What Kind Of Coach Are You?
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” Kevin Sims, United Soccer Coaches President.
Your core values are a reflection of what you do during the planning of every practice, training your players, and coaching every game. On and off the field your habits represent who you are and what are your beliefs.
Are your core values and vision known to your players, parents, and coaching community? Only when these are documented and shared, can you be measured against your vision.
Best Kept Secret
I have always believed my coaching principles adopt a player-centered approach with an aim to support through the following.
- Engagement – games and/or activities for all training
- Education – teaching by guiding through use of questions
- Empowerment – positive support and praise
- Embrace – recognize one size does not fit all.
I have this written in my training notebook. I think this keeps my focus and serves as a guide to support my core values.
One big problem.
I am the only person who knows about these principles. I have never shared with coaching colleagues, team managers, mentors, or anyone else in my coaching community.
Where Are Your Core Values
What are your core values and vision statement for your team(s)? Do your players and parents have a copy or know where to find it? Have you discussed it with other coaches and asked for their feedback?.
What Guides Your Coaching
As a coach, you need to have a vision, set of core values along with your non-negotiables, if your aim is to provide growth and learning for your players.
Your core values should be something who you are. They should be something you do. Your valuse should reflect how you treat your players, parents and the soccer community.
Your core values should not stand alone. These need to be reflected in actionable behavior and a way of life.
10 Core Values In Action
Your training sessions and games are opportunities to bring your core values to life and have them instilled in your players.
Core values should involve the stakeholders – players, parents, community and coach.
- Track your players – learn about their family, school, sleep, diet, other sports
- Ask your players for feedback – find out how they want a coach to behave.
- Give ownership – solicit their opinions and feedback for training and games.
- Practice listening – learning to actively listen, without interrupting.
- Show vulnerability – making mistakes is learning
- Hard work – no pain, no gain. Preparation is key.
- Humility – you don’t know everything
- Responsibility – when things go wrong, and it will often, be the first to hold up your hand.
- Student for Life – you need to be constantly looking to improve your coaching abilities – courses, workshops, webinars.
- Non-Negotiables – you can’t be a coach for everyone. What will you not tolerate?
Your core values need to be brought to life for them to have an impact. They need to be lived every moment so that others know of your vision and you can receive feedback to improve.
Your training sessions, games, and even off the field are opportunities for you to live your core values through your players. You need to demonstrate actionable behavior that brings your vision to life.
Some actionable behaviors
- Create a template to track your players
- Assign tasks
- Openly share your faults
- Give players
What is the vision of your club or organization? Is there a system in place to support delivery of your core values, embracing risks and making it safe.
References
Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association, Building a Club Culture – Webinar hosted by Tim Bradbury. May 29, 2010.
Soccer Today – Voice of American Soccer. The Human Behind The Soccer Playing Machine by Dan Abrahams. July 13, 2020
Soccer Journal, President’s Corner – Excellence Is a Full-Time Job by Kevin Sims. Publication of United Soccer Coaches, July – August, 2020, Vol. 64, No. 4.
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