Talking with a 5 year NFL vet, he was recounting combine prep training. He went with some teammates, and soon the speed coach was telling them they were running 4.3s in the 40yd dash. This was a huge red flag to the athlete, because he knew these were 4.6 type guys. Either the guy was bad at timing or he was telling people what they wanted to hear. Neither was a good trait in a coach.I also had an athlete of mine this week hear a split wrong. He started bragging that he had broken a threshold he was working towards. I had to tell him he hadn't. I didn't want to deflate him. As a matter of fact, he needs more confidence and leaving him feeling positive was tempting, but it wasn't true.
So why tell him? Because I want him to get honest and accurate feedback. How is he going to connect the performance with the way it felt if I give him inaccurate feedback? If the athlete is supposed to be getting feedback on outcomes, it needs to be right. The point of that feedback is so the athlete can learn what it feels like when they have the best outcome. If I play games with times, they are connecting less than optimal technique and feelings with a better performance. Then I am slowing their learning.
Times also represent goals for athletes. If I am telling them they have reached those goals (when they haven't) they may lose motivation to develop proper technique or continue training with focus.
I have seen this in cases where I suspect a coach doesn't have confidence in their own abilities. They don't know what to do when the athlete isn't improving or don't have the skill to interact with the athlete.
It's OK when the times aren't perfect. Review your plan, make adjustments and work with your athlete.
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