A COACH CAN instill pride, boost team morale and inspire athletes by setting a good example. To truly motivate athletes, a coach must respect others if he, in turn, expects to receive that same type of respect.
Don Coryell, the former head coach of the San Diego Chargers once said:
“The country is full of good coaches. What it takes to win is a bunch of interested and committed players.”
There’s no doubt that team success happens faster when players are interested and committed to the program and the goals that you’ve set for them. The coach’s job becomes easier. Not every team or program is blessed with great athletes each year. Therefore your job as coach is to develop a positive and winning atmosphere.
Many coaches have developed “formulas for winning” or have created “strategies for success.” But the foundations for success involve hard work, dedication, teaching, developing relationships and a positive mental attitude.
Building Around The Motivated
Every team possesses highly motivated athletes, but those athletes may not always be the most gifted ones. The coach’s job is to build your program around the highly motivated players who show the most heart — no matter their talent level.
In the long run, success is reached faster when you follow this formula. Be willing to spend the time, learn your craft, build relationships and remain loyal to one another. It’s been said that “we’re all born with ability, but success is achieved through hard work, dedication, common goals and a positive direction.”
It’s the job of every member of the coaching staff to encourage a positive attitude with the players, develop their skills, work them hard on the field and love them to death off the field. For true success to take place, your staff must build confidence. Encourage commitment, seek loyalty, instill enthusiasm and accept each person in the program as part of the “family.”
If a coach truly desires success, then you must take the potential you have and mold it into a positive reflection of your team’s personality. Everyone is going to have to put forth the effort for this to take place.
Teddy Roosevelt once said,“Today, do the best you can, with what you have, where you are at.”
As a coaching staff you must make an effort to know the goals of your players. Be interested in their lives. Encourage positive behavior and correct behavior that is not beneficial to either them or to the team.
Encourage hustle and communicate openly and honestly with the players. Seek to make each opportunity with the players and staff a positive experience. Praise players more often than you chew them out.
Promptness, organization, enthusiasm, promotion of skill development are musts for a successful coaching staff.
Unity Is Key
Woodrow Wilson, prior to declaring war on Germany in 1917, said, “We cannot be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end.”
There will be differences of opinions, ideas and direction. But to achieve the goal of constant success, your entire team — players and staff — must be united. Loyalty, dedication and respect for each other will help instill this concept into your program. Cooperation involves risk, but seeking to work together you will achieve more and your players will benefit from your efforts. Abraham Maslow once said, “Life is an ongoing process between safety and risk.”
Coaching is not an easy profession. You’re expected to be a friend, counselor, teacher and sometimes even a “parent” for your players. And you probably do not make a wage that equals the hours and work that you put in as a coach, but if you seek the most of every opportunity and seek to make a “masterpiece” of the players under your supervision, then it will all be worth it in the end.