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The
Basics of Coaching Philosophy
Your coaching philosophy should not be developed
overnight. You should gather different views of
coaching the way you would visit a buffet—choosing
and trying different methods and observing what
works for others, as well as remembering certain
techniques that worked (or didn’t work) for you both
as an athlete and a coach. Once you have gathered
what you feel is right for you, then try it out. You
will no doubt have to throw out some beliefs, but
others will become the backbone of your coaching
style and success. When putting your philosophy
together, remember to look for tools that will cover
what is important in a team, that is, how to lead a
team to success and how to make the most of the game
for everybody.
Be Yourself
Sometimes you will find yourself playing a role that
fits a situation but that you cannot support in your
heart. I find these situations in coaching to be
rare. The coach who follows her heart and does what
she believes is right will come out ahead. Athletes
are smart, and they spend a lot of their time trying
to figure you out. They will test you, push you,
pull you, and see what they get from you in return.
If you try to respond in a way that is truly not
you, they will see through your facade. They want
you to be genuine, just as you want them to be
genuine.
Many first-time coaches want to do a great job, and
thus, they put on a serious face when they hit the
field. They see coaching as strictly business.
Sometimes they hesitate to let down their guard and
laugh with the athletes. But it’s important to show
your full personality when coaching. The athletes
want to see that you are real so they can relate to,
trust, and confide in you. As a coach, you are their
teacher, their friend, their confidant, and you
sometimes serve as their parent. You must be honest
with your athletes and your staff if you wish
honesty in return. So when in doubt, be yourself and
listen to your heart. You will not always be right,
but at least you can say, “I did what I believed was
the right thing to do.”
You must develop and follow your own coaching style.
It is good to have mentors but not to imitate them.
If you look at successful coaches, you will see that
each one is different. Some are quiet and use their
body language, while others are more vocal. They
motivate in different ways as well as teach with
different tools, yet all have found success. Their
diversity shows that there is no one way to coach.
You must find what will work for you from within
yourself. By all means, learn some coaching
techniques from others, but build them into your
style.
Be Willing to Listen
As a coach, it will benefit you to become a
communicator and to recognize the needs of your team
and balance those needs with yours. Open
communication is critical between the coach and the
athlete and among the athletes. The coach should
encourage everyone to express themselves honestly
about team standards, feelings, and expectations.
Encourage your athletes to communicate both their
compliments and complaints. An open-door policy
demonstrates to everyone that you are interested in
seeing how the team members are doing and feeling.
Coaches expect the athlete to listen to all
directives, but a coach must also possess a keen
ability to listen. Listening shows that you care
what your team members are saying and that their
thoughts and feelings are important. The athletes
should feel comfortable expressing their opinion
when asked. I try to make it clear that there are
appropriate times and places to address issues on
which an athlete does not agree with the coach. If
an athlete disagrees with something I have done, or
wants to question a coaching decision I have made, I
prefer that she comes to me to discuss her concern
on a one-on-one basis. Because this discussion is
about my thoughts and hers, it should occur away
from the team.
Athletes often find it difficult to approach their
coaches with questions that require a clear yes or
no answer. I’m not sure why this happens, but it may
be the result of an intimidation factor combined
with the obvious fear of hearing the dreaded “no.”
It is my philosophy to say yes whenever I can. If an
athlete comes to me with a legitimate question and
is passionate about something that she is proposing,
then I will back her by saying yes. As a coach, I
know the athlete has certain wants and needs, and by
working together, listening, and asking, a win–win
situation is created.
Touch People’s Lives
As I look back at the players I have coached, I am
rewarded by their success in coaching and in life.
Many of my players have gone on to coach teams of
all ages and are sharing their love of the sport. I
know these women are making a positive imprint on
the young lives they touch because I know the kind
of athletes they were when they played for me.
Coaches need to use the influence they have on their
athletes to help them make good life decisions. I
try to influence the athletes in a way that helps
them increase all positives in their lives. I want
our team to be filled with women of character; the
ideal athlete for our program is one who is caring,
dedicated, and a team player. I want our program to
be highly professional and a class operation. I want
the team to play the game the way it should be
played, graceful in victory and defeat. If your
athletes can walk away from your program feeling
they have learned important life tools that will
help them in the future, then you have done your
job.
On the field, I stress leadership and
responsibility. These two characteristics are
critical not only in sports but also throughout
life. If I demand these things from my athletes,
they will take these values with them out onto the
field and also into life situations. They will all
leave having learned some valuable lessons and with
some newly found strength to face future challenges.
Our mission as coaches is simple: We will challenge
the athlete to be a winner in all that she does,
because we’re not just teaching her lessons for
softball . . . we’re teaching her lessons for life.
- Keep in mind that it doesn’t matter that much who’s on the other side
of the field. We have to control what we can do,
and if we play up to our full potential and do
our best, then the results will take care of
themselves.
- Do not overlook an opponent. Our goal is to
play at our full potential all of the time.
- Try to earn respect from your opponent and
in rankings and on a national level. (I want our
players to know that we will teach them how to
compete at the very highest level.)
- Know that we are going to play to win and we
will back it up with performance.
- Be mentally and physically tough, cool under
fire, and make great decisions. We must have a
killer instinct, an instinct of putting people
away.
- Be a leader, be committed to the game, and
don’t overlook any opponents. Have a very
businesslike approach.
I guarantee that my players will work harder than
they ever have, but I also promise that the coaches
will all work hard to make the game of softball fun
for them. I assure the players that they will be
treated with respect and dignity at all times, and
that we will place a high priority on character. As
coaches, we never know how and when we will make an
impact on our players’ lives, but if we give them
every opportunity to grow and develop life skills,
we have touched their lives in a positive way.
Have Fun
Martha Ewing and Vern Seefeldt of the Youth Sports
Institute of Michigan State University conducted a
study with the cooperation of school systems in 11
cities. Questionnaires were filled out by more than
10,000 young people, aged 10 to 18. The study
underlined a number of truths about children and
sports:
- Fun is pivotal; if it is not “fun,” young people won’t play a sport.
- Skill development is a crucial aspect of fun
and is more important than winning, even among
the best athletes.
- The most rewarding challenges of sports are
those that lead to self-knowledge.
- Intrinsic rewards are more important in
creating lifetime athletes than are ex-trin-sic
rewards. Intrinsic rewards include the
self-knowledge that develops out of
self-competition, and extrinsic rewards include
victory or attention from others.
Remember these “truths,” and plan activities with
them in mind. Try to keep the fun in all practices,
and encourage laughter and smiles. When the coach
laughs and smiles, the team relaxes and executes
with less stress. Laughter is a great reliever of
pressure. Give your players a reason to smile at
practice, during warm-up, and in games. If the team
plays hard and smart and yet loses, the athletes may
not be satisfied with the ending, but somewhere
within the game they will have experienced
enjoyment. If athletes play hard and smart, they
will have more fun than if they do not.
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