Coaching lessons...

I came across this because of John Kessel at USA Volleyball.  It isn't his--he took it from Australia's Rugby League Coaching Manual, going back to 1993 (because of that...some of the suggestions will seem quaint, given modern technology).  This does not lessen ANY of its value.

I'd add that I think that's one of the important things that is often missed with coaching--how much you can learn from other sports and how they approach teaching, teamwork, and competition.

1. Plan
2. Develop communication skills and never stop trying to improve them.
3. Learn to effectively utilize the Internet and email.
4. Never stop learning. Learning is life.
5. Be open minded. Never say never.
6. What you may lack in knowledge, make up for with enthusiasm, desire and passion
7. Be a role model for your athletes
8. Accept constructive criticism as a positive. Learn from mistakes, take steps to improve from the experience and move on.
9. Allocate time every day for personal health and fitness.
10. Keep a detailed diary and record work actually done by athletes not just what was planned to be done.
11. Embrace effective change.
12. Use sport science wisely. The art of coaching drives the science of performance.
13. Seek out information - don't wait for the "secret to success" to fall into your lap.
14. Coach with your heart but don't forget the basics. Secure adequate training facilities, keep good records, observe O.H. and S. principles, maintain a commitment to safety and equity. Having the ‘nuts and bolts' organised allows you to focus on what you do best - working with athletes.
15. Believe in your athletes - they believe in you.
16. Steal ideas from other sports (& improve on them)
17. Strive to make yourself redundant - develop independent athletes
18. Listen with your eyes and watch with your ears.
19. Attitude + application + ability = achievement
20. Coach the person not the athlete. Coach the person not the performance
21. Develop a network and support structure. Be a resource manager
22. Best, better, brilliant - there's always room for improvement
23. What you believe will happen will happen. What the mind can conceive it will achieve.
24. Persistence pays - never give up
25. Learn basic business skills. Understand the basics of insurance. Be familiar with legal liability. Understand the basics of taxation and the GST. Make coaching your business.
26. Give an ounce of information and a ton of practice
27. Communicate - clearly, concisely, calmly, constructively, consistently and cleverly.
28. Seek out a critical friend - they are your greatest asset.
29. Help develop your sport not just your current athletes.
30. Mix with successful people - success breeds success
31. Delegate, delegate, delegate - give athletes, assistants, parents and officials responsibility for aspects of your (their) program.
32. Enthusiasm, encouragement, energy = excellence
33. Look for things to improve in yourself.
34. Have fun - life is short. It takes 20 years to become an overnight success. Successful coaches have a combination of experience, skill,
education and practice, developed ways and means of getting the best out of themselves and their athletes.
35. It's easy to coach athletes when they are performing well. Do you have the ability to help athletes deal with the tough times.
36. Focus on the long term even when trying to achieve in the short term.
37. Contribute to the development of other coaches. You may learn from teaching and students are often the best teachers of all.
38. Listen to your athletes.
39. Develop peripheral vision - in your mind.
40. Present information at coaching courses and workshops. Be willing to share.
41. Treat athletes like customers - coaching is the ultimate in client service.
42. Read journals from alternative industries and seek out principles that you can apply to sporting situations
43. Be flexible in your methods.
44. Embrace the principle, ‘For the love of it, not the money in it!'
45. Athletes develop confidence through competence. Nothing develops confidence like a thorough preparation.
46. Constantly challenge yourself and your athletes
47. Create a safe, stimulating, interesting training environment where athletes enjoy coming to train.
48. In preparing athletes: leave nothing to chance, nothing untested, don't rely on luck, make your own!
49. Subscribe to Sports Coach!!!
50. Do your homework. Know the strengths and weaknesses of your athletes, yourself, your opposition. Know the standards - what are the
world records, national records, state records, regional records, club records - what are your goals?
51. Look to help athletes achieve their best - no matter what that level is. Not all athletes want to be the world champion.
52. Be innovative. Be creative. Dare to be different.
53. Try not to overcoach. You don't need to talk all the time.
54. Never lose confidence in yourself. You can do it!
55. Encourage your athlete to have ownership of the program.
56. Maintain good appearance - look like a professional.
57. Technology is your ally not your enemy. Use it wisely.
58. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Mental toughness is still a key component of competition.
59. Adopt the D.R.A.M.A. approach, 'Do, Record, Analyse, Modify, Act.'
60. Confront problems calmly by talking directly with the athlete - don't rely on rumour, relayed messages or other second hand methods of
communication. If a message CAN BE misinterpreted it ALREADY HAS BEEN.
61. Empathise don't sympathise.
62. Keep the reasons you coach at the forefront of your mind and your goals close to your heart.
63. Desire - keep the dream alive - every day. Motivation is a lifestyle not a one-off event.
64. What makes a great coach? - Great athletes!
65. Be firm and fair.
66. Build your program around the five Es: EQUITY - ENJOYMENT - EXCELLENCE - EMPATHY and EMPOWERMENT.
67. Share a joke - not sarcasm - just a funny joke when appropriate.
68. Field questions and throw back answers. Challenge athletes to discover the answers for themselves and to learn lessons.
69. Observe, ponder, respond - be an observer of human behaviour.
70. Share experiences willingly.
71. Establish open and effective communication with all stakeholders - parents, athletes, administrators, officials and important others.
72. When in doubt, pause and check it out. Don't be afraid to say ‘I don't know.'
73. Employ actions that minimise risk. The primary responsibility of all coaches is the SAFETY of their athletes.
74. Encourage your athlete recovering from injury involve them in the program in some capacity.
75. Be aware of and carry out your legal responsibilities.
76. Efficient coaches take responsibility for their own effectiveness.
77. Self reflection is your constant companion: be your own best critic but strive to be objective rather than self destructive.
78. Recognise the contribution of others - players, parents, officials, assistants - everyone enjoys being appreciated.
79. Recognise, publicise and reward. Praise in public - criticise in private.
80. Lead front the front and support from the rear.
81. The coach is the creator of positive experiences.
82. Proper prior planning prevents pitifully poor performance.
83. Praise and positive reinforcement are tools for the coach.
84. Think about what you say before you say it. Then watch for reactions to your words before saying anything else.
85. Body language replaces many words: it's not what you say but how you say it.
86. A nod is as good as a wink.
87. Coaching is a two way process: The athlete feels but can't see - the coach sees but can't feel.
88. Get to know something personal about your athletes. They are people who have chosen to play sport: not just sportspeople.
89. Holistically challenge your athlete - mental skills can be developed just like physical skills.
90. Athletes listen when the coach listens to them.
91. Know when to say NO.
92. Demonstrate, explain, demonstrate again, practice and give constructive feedback.
93. Concentrate on the performance not the outcome.
94. Process goals (how to achieve) should predominate over outcome goals (what to achieve).
95. Facilitate motivation by allowing athletes to fulfil their goals in some way at every session.
96. Coach your athletes to distinguish between attainable and unobtainable but to never stop dreaming of what's possible.
97. Buy a video and refine your filming and reviewing skills.
98. Sports officials give your athletes the best opportunity to achieve the best result - work alongside them
99. To coach well you'll need to know the CURRENT interpretation of your sports rules and regulations.
100. Coaches have a great opportunity to easily expand their social circle - you'll never be lonely.
101. Last year's programs produce last year's results. Resist the temptation to coach by routine or habit.

Things I've Learned Coaching Volleyball

I've done something like this before, but as we approach the end of pre-season, I thought I should remind myself:

1. You don't win as an individual in a team sport.  The team wins and everyone is part of that.
2. Much like theater, there are no small roles--only small people.  The player who succeeds in very specific circumstances is just as important as the player in for six rotations.  Strive for a bigger part, but take care of business for the sake of the team.
3. Sports are better when you are having fun.
4. Coaches need to be grateful for what they have--for D-1 coaches complaining about flying commercial, remember me sitting on a charter bus...and I haven't forgotten the D-3 coaches driving vans OR the high school teams on school buses with no leg room and no A/C on 90-degree days.
5. Young people learn better by doing, not just standing and being lectured.  I need to continue to teach using different ways.
6. In a successful season, I learn as much from my players as they learn from me.
7. This year I've already learned that I *can* change.  It's hard breaking habits, but it's not bad or wrong to do so.
8. For every coach out there who is win-at-all-costs and willing to cut corners, there are a dozen doing it for the right reasons, maybe more.
9. Volleyball is a game.  It can help teach life lessons, but it is not life. 
10. Stand behind a cart if throwing/hitting balls that will be hit back hard...safety tip #54 right there.
11. It is possible to work, get a ton of stuff done, AND have fun at the same time.  Done wrong, you can work, not have fun, and not accomplish anything.
12. You win with people.  You can have a ton of talent, but if the talent won't work, won't be a team...you won't win.
13. I'm not going to be a billionaire this lifetime.
14. I need more confidence.  I need to realize I'm actually semi-competent as a coach...that I have//can/will make a difference to people.  It won't change the world drastically, but in time...oh yes, in time....
15. The players I've had trouble with inevitably have troublesome parents.
16. At crunch time, I didn't compromise my ethics/integrity--not at Satan's School for Girls and Boys and not in building LLCC's program.  Programs can have success with integrity--it doesn't need to be one or the other.

http://www.championshipproductions.com/cgi-bin/champ/p/Performance-Training/The-Human-Side-of-Coaching_GB-00939.html  --Call me biased, but I think this is a great book for coaches written by me (see? Now you get my bias).  Don't expect magic drills...this is about working with parents and administrators, using teaching theory (even if you aren't a teacher) to improve training, and even how to work with multi-sport athletes.  Most important--it's easy to read!

Always a bigger fish....(Grow the game)

So I'm in the middle of running tournaments at Lincoln Land.  My players and I do a great job of running things smoothly--from concessions to getting band aids for players to officiating and line judging.  I demand excellence and they have come through.  Our tournaments are BAR NONE the best summer tournaments in the state, maybe the Midwest.

So today, when we were done, I got a chance to spend some time with the USAV High Performance materials since I'm heading to Las Vegas Monday to work with the Future Select athletes. (It's a nice link and generally correct stuff....)

My brain hurts from it--in a good way.  I need to learn about 100 pages of material, from terms to drills to other procedures, and I realized today (on my third go-through of everything)--I'm clueless.  I don't know this stuff to the point of mastering it or the point where I am comfortable running it.  And you know what?  That's a scary thing to me--especially as I enter my 25th year involved with volleyball.

25 years and to be sitting, studying material and get that moment of "My God, I'm totally lost and clueless"--it's a humbling feeling.  Scary.  Because I know rationally that I DO know a ton of volleyball (otherwise, why would they select me to do this in the first place).  It's intimidating to see the work in this and the attention to detail--more than I can do for my program, though sadly the US national program has more resources available than I do at LLCC....

Things will be fine--it was only a moment of panic.  I won't be in charge because I'm new to their system.  They expect me to learn as we go--and they'll expect more next year if I am selected to assist again.  So I WILL be fine.

But it got me thinking--there's always a bigger fish in the sea, someone who is better or knows more.  Right now, the US is a volleyball powerhouse, a rival to Brazil at the very top of the sport.  There's much further to fall than there is to rise.  It would be easy for US volleyball to rest on its laurels and enjoy being a top dog.  But that's not how it works.

The people on top of USA Volleyball's administration--they're looking for ways to improve themselves, the coaching, the philosophy, how they deal with athletes--everything.  And they put just as much attention into the 10yr olds as they do the 18yr olds, the lower skilled players as well as the ones destined for international tournaments?  Why?  Why not focus on the top 10-12 in an age group?  Because a rising tide lifts all boats, that's why.

They are constantly looking to improve the system, improve the coaching--a constant process that I now get to be part of.  The US staff are looking for ways to continue winning, aware of the difficulties involved--but even at the top, those coaches STILL strive to improve themselves.

So I'll be fine--and I'll come back a better coach, and I'll help make those 32 kids better volleyball players, and I'll come home to LLCC and help my players and my club coaches and players grow within the game, and those 32 athletes will go home and do likewise--they'll share with their teammates, push them to get better, and bit by bit, inch by inch, the tide will rise and we'll improve volleyball across America!