Louis Kao: My Biggest Supporter
Through my journey as a competitive athlete, I have had my fair share of struggles, both physically and mentally. Especially after I began my high school athletic career, the performance pressure was greater. But, from my freshman year on, I was fortunate enough to have the greatest source of inspiration going forward: my club coach, Louis Kao.
Among all the coaches I have encountered, there is truly none as dedicated as Coach Kao. No matter what time of the year it is, he is on his feet for hours a day, doing what he loves: fostering a love for training in young athletes. I remember our rainy April practices, where Coach Kao would spend over five hours a day coaching outside, without an umbrella or chair. When we asked him to bring a chair, he told us that he preferred to stand and watch. We all thought he was crazy, but he was just doing what he loved: coaching us, while expecting nothing in return.
He has always been one to get right to the point—he will tell you what you need to improve, and give you the guidance to work towards the improvement. “Use the hammer!” is a phrase I hear on the regular. It’s basically a way of reminding us to fix our running form, focusing on our arm movement. This is just one of many of the suggestions we hear from Coach Kao almost daily, intended to improve our form over time through constant reminders. His recipe is almost too simple: hard work and discipline leads to positive performance. Yet behind this simplification of “hard work” is the countless hours he dedicates to writing five-page long articles and workouts, and analyzing our performance to produce individual training plans for each athlete. Through the personalized weekly training charts he sends to us at the start of every week, I came to realize the precision of his training. No longer did I only strive for new personal records and winning times (although those are great); instead, I fell in love with the beautiful process of training.
Each and every training session with him is a step towards success. Those team talks, where we’d sit in a circle as Coach Kao explained the workouts to us, making sure we understood every last detail. Those tempo runs that ended at his house, where he’d have enough food to feed the entire team twice waiting for us. Even those grueling workouts that left us on the floor, where Coach Kao would tell us, “This is where you’re reminded of your love-hate relationship with your coach;” but all we could think about was how we could never hate him despite the pain we felt.
I can still picture him on the sidelines at every high school track meet, beaming with pride behind his incognito outfit and dark sunglasses as I cross the finish line. He does not get the credit for my performance because he isn’t my in-season high school coach, but it is only through his dedication to my individual success that I am able to attain this new personal record. He takes pride in each individual athlete, understanding that the greatest glory is to those who put in deliberate, consistent work and show improvement. When I perform well on a certain day, Coach Kao will always be the first one to stop me before my cool down with praise for my hard work. When I’m not feeling great, he will console me with encouraging words and a reminder that one bad day does not make me an incompetent athlete.
“No longer did I only strive for new personal records and winning times (although those are great); instead, I fell in love with the beautiful process of training. ”
Coach Kao truly has a passion for what he does, and I hope to carry the same passion into my future endeavors. Having dedicated years of his life to both training as a competitive athlete and mentoring other athletes, Coach Kao has taught me that through hard work and discipline, I am able to achieve my short-term goals and work towards success in my long-term goals, both in athletics and life itself.
Sameen Andar
is a rising senior living in the Bay Area, and the Community Outreach Coordinator of Love for the Elderly. She loves running, baking, and being outside!