Once An Athlete, Adam Callister Hopes To Bring New Perspective To Role As Short Track Assistant

Adam Callister believes one of the best things you can do as a coach is be adaptable, because every athlete you work with is going to be different.

It’s also important, he said, to learn as much as you can.

He’ll get to do both as the new assistant coach for the US Speedskating Short Track National Team.

“Right now I’m just looking forward to getting into competition,” the Salt Lake City native said. “The team looks really strong right now, and I’m curious to see what they can do.”

Callister, 31, found success as a junior speed skater and then competed for several years as a member of the National Team before retiring from the sport in 2019. It was then that he got his first taste of coaching as an assistant to Mitch Whitmore on the U.S. long track FAST Team. He also coached Colombian skater Diego Amaya at the Youth Olympic Games in January 2020.

That experience opened his eyes to the importance of adaptability.

“I’d been in a mentor role for quite a while, and I tried to bring my athlete’s philosophy into my coaching,” Callister said. “I quickly realized after that experience that everyone is so different, and I can’t push who I was on other people. That was a great learning experience in my first season coaching long track.”

It also sparked an interest in returning to competition himself, and Callister unretired hoping to make the 2022 U.S. Olympic Team. When that didn’t happen, he was ready to put his competitive career behind him for good.

“It was set in my mind that (2022) would be the last Olympic Games I tried for, and then I was also dealing with an injury that took a lot of time and energy, both physically and emotionally,” he said. “That was a good indication that the work is no longer worth the reward. It was a pretty easy decision. I know some people who struggle with that a little bit, but for me, I was like, ‘I’m ready. Now’s the time.’”

Callister wasn’t planning to go back into coaching. In fact, he was working toward his undergraduate degree studying kinesiology at the University of Utah when he decided to swing by and say hi to some former teammates doing a bike ride by his house. That’s when he learned there was an opening for an assistant coach on the Short Track National Team.  

“One of them said, ‘You know, maybe you should look into applying,’” Callister said. “I was just focused on school and trying to sample a lot of different potential outcomes in the future. I wasn’t expecting a job to open up, really. I was looking more toward graduate school opportunities, stuff like that.”

Now, that will have to wait.

Part of Callister’s transition from athlete to coach has been establishing a shift in the dynamic of his relationship with his former teammates. At the same time, having been alongside many members of the team in competition can have its advantages, Callister believes.

“I think a lot of coaches understand skaters’ strengths and weaknesses, but I’ve gotten to experience some of them in competition, so I think that gives me another way to look at things,” he said.

Being a part of the National Team from the coaching side versus the athlete side of things also has other differences. For one, Callister said, you have a lot more tunnel vision as an athlete because you’re focused on your performance and what you feel like you need. As a coach, you have a much broader picture that you need to look at as well as helping individuals with their goals and tasks.

“And (U.S. head coach) Stephen Gough has been a great mentor,” he said. “The amount of stuff I’ve learned already has been pretty substantial. Just watching him, he’s clearly very experienced and he knows how to interact with people really well. He’s very confident in what he’s doing and able to make adjustments. I’m still learning that from him. Sometimes I have to stop myself from asking questions because it could snowball into a five-hour discussion.” 

As for kinesiology? Callister said he would have graduated this fall, and while he’ll continue to pursue his degree, he’s excited for what lies ahead with the National Team.

“Not many jobs give you the opportunity to help someone accomplish their dreams.”

Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to USSpeedskating.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.