Qualities of a Successful Coach

What are the qualities of a successful coach?  Bill McCartney, former football player and coach stated, “All coaching is, is taking a player where he can’t take himself.”  Merriam Webster defines coach as - one who instructs players in the fundamentals of a sport and directs a team strategy1.  Merriam defines success - as favorable or desired outcome.1 I can still remember my coaches from “back in the day”. I remember the invested coaches, the ones who were there for the athletes, the coaches that inspired and motivated us to work hard for them, and we did, because we did not want to disappoint them.  I also remember the unpleasant coaches, these coaches acted as if they didn’t enjoy their profession, perhaps they made the wrong career choice - they were impatient, unapproachable, lacked understanding, intimidating, and I personally avoided those coaches every time I possibly could.

 A successful coach, should exhibit influential qualities that are transparent for players, fans, and assistant coaches to witness,  and desire to be led by.

Five Necessary Qualities

• Commitment - “Coaching is a commitment of your time to the development of players both on and off the field.”3
• Commitment to the athlete-to deliver their finest for each athlete regardless of their talent
• Commitment to the University, School, or Organization they are pledged to
• Commitment to the sport-to coach their sport with integrity and devotion

• Organization - Is meticulous in both planning and preparation2 “The 5P’s Proper-Planning-Prevent-Poor-Performance” Tony Stigliano, Mentor and Assigner of Collegiate Officials
• To design practices
• To prepare a strategy for each competition
• Train players physically and mentally to compete to their capacity

• Motivators - coaches perform an important role in recognizing how to motivate their team “What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle and giving 110% all the time” - Don Zimmer American Football Player
• Using positive motivation encourages them to choose to execute their finest.
• Recognizing when players require to be motivated and in what way to motivate them

• Patience - is a virtue, and a necessity when coaching young athletes “He that can have patience can have what he will” - Benjamin Franklin
• Self-control - coaches ought to be able to control their emotions, players simulate their coaches
• Coaches need to allow their athletes to be able to make mistakes and be taught from their errors, establishing a self-confident athlete
• Discipline be certain to make the punishment fit the crime, and be consistent with all players    

• Leadership - power and the ability to lead others.  

“Leaders are not born they are made just like anything else, through hard work. That is the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal or any goal” -Vince Lombardi, NFL Hall of Fame football coach

Leaders, Coaches, play a vital role in the development and influence of an athletes in their attitude toward teammates, opponents,  handling success and defeat.

Three Leadership Styles

1.  Task Oriented - coaches that are goal oriented, they are on a mission to accomplish the desired goal.

2. People Oriented - coaches are concerned about relationships and how to develop those relationships with their players, parents, and assistant coaches.

3. People/Task Oriented - the combination of the two orientations above, are the more desired coaches, these coaches make each person around them feel important while remaining on track to accomplish their desired goal.2  

 My wife and I have been blessed with four children, both of us being ex-athletes we expected our children to be as well.  I choose to stay involved with sports and she did not, therefore I was assigned the privilege/challenge of coaching our children.  As their coach, I have been their critic and their advocate, and some days both in the same breath, I have been taught patience for each learned have differently, I made the commitment to be a steward of the game to teach them the proper mechanics and fundamentals of each sport, I had to learn how to motivate each, they were all responded differently to my motivational methods and had to learn what worked best for each of them.  To be a good coach you have to willing to learn yourself because each team will be different.  Nonetheless I am certain that each of my children have received some sort of benefit from my teachings, perhaps, in how they should or should coach their children in the future.  Now that my youngest is in Junior High, I have reached the final stretch of my coaching hurdle, and I do look forward to passing the torch of knowledge that I have collected from my peers, from my research, and from coaching all their sports.  I also pray that my children have learned from my mistakes and only share my positive coaching attributes with their young athletes.  

Coaching has been a spectacular life lesson and has taught me a number of valuable life lessons - I have enjoyed the positive influence on the young athlete and leadership influence on my teams.  I have also taken great pride in planning our practices, coaching fundamentals, demonstrating a winning attitude, establishing sportsmanship, and greatest love of all is watching all my athletes grow from children to young adults.

References

1 Merriam-Webster
Dictionary. (n.d.). Athlete. Retrieved from:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/athlete

2 North, C. (2015). Description of a Good Sports Leader. LiveStrong.com. Retrieved from: http://www.livestrong.com/article/485675-the-importance-of-rules-in-sports/

3 5 Characteristics of a Successful Youth Basketball Coach. (2016). USA-Basketball. Retrieved from: https://www.usab.com/youth/news/2015/05/5-characteristics-of-a-successful-youth-basketball-coach.aspx