camps & Clinics – Coach Focused
Not everything can be taught in person and because of this I run several in person practical camps and clinics designed to give you at a coach practical skill in areas such as lactate testing, VO2max testing, Running, Cycling and Swimming Skills and drills. These weekends are designed to give you information that you can take home to coach your team better and with more confidence. They are also very good at helping increase options for business growth by increasing coaching revenue streams. There is an additional cost usually associated for these in person clinics but as always, the benefits outweigh the cost. While it is not required that you do it as part of the mentorship program, it is highly recommended that you do at least one of these camps/clinics at some point.
The price for the program is $149 per month with your first month being free, If you decide that the program is not suited to you then you can walk away at any time. So, what do you have to lose?
Greg Mueller
I want to highly recommend the opportunity to work with Justin Trolle through his new webinar
mentorship series. I was lucky to meet Justin through USA Triathlon for my mentorship clinic in 2009.
He did an excellent job of filling a gap in coaching education and continues to do so as a friend and
mentor.
His experience and knowledge combined with his unique ability to communicate the information
was paramount in my growth as an elite level coach. Justin’s experience as an elite coach in several
countries and coaching some of the best athletes in the world will offer you an unprecedented look at
elite preparation and development.
This experience will answer all the questions you wanted to ask but never had the chance or resource.
Enjoy the course and come prepared because there is a lot of great information.
Shawn Wierick
Justin has been a tremendous asset to me in my coaching career. I began using Justin as a mentor coach immediately after gaining my Level I certification. I am now a Level II coach and it is because of Justin and his willingness to share information and ideas that I was able to gain this level of certification. One of the greatest things about Justin is that he welcomes questions and if he doesn’t know the answer he doesn’t make something up. Rather he does his homework and learns. This actually is the reason I chose Justin as a mentor coach to begin with. He admits he doesn’t know everything, and he enjoys it when he gets asked a question he doesn’t know. As he has told me before, this allows him the opportunity to get better. There is simply too much information out there for one coach to know everything. I highly recommend using Justin as a mentor coach. I would not be where I am today if I had not chosen to use Justin. It’s that simple.
I passed Level II with a 100% and I can honestly say that I was extremely well prepared, and all of the material in Level II was familiar because we had gone over everything at some point in the past few years. I am still using Justin as a mentor coach, and consider him one of my greatest assets.
USAT Elite Level II Coach, ASCA/USA Swimming Level II Coach, USA Track and Field Coach, USA Cycling Level III Coach
Mike Groaning
I’ve been in Justin’s coaching mentorship program for three years now and can’t thank him enough for all that he has done with my development as a coach. Coaching is more than the education we receive through the course work.
As a level 2 coach with youth and junior certification, I can say that this certification process only lays a foundation upon which you have to build experience through real world scenarios.
Justin serves as a great role model for coaching. Giving athletes and coaches the resources they need to grow and prosper through a genuine, selfless desire to see them develop is something I value in Justin and his mentorship program.
I have embraced this philosophy in my own coaching business and in my role as the Mideast Region Athlete Development Coordinator to develop my own athletes and coaches as well as the sport in the Mideast Region.
Michael Groaning
USAT Level 2 Coach