Introduction
One. Shot. Deal.
Three simple words when read in isolation. But, put them together and the implication can be life changing. Thankfully, I am a little naïve and didn’t quite get the enormity of what it meant when I first read it in the email. The email was from the California Superbike School (or CSS) with a subject line that read ‘Coach Tryout’.
Now, I am not exactly a very fast rider. And, I have never been a serial racer or a track day enthusiast. And so, when I received the email inviting me to try out as a coach at the California Superbike School, I should have been more measured about my response.
Instead, I fell off the chair, typed YES in block letters, and hit the send button, all at the same time! Clearly, the excitement had gotten the better of me. So, when the dust had settled – so to speak – I realised what I had done. But, I took solace in the fact that I had been a repeater at CSS as a student and that should hold me in good stead.
The Preparation
So, how does one prepare to be a coach at one of the world’s finest motorcycle riding schools?
Well, for starters, there’s a syllabus. It’s called the Twist of the Wrist. And, it has two parts. The second part is the crucial one. It talks about motorcycle behaviour, the physics involved, and what as riders we should and shouldn’t do to allow the motorcycle to do its thing.
It’s not a fat book. But, it has so much science and technology packed into it that a 20-year hiatus from academics left me completely overwhelmed with the task at hand. But, like they say, if you put your mind to it – not to mention spending every waking hour reading and making notes and watching related videos – you can overcome most challenges.
And to be sure I had done just that, I employed services of anyone I could find from my colleagues to my friends to even my 10 year old – who obviously didn’t understand a thing from the book – to ask me questions to gauge my readiness.
The Tryout
So, was I completely ready on the D-day? No. And, I don’t think anybody can be completely ready to take an exam one so desperately wants to clear. But before the exam, I had the tryout.
Tryouts for wannabe coaches happen alongside Level 1 of schooling. All I had to do was introduce myself to the staff, and then, complete a set of tasks I was given, through the course of the day.
Now, since the tasks involved riding and attending classroom sessions, the day just breezed by. And I hadn’t been this relaxed since I received that remarkable email. I guess there’s something about riding and learning that calms one down.
The Grilling
By evening all the friends I had made in my riding group were gone. I got some time to revise the notes I had made through the day. And then, I found myself seated across two senior coaches.
One look at the coaches and I knew they had seen many like me come and go. They knew the drill. They knew how to separate the grain from the chaff. And they knew how to break a nervous, unsure and hungry candidate.
The grilling lasted about 50 minutes or so. But, these were possibly the longest 50 minutes of my life. All I had to do was come up with some sentences that explained the science behind the drills taught at CSS. And, for a journalist like me, it should have been a piece of cake.
Instead, I found these to be one of the most difficult and challenging 15 ‘simple’ sentences that I have ever put together in my life.
I wasn’t allowed to quote the Twist book, or the lines from the classroom sessions. I had to come with my own lines, but these had to be short and simple. I know this might seem easy. But, when you are on the hot seat, and are constantly wondering if the words coming out of your mouth are in fact correct and in keeping with expectations, not only does your mind threaten to shut down, it actually begins to melt.
The Training
But, I am happy to report, I passed!
And only during the congratulatory handshakes did I figure what the ‘one shot deal’ meant in the email. One can only tryout to be a CSS coach once in their lifetime. If I had failed the ‘Grilling’, I was out. Forever.
Now, begins the fun, and the hard work. I can’t get into the details on what’s exactly in store for me over the next couple of years – ‘cause I am not sure myself. But, as I train and learn and apply the various riding technologies that define a CSS coach, I know one thing for sure – I am really looking forward to it all.
What I can also tell you is that training to be a CSS coach is as much about learning to listen as it is about learning to teach. Clearly then, it will be an uphill task for me. Just ask my wife of 12 years; she is still trying to get me to listen.
Gallery
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California Superbike School Coach
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