by Mike Davenport, Coaching Sports Today
Your reflection gives a perspective of how you look.
Of how other people will see you.
Looking deeper into that mirror you will see the most important person you will ever coach.
Yep, it’s you.
That’s a foreign concept to some coaches. They are quick to structure a practice. Correct an issue. Devise a strategy. For athletes. But glacially slow to construct methods of improvement for themselves.
Why it that?
- busy
- tired
- overwhelmed
- frustrated
The list is long of why it happens. “It” being coaches not taking care of themselves. Ignoring their own program-of-development.
Coach Yourself
I’ve been there, and done it.
And I can tell you that not coaching yourself will reduce your effectiveness as a coach—cut short your tenure.
And an interesting point of coaching is we often believe the athletes respond mostly to words—that’s how we get our messages across to them. Right?
Nope. Athletes are perceptive and they get coaching messages from what they see, as much, if not more so, than from what they hear.
So the coach who:
- comes to practice tired, yawning, without enough sleep, is sending a message to his team that they see loud and clear
- the coach who eats poorly, out of shape, overweight, sets an example
It comes down to this…Coach, you have to coach yourself.
You are the most important person. As they say on the airplane, “Adults, put your mask on first…”