423. Coaching is a Conversation
Two calls. Same question. Completely different answers.
Yesterday I spoke with two athletes, both wrapping up their fall seasons and shifting into individual skill work with their coaches. The environment is changing—less team, more 1-on-1. To me? That means opportunity.
More time. More attention. More chances to connect and improve.
So I asked both of them the same simple question:
“What does it mean to be coachable?”
The first athlete didn’t hesitate:
"I think it means pushing back sometimes. Not in a bad way, but rephrasing what my coach says so it makes sense to me. He talks about the swing differently than I do, so I translate it. We're trying to get to the same place, just taking different routes."
This is what coachability looks like: a conversation.
Not blind obedience. Not passivity. But curiosity. Engagement. Translation.
Then I asked the second athlete the same question. He paused, then said:
"Basically just doing what my coach tells me to do."
Now here’s the kicker:
That second athlete has also been struggling. With confidence. With discomfort. With the pressure of having the head coach watch.
And it makes sense.
If you don’t know how to have a conversation with your coach—if you don’t ask questions, if you don’t seek clarity—then you’re stuck in your own head. You’re trying to follow directions without understanding the map.
That creates uncertainty.
That creates anxiety.
That creates discomfort.
Coachability isn’t compliance. It’s communication.
Almost a decade ago, I watched a presentation by a big league coach. His slide deck had five words on the cover:
"Coaching is a conversation."
I’ve never forgotten it.
The best athletes I work with understand this:
If your coach says something that doesn’t make sense, ask.
If your coach teaches a concept differently than how you learned it, translate it.
If your coach challenges you, engage with it.
It doesn’t mean you know more than them.
It means you’re invested in the process.
It means you’re trying to understand.
That’s what being coachable looks like.
It’s not about saying "yes sir" and pretending to get it.
It’s about asking the second question. The deeper question. The one that helps you make the adjustment for real.
The Strategy:
Next time you're working 1-on-1 with a coach, try this:
After they give you feedback, restate it in your own words.
Ask: "Is that what you mean?"
Then ask: "Why is that important right now?"
This builds trust. This builds clarity. This builds belief.
Your Move:
Stop seeing coaching as one-way. Start treating it like a conversation.
You don’t need all the answers.
You just need the courage to ask better questions.
That’s The Pazik Process.
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