Coaches hold the key to make or break a teams success. Coaches that have poor interpersonal skills, have huge egos, don't care about their student athletes and just use power to bully their way with the athletes put a sour taste in the mouths of the players. On the flip side, a great coach inspires, motivates, leads, guides, teaches and mentors his or her players. They can inspire a love of the game and a life long relationship with the players they impact. There are plenty of good sports coaches out there that keep the season humming along, but it’s those great sports coaches that kids (and parents) will remember and love forever. Here are four things those great sports coaches have in common that make student/athletes want to play for them.
1- They love to teach: A great coach loves to teach the sport and does so with passion. They use the game and its learning to teach life skills, build relationships and build the skills of each individual athlete. They inspire the players and coaching staff to get better by sharing knowledge, experience and the background they have attained from that sport.
2- They take time to build relationships with each individual and learns their skill set: Great coaches can take average players and make them very good or even great. Great coaches see things in the players and maximize their potential to be successful as a student athlete. They build on the strengths, coach up the areas of opportunity and put the player in a position to be successful.
3- They are passionate about the game, the athlete and life: Great coaches build programs by getting those around them to buy in and work hard. Great coaches show passion for the game, passion for the players and the organization. Their passion trickles down into the organization, the coaching staff and locker room which creates a winning attitude and high expectations driven by the coaches passion.
4- They have very high expectations: Great coaches have extremely high expectations of themselves, the players, the staff, families and community. They set the tone from day one and hold everyone accountable to team rules and are very consistent with the way they deal with people. They are goal driven, want to win, show passion and expect results.
I have been blessed to work with what I consider great coaches. In my opinion, you do not have to be a national championship coach, state title level coach or have all time winning records to be great. I think you need to have the above traits to be or become a great coach. You can also apply these to regular life, work, career, family and how you play.
As my dad once told me, "find something you love and do it with al your heart, passion and commit to the process" and the rest will take care of itself.
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