Coaching Philosophy

III. Coaching Philosophy

            Throughout my lifetime, athletics have been a huge part of my life, giving me the opportunity to interact with others, develop my skills, and find lifetime hobbies.  As a coach, I believe in 4 ideas that help me successfully develop my teams which are: practice harder than you play, respect others like you would like to be respected, design practices for optimal use, and provide my students with enough knowledge, skills, plays and corrective feedback to become successful in that sport.

            As a coach, I believe that the work you put in during practice, relates directly to game play.  Being able to conduct a practice that is working on the needs of each player will benefit the team.  Similar to an educator, the coach is responsible for making sure his team knows the plays and rules before they get to an actual game.  Doing drills where the team is working together to accomplish a task, will help make them become a better overall team.  It’s the coach’s job to make sure his players are practicing hard, but at the same time correcting and improving their skills.

            In athletics respect is a huge characteristic that some people have, and some don’t.  As coach, I will make sure my team is respectful to themselves, to myself, and to the opposing team.  It’s important that the players know, sports are about the experience, not the win or loss.  During practice time would be great to reinforce the rule, respect others how you want to be respected. 

            While coaching any sport, it’s important to plan ahead so the practice runs as smoothly as possible.  Depending on the school, the athletic facility may be good or in poor condition, either way, it’s the coach’s responsibility to optimize his facility and equipment for maximum participation.  The coach needs to be evaluating their player’s strengths and weaknesses throughout practice and games, which will then decide what needs to be worked on during future practices. 

            One of the most crucial parts of being a coach, is being able to recognize what the athlete is doing wrong and also able to know the correct way to fix it.  As a coach, you need to give you players enough plays, drills and knowledge about the game so they can become successful.  Being able to tell individual players what to work on or correct, and give them specific drills to do, they can not only work on it in practice, but outside of school as well.

            A coach is not just a leader of the team; they are also educators of the sport.  Having the ability to improve the skills of players is a great motivator to become the best coach possible.