That feeling you had when you told your kid "Sure kid, I'll coach your team" is now long gone and you find yourself sitting at the coaches meeting in the dead of winter. All you can think of is that you haven't thought much about whatever sport it is you volunteered for since you were 13 and have no clue where to start. Your wife (or husband) thinks you are crazy for volunteering and your kid has hopes for a championship ring.
The league gives you a packet of info with some rules and a roster and tells you good luck and have fun. They also mention, though everyone in the room snickers that coaching isn't about winning but about giving your kids a good experience. As you leave, you overhear several other coaches talking about specific kids (none whom you have never heard of) and you start to wonder what you have gotten yourself into.
Sound familiar?
It should, because I believe it is the common experience most of us have when our children are old enough to play organized sports andwe are dumb enopugh to volunteer. I remember volunteering to coach tee-ball for my 2nd grade girl a few years ago and found myself scared to death at that first practice, eager faces looking up at me and me thinking to myself, what am I doing here!
Relax. It is going to be Ok. I'm here to try to help. I'm going to talk about the basics on this blog and focus on the learning part of coaching, not the winning (for real!). Over the next few posts, I'll outline some best practices and insights from my own experiences. Take what I say with a grain of salt of course, but use what you like with your own child and the rest of your team to provide them with a great experience so that they not only enjoy themselves, but will want to play again next season (and pray that they get you as coach again!).
Stay tuned for some upcoming posts on:
- Tryouts and drafting players (typically starts around 4th grade)
- Developing a real practice plan
- Setting yourself for success by managing parents upfront
- Dealing with over aggressive coaches
- Dealing with over aggressive kids on your team
- How to pick as assistant coach
- How to manage the roster (literally, a template)
- Reviews of coaching aids and tools
- Reviews of team web sites
- More... much more!
I'm so excited to write this blog I can hardly contain myself. If you are interested in co-authoring posts, please do contact me right away!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment