What Coaches Need

By: Darren Marchizano


Being an effective winning team takes more than teaching the basics, especially from the coach. You have a duty to the children or youth that are playing to guide them by finding whatever they need and enhancing it. The job description that you aren't given when you decide to become a coach is what gaps you will have to fill in order to make sure that everyone is playing at their best all of the time.

The number one rule that any coach needs to keep in mind is that one of their main goals is to get the team to understand what the goals are. This begins by teaching the fundamentals of any game. From here, you will be able to see what everyone needs in order to support their individual abilities to play. By seeing the techniques that are there, and adding on your own, you can create a well rounded team.

If you are coaching a team through a practice or a game, you want to make sure that you see what they need beyond the basic techniques. This is one of the most important aspects of coaching any team. If you see that the team is losing and is starting to get down on energy because of it, you will need to step in and make sure that they become motivated. You will need to find ways to uplift spirits, help push through the rest of the game, and encourage their abilities.

This same type of attitude should be kept in other situations as well, but may mean taking a different angle in what you are telling your players. For example, if you see a player falling behind in a practice, you might not want to invoke extra encouragement in them. They may need to hear something that is more compassionate and effective in a different way. The goal that you want to reach with every individual player is to make sure that they hear what they need to in order to inspire them to the end.

Of course, there is always the danger of over coaching during a game or practice. Even though you want to offer insights to all of your players, doing too much can discourage them. There is a thin line of being able to coach players and deciding when to let them go into the game without the guidance. If you coach too much, it may cause discouragement, extra pressure and inability to perform to the best of capacity by the players.

If you are beginning a coaching job, you will quickly find that one of your important roles is to fill in what the players don't see. Sometimes this comes as teaching basic physical practices, while other times it may mean reaching the players on different mental levels. No matter what you see in every situation, it is your job to step up and make sure that everyone else has the same vision.


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