Three Tips for Young Aspiring Coaches

THREE TIPS FOR YOUNG ASPIRING COACHES

By Brendan Barlow

I asked myself what behaviours can I role model to coaches in this article. Over my coaching career, the most successful teams that I have been involved with have bought into and had belief around all the three key points in this article.

It is my aim to take you on a learning journey that will hopefully not exhaust you but provide you with strategy and direction on how to be a better team coach.

Below I have listed my Triple Treat, that when implemented correctly can certainly have an impact on making winning become habit. That is what we coach for, right?

1

Creating a Shared Vision

I believe that this is the biggest X factor in any team. A shared vision should clearly state what the team wants to do and when they want to achieve this. This clear vision certainly establishes the culture of the team. When asked what culture means, to me it is simply answered by “It’s how we do things around here”. So how do you know if your team has a good culture?

There are two key indicators for me. One, whether you ask the coach, the captain, the manager or your best or worst player, they all can simply provide you with the do’s and don’ts of the team.

And two, there is a sense that every team member is striving to do the right thing by the team when they are watched and more importantly not watched.

So how do you build this culture?

That’s an entirely separate article, however, in summary, every team member needs to own and be part of this. This is linked back to your shared vision. In a nutshell, it is the coach’s job to lead this.

They need to role model belief and sacrifice in the team’s purpose and vision. It must become contagious to all, the belief that the team’s needs are more important than your own.

2

Giving meaningful and mindful feedback. Less is more!

Every player/employee wants feedback these days. Every coach/leader thinks it is their job to tell people everything they know. However, the coach who drives feedback all the time runs the risk of peaking their team too soon. They tend to have great trouble keeping their teams up!

How many times do we see coaches yell at their players who don’t get it right on the first or second occasion? These coaches tend to continue to bore it up their players until they get it right. This type of feedback or coaching tends to develop passive learners or “drones” as I like to call them.

The best coaches in the world are like the best players. They are meta-aware of what’s going on in the game or what’s required in their team. They can read the game and can read people.

So, as an aspiring coach, what would be my approach when asked by players how they performed in the game? I’d ask the players to own this.

From reviewing their performance, players should be able to inform you what they did well and what they would like support on in regard to improvement. If they can’t do this, then the coach is there to assist.

This teaches your players to become self-aware as they are working it out not the coach.

Some coaches have argued against this approach with me stating that they feel that this team metacognition approach is shirking their responsibility as a coach.

My reply to them is that coaches who get their athletes thinking about their performance are complimenting their coaching rather than shirking it!

3

“The Pit”. Accepting the uncomfortable feelings that come from being in “The Pit”.

You know that feeling when you are trying to learn something new. You feel like you are in a hole or a pit? I will put it in another way. If I asked you to try riding a bike backwards, would it be easy for you to do? Would you feel comfortable performing that skill?

When the going gets tough, would you prefer to return to your old way of riding forwards? It is times such as this when you feel uncomfortable, that you are in “The Pit”.

“I believe a winning culture is one that never gives in, where all members clearly understand the goal, and they all works tirelessly towards it” – Jake Lilley

In fact, most of our best learning or growth occurs when we are in “The Pit. This is because to overcome the pit and to dig ourselves out of it we must articulate and perform the required skills and strategies.

Athletes can be exposed to many different kind of pits. For example, Emotional Pits, Physical Pits, Technical Pits and Tactical Pits.

Let’s take a golfer for example. If they can drive a ball 250m, however they are forced to change their grip to increase their level of consistency and distance, then they must be prepared to go into a technical pit.

They must be prepared to get worse before they get better. Once their grip is adjusted, they might only be able to drive 200m.

This is not a surprise to athletes who understand this and are prepared to go into the pit.

However, they have the belief that once they are patient, work hard, be resilient and back the process they will dig themselves out of this and become technically correct.

Most coaches don’t enjoy seeing their players in pits. These coaches tend to be more managers than leaders.It is these types of coaches that like to tell the athlete or client everything in order to rescue them.

They are always on the lookout for what athletes are doing incorrectly in an aim of trying to fix them.

I encourage you to try and lead more in your coaching. Good coaches can always see ineffectiveness in individual and team performances, however they understand that if they fix everything, no one learns.

They have a great bank of questioning techniques that can make individuals self-reflect and narrow down the main problem. From here, the individual can opt for a disciplined direction to overcome the problem.

It is during this time, that the coach feels like they too are in a pit. The best coaches relish this challenge. Good coaches and leaders understand how to stretch their players/employees in an aim of achieving growth without breaking the individual.

Culture, however, is the starting point for any quality learning.

Continuous refinement and improvement is driven by a strong team culture. One where every team member knows that when they look left and right, they get the feeling that everyone has each other’s back.

The pinnacle is when you don’t even have to look, you just know!

Pictured - Jake Lilley - 23

Jake is currently ranked #1 ISAF sailor in the world - Finn Olympic Class. His 2016 results include:

1st World Cup Final - Melbourne - Dec 2016

Rio Olympics - 8th - Finn Class - Aug 2016

1st World Cup - Heyres France - April 2016

Brendan Barlow Brendan is the current Deputy Principal at Wavell State High School in Brisbane. He is a former Head of Department for Physical Education and has an extensive background in coaching Rugby League. He has coached Queensland and Australian Schoolboy teams over many years as well as coached at the Australian Institute of Sport.

In recent years, Brendan took three years leave to work at the Brisbane Broncos as the Elite Player Development Manager. During this time, Brendan developed a strong relationship with New Zealand Rugby Union where he gained important insights into team culture, values and player feedback.