Unlocking Athlete Potential: The Art of Coaching

Coaches should have an arrangement of fundamental abilities that they depend on to produce a positive outcome. Definition of a coach from the American Heritage Dictionary, Third Edition (page 167) One who trains or directs an individual or team, to train or instruct teach a team. The goal behind coaching is to exhibit the ability to get the most out of everyone on the team. It should be a goal to bring out the greatest potential from every team member. It’s insane how many players do not even know their true potential. Successful coaches assess these individuals and the team to advance them to the next level of sports. "The Little Book of Coaching, Motivating People to be Winners" by Ken Blanchard and Don Shula (2001) gives a great acronym of the word C-O-A-C-H. The acronym breaks down as follows: Conviction Driven: never compromise your beliefs-Overlearning: practice until it is perfect-Audible-Ready: know when to change-Consistency: respond predictably to performance-Honesty-Based: walk your talk. This acronym should remind you of your job as a coach. A good coach

After reading the book, “Seasons of Life” by Jeffrey Marx, I learned a lot about a man named Joe Ehrmann. Ehrmann addresses many coaches, captains, and influential high school athletes. He is on a mission to change the world and believes it can be done by sports and social change. On page 49 of the book a character Biff asks what empathy is. Napoleon Sykes replies with, “Feeling what the other person feels.” This was a great response but Biff added, “Not feeling for someone, but with someone. If you can put yourself in another man’s shoes, that’s a great gift to have for a lifetime.” I believe implementing empathy into children and athletes life is extremely important to start doing at a young age. Yes, it is important to be strong, hard working and successful as an athlete but you will not be an athlete