Every seasoned coach has two things: a playbook and a coaching toolbox. At the WCA Leadership Academy we give coaches playbooks with sports tactics and strategies. But for first-time coaches, the sport is the easy part. Most have played the sport they signed up to coach extensively, so they already know the plays. With this in mind, we take time to build their toolbox, filling it with coaching and managing techniques they can use throughout the season. Building the toolbox is the most important. These are the five tools I focus on when coaching first-time coaches.
Tool #1 Past Experience – When coaches arrive at the Leadership Academy, I open up my toolbox and talk about how past experiences with the sport are the foundation of the toolbox. In addition to playing the sport, they have all been coached in some capacity, so these experiences, good or bad, are their first tools.
Tool #2 Creating Team Culture – At the Academy we model how coaches establish emotional and physical safety for their players. We teach coaches how to check in with themselves before practice using scaling questions so they are aware of the energy they bring. We talk about how to create team agreements with youth players, or if players are very young, we train coaches to lay ground rules for the team. These tools build rapport with players from the very first practice.
Tool #3 Communication Strategies – A large part of the Academy focuses on communication. We talk about presence and body language, since most of what coaches communicate is non-verbal. Coaches write a coach introduction and practice using their coaching voice to introduce themselves to their team. We cover best practices for communicating with both players and parents, as well as strategies for resolving conflicts when team agreements are challenged. By the end of the Academy, coaches leave with a set of words and phrases they have practiced using, so they feel confident addressing anything that comes up with their teams.
Tool #4 Planning and Running an Efficient Practice – All first-time coaches have been to some type of practice before, but many haven’t noticed how practices are structured. At the Academy we talk about how a prepared coach is a successful coach, and this starts with a practice plan. I go over the elements of a good practice plan and how to organize their time with the team. We give them tools to manage the team’s energy so they know when to move on to the next drill or game. We want players to have fun and feel like they are improving, so we give coaches tools to keep players engaged while at practice.
Tool #5 Teaching Sports Skills and Life Skills – At the WCA, we train coaches to teach both sports skills and life skills through play. When planning practices, we encourage coaches to use familiar playground games and adapt them to the sport. For example, when players play tag while dribbling a ball, they move, have fun, and work on footwork and conditioning at the same time. We also show coaches how to promote critical thinking by asking players questions like, “What did you notice?” or “What strategy could we try to make this go smoother?” Positive youth development is central to coaching, so we encourage coaches to emphasize our four C’s, Confidence, Connection, Competence, and Character, whenever possible.
My hope is that by the end of the Academy our first-time coaches feel like their toolboxes are filled with practical tools they can use with their teams. A full coaching toolbox leads to a confident coach.
