From good to great coach

Ill never forget my first day as coach. There I was, faced with a dozen kids looking to me for direction and instruction. I remember thinking: What do I do now? How did I get myself into this? I know a lot about sports, but Ive never coached.These sentiments are likely to flash through the mind of every sports teacher or coach on his first day in a brand new coaching role. You land up at the field or court and gather eager-to-learn children around you. Once that is accomplished — and all eyes are on you — what do you do next? If you have no idea, you are in trouble. You have failed to prepare. Preparation is one of the most important lessons you should give to your students. Preparation leads to self-confidence and success. And more often than you think, children pick up the importance of preparation — they figure out that theres a process, a process that transfers to the classroom and everything else — whether its a play, a project or test. But lets assume you arrive prepared. You have drawn upon memories of coaches you looked up to. You have recalled creative and fun drills, and choice bits of advice. And, perhaps more impor-tant, you have been a keen observer of your own child-rens coaches — of how they run training sessions, prac-tices and communicate their philosophy of sports! And youve learned the impor-tance of being a good role model. A good coach learns from other coaches. Once you are prepared with a gameplan — an idea of how you are going to spend your time with your players or athletes — you can begin sharing your basic values and philosophy with your trainees. For example, are you a win-at-all-costs person? If not, how do you communicate the all-round personality and character development opportunities that sports participation and education offer? Allow me to suggest my philosophy: FUN. If your players or students arent having fun while engaging in a game or sport, theres something wrong with your coaching style or system. After graduating from Stanford University, I was drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors. I turned away from that opportunity, opting instead to earn a couple of graduate degrees. Looking back I often wonder why I chose that option. With the benefit of hindsight, its now clear I had been so focused on winning that I never learned to really enjoy playing basketball. Since then as coach, I have spent — and continue to spend my time — steering others around this pitfall. However, ensuring that practice and the on-field sports experience is fun is easier said than done. The quality and quantity of fun derived by players is determined by their coach. And Im not talking about goofy fun. Competent coaches set a positive, buoyant tone as they coach their wards. Ive witnessed too many coaches exerting excessive pressure on students. Children or youth subjected to extreme pressure will never realise their full potential,…