5 Things New Coaches Must Know

  • November 22nd, 2018
  • Tom Bean

As a new coach, you're suddenly in charge and everyone is looking towards you for guidance. Although daunting at times, coaching is an enormously rewarding experience and is a great opportunity for you to enjoy passing on your knowledge to develop others into successful sportspeople.

Aside from coming up with new ideas and planning sessions, there are plenty of other things which your new role as a coach entails.

Here are the top 5 things all new coaches need to know...

Build a rapport with everyone

Coaching, first and foremost is about creating relationships with people. The backbone of being a successful coach is how you interact with your players. Whether it's taking the time to get to know each individual or simply using a nickname for them, developing a rapport will give everybody a sense of worth.

An situation where people feel relaxed around each other will make for a healthy learning environment and will make dealing with tough situations much easier.

Know their motivation

Understanding why your players play the sport and what they're looking to achieve is vital in recognising what kind of culture to create and how you approach it. Your methods and your manner must shift depending on what they want from the sport; children's motivations will differ from elite, top level athletes and everyone else in between.

Create a culture, tailored to the groups incentives and remember every side will vary.

They love the game, give them more reason to love it

Being a coach is about giving people the platform to express themselves. Players come to your sessions because they love the sport, yet during more mundane practices, there will be tension towards you as a coach; but fon't fear disputes. Make your players recognise the value in all the practices and use conflict to motivate your players to fuel their passion.

Give players the opportunity to revel in activity and don't quash their appetite with a demotivating environment.

Be ready to adjust

Regardless of how healthy your environment is, how strong your rapport is with players and how much they love the game, the unexpected will always spring up. We know how much work goes into preparing your sessions, but make sure you're ready to change if the numbers are right, or some equipment is broken.

Having a contingency plan for when the unexpected does come, you can adapt calmly and solve the problem effectively.

Maintain a consistent level

As a coach, everyone looks towards you in all situations; being level-headed in success, defeat and everything between is vital. When praising, be sure to praise the effort; this will make players recognise how effort will improve development rather than it coming without the work. Dealing with defeat is all about maintaining harmony within your team and keeping motivation levels high. At times, this will mean having to take some blame yourself in a dignified way.

By remaining composed regardless of the situation, you become a role model for the team to follow. Having a role model as a leader, players will enjoy learning from you and apply themselves to develop as effectively as possible.

As a new coach will soon discover, the role is not just about inspiration and planning, actually there are numerous aspects aside from the technical stuff that you need to know.