Being a young coach in the ever-expanding landscape of sport preparation is probably quite a daunting experience. You have books, webinars, conferences, and courses, all of which require a critical appraisal to determine what is worth your time and money to pursue. Being (presumably) an unpaid intern, the latter is at a premium, ergo you want to avoid feeling as though an investment into your professional development isn’t a sunken cost. Couple that with the vast universe that is social media and the proliferation of coaching social media, which can either be a popularity contest without substance, window-dressing without pragmatism, or self-proclaimed gurus with garbage methodology or coaches with no actual on the floor experience, and your head might be spinning at where to start. Hopefully, you’ve realized the immense gap you need to close between your education, and the knowledge and skills needed to be a competent coach, so where do you start?.
The reality is this, there is no substitute for the lessons learned while being on the floor coaching. This is why so much of this article series has harped on finding internship opportunities that will afford you the chance to gain experience towards what you want to be doing, coaching. If you are only setting up, breaking down, and cleaning up at your internship, and not being given any chances to coach, there are two potential reasons; either you have taken the wrong internship, or if you notice others from your cohort are getting opportunities to coach and you aren’t, you are not demonstrating attributes that warrant your supervisors trusting you to do so.
Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, you will have to find ways to continue to advance yourself as a coach, irrespective of whether you ever get a chance to actually coach or not. So, how do you learn and grow yourself in the most important learning environment you will be in as a coach? Let’s dive in.
On the Floor
Training sessions should ultimately serve as your most pivotal developmental resource as a young coach. The two key vessels for these lessons will be observing the full-time coaches and then ultimately the coaching opportunities you earn and how you learn from them. Here are some pieces to pay attention to in both of these experiences.
Observation
All in all, while you are observing, make sure you are aware of where coaches would like for you to stand and that you are out of the way of the session as it unfolds. If you have *quick* questions for the coaches, find the right spaces in the session to ask them, such as water breaks or rest periods. If your question is long-winded or has the potential to become long-winded in terms of an answer, it will be best to err on the side of saving it for after the session. Remember, the coaches’ first priorities are the athletes and the session they are leading- don’t detract from their ability to keep their focus there. Beyond those basic thoughts around how you conduct yourself while observing, here are a few areas you can focus on observing:
Presence. How do they carry themselves during sessions? Coaching is a highly interpersonal profession. While you do not need to be an off the wall extrovert or have a dominating personality, watch how your full-time coaches conduct themselves and command the room (or possibly struggle to do so) in a manner that conveys authority but is (hopefully) respectful. Developing your presence is something that is going to come with the experience of actually coaching. Gradually gaining confidence in how you will use your words and actions to engage with the athletes and successfully lead sessions, but it is worth learning from those you are working under to identify what works and what may not work so well. The best advice possible when cultivating your presence is to be authentic to who you truly are; humans are intuitive beings and your athletes will detect any facade from a mile away. While you may not connect as closely with every athlete you encounter, you stand a much better chance of being universally respected for being yourself even with athletes who may not like you as much and thus achieving better outcomes with all of your athletes and your teams.
Position. Physically, where do coaches place themselves to observe different aspects of training to be able to provide technical feedback? How do they communicate logistics intra-session? And where do they go in order to see the larger picture from a safety standpoint? All of these elements are necessary considerations when you look to position yourself for coaching. So, it would be worth your time to observe how your supervising coaches do so, and again, pull out the strengths and limitations of the way they choose to do so.
Movement. Tying into positioning is how coaches move around the session, whether that’s on the field or in the facility. There is a line between not moving at all and moving for the sake of motion and appearing hard workin. But as with all things, the goal is to find the happy medium of productive movement around the session to observe different aspects of the session, engage with more athletes, and contribute to your presence within the session.
Language. One of the most worthwhile takeaways you’ll pull from more experienced coaches is the library of coaching cues they use for various drills and exercises. There is certainly a time and place for more in-depth breakdowns or coaching, but the vast majority of the time, you are going to have to be able to say a lot more with less to elicit favorable outcomes in the strategies used by your athletes. The more cues you have at your disposal, the better chance you have at reaching more of your athletes, as some cues may work brilliantly for some athletes, and poorly for others. It will also be worth your time to think about and use these cues in your own training and see how they influence your ability to perform certain movements.
That being said, it is also worth paying attention to how coaches communicate in more long-form scenarios, such as breaking down technical points more in-depth to a particular athlete (not all of your athletes will benefit from such a breakdown; learn who they are). How the coaches speak when addressing the larger group on administrative announcements, outlining the session and logistics, or coaching up a segment of the workout. You will find there is still a level of concision needed here, as you won’t want to lose your athletes in a wordy rambling. So, give consideration to how well this line is balanced by the coaches you work under, and how you see the athletes respond to these bits.
Coaching
Getting your first opportunity to coach will be an incredibly exciting moment; you are being given an opportunity to do the thing you want to be doing for a living. Relish in it but realize there are going to be mistakes, which only serve as learning opportunities for you to grow as a practitioner. Here are a few things to be mindful of as you earn these opportunities:
Your Role. What is the expectation for the task you are being asked to carry out? How do the coaches want it done? If there is an expectation for a particular cadence, set of instructions or any other pieces of the segment and how you’re expected to conduct it, make sure you know these things and have them locked in your head.
The Movements. What movements are being done, what are the main coaching cues your supervisors want you to hit, and how do you actually do the movement? You are going to have to be capable of demonstrating movements and exercises, it would be highly advisable that you practice them so you can provide a competent demonstration and avoid your athletes’ focuses being on how interesting you look demonstrating the movement. Consider demonstrating the movements for the coaches and getting feedback from them as well.
Cues. How are you going to instruct the athletes on the front end of the segment you are leading and then how will you concisely, yet effectively cue athletes on common errors they might make while completing it? Again, the “ABC” mantra is dumb; don’t yell and coach just to fill the space but make sure that what you are filling the space with is useful. Asking your coaches the common errors to look for and how to correct them would be a useful tactic going into the session.
Position. Think ahead. Where will you position yourself so that you can effectively see and coach technique, observe the entirety of the segment you are responsible for from a logistical and safety standpoint and remain out of the way of the segment as it is occurring? Different angles give you different opportunities for viewing and addressing the technique of athletes, so consider moving purposefully as you are conducting a segment.
When you are first cutting your teeth in your coaching experiences, it will be best to “play by the rules” you’ve been given for how you are expected to run a segment and then gradually figure out what wiggle room is available to innovate within the lines of those rules. Once you are more established and trusted by your supervisors, it will become easier and more natural for them to give you the guidelines of what you’re doing and then allow you to go on as you see fit, but early on, show your coaches that you are attentive to the details they give you about your segment and how they want it run and conduct the segment as such.
Inevitably, you are going to make mistakes in coaching. Hint: all of us coaches with years of experience are still making them too, only with higher stakes. The best thing you can do is accept this and realize that these mistakes are just learning opportunities, provided you actually take away a lesson from them to not make the same mistake again. Remember, feedback from the coaches you work for is not negative (and hopefully it is not negatively given to you), so receive it for the lesson it is and actively work to rectify it at your next opportunity. Reflect on these lessons and moments where you feel like something didn’t go right, but don’t dwell on them and then move forward with those experiences in mind. You are young and expected to mess up; any coach worth their salt knows and expects this and will help you learn and grow as you do. If they don’t do this, and just mercilessly MF you, you are in the wrong internship situation.
Conclusion
That wraps up how to learn and grow during your time on the floor as a coach. Remember, this is the most essential learning experience you have, so it is quite prudent on your end to soak up as much as possible, reframe your mistakes as learning opportunities and seek as many coaching opportunities as possible during your internship. In next month’s instalment, we will talk more about learning off of the floor, as there are so many mediums from which information can be derived. Where do you start in finding good information? How do you create a routine that allows you to be a continual learner? Keep your eyes peeled, as this will all be covered next month.
The reality is this, there is no substitute for the lessons learned while being on the floor coaching. This is why so much of this article series has harped on finding internship opportunities that will afford you the chance to gain experience towards what you want to be doing, coaching. If you are only setting up, breaking down, and cleaning up at your internship, and not being given any chances to coach, there are two potential reasons; either you have taken the wrong internship, or if you notice others from your cohort are getting opportunities to coach and you aren’t, you are not demonstrating attributes that warrant your supervisors trusting you to do so.
Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, you will have to find ways to continue to advance yourself as a coach, irrespective of whether you ever get a chance to actually coach or not. So, how do you learn and grow yourself in the most important learning environment you will be in as a coach? Let’s dive in.
On the Floor
Training sessions should ultimately serve as your most pivotal developmental resource as a young coach. The two key vessels for these lessons will be observing the full-time coaches and then ultimately the coaching opportunities you earn and how you learn from them. Here are some pieces to pay attention to in both of these experiences.
Observation
All in all, while you are observing, make sure you are aware of where coaches would like for you to stand and that you are out of the way of the session as it unfolds. If you have *quick* questions for the coaches, find the right spaces in the session to ask them, such as water breaks or rest periods. If your question is long-winded or has the potential to become long-winded in terms of an answer, it will be best to err on the side of saving it for after the session. Remember, the coaches’ first priorities are the athletes and the session they are leading- don’t detract from their ability to keep their focus there. Beyond those basic thoughts around how you conduct yourself while observing, here are a few areas you can focus on observing:
Presence. How do they carry themselves during sessions? Coaching is a highly interpersonal profession. While you do not need to be an off the wall extrovert or have a dominating personality, watch how your full-time coaches conduct themselves and command the room (or possibly struggle to do so) in a manner that conveys authority but is (hopefully) respectful. Developing your presence is something that is going to come with the experience of actually coaching. Gradually gaining confidence in how you will use your words and actions to engage with the athletes and successfully lead sessions, but it is worth learning from those you are working under to identify what works and what may not work so well. The best advice possible when cultivating your presence is to be authentic to who you truly are; humans are intuitive beings and your athletes will detect any facade from a mile away. While you may not connect as closely with every athlete you encounter, you stand a much better chance of being universally respected for being yourself even with athletes who may not like you as much and thus achieving better outcomes with all of your athletes and your teams.
Position. Physically, where do coaches place themselves to observe different aspects of training to be able to provide technical feedback? How do they communicate logistics intra-session? And where do they go in order to see the larger picture from a safety standpoint? All of these elements are necessary considerations when you look to position yourself for coaching. So, it would be worth your time to observe how your supervising coaches do so, and again, pull out the strengths and limitations of the way they choose to do so.
Movement. Tying into positioning is how coaches move around the session, whether that’s on the field or in the facility. There is a line between not moving at all and moving for the sake of motion and appearing hard workin. But as with all things, the goal is to find the happy medium of productive movement around the session to observe different aspects of the session, engage with more athletes, and contribute to your presence within the session.
Language. One of the most worthwhile takeaways you’ll pull from more experienced coaches is the library of coaching cues they use for various drills and exercises. There is certainly a time and place for more in-depth breakdowns or coaching, but the vast majority of the time, you are going to have to be able to say a lot more with less to elicit favorable outcomes in the strategies used by your athletes. The more cues you have at your disposal, the better chance you have at reaching more of your athletes, as some cues may work brilliantly for some athletes, and poorly for others. It will also be worth your time to think about and use these cues in your own training and see how they influence your ability to perform certain movements.
That being said, it is also worth paying attention to how coaches communicate in more long-form scenarios, such as breaking down technical points more in-depth to a particular athlete (not all of your athletes will benefit from such a breakdown; learn who they are). How the coaches speak when addressing the larger group on administrative announcements, outlining the session and logistics, or coaching up a segment of the workout. You will find there is still a level of concision needed here, as you won’t want to lose your athletes in a wordy rambling. So, give consideration to how well this line is balanced by the coaches you work under, and how you see the athletes respond to these bits.
Coaching
Getting your first opportunity to coach will be an incredibly exciting moment; you are being given an opportunity to do the thing you want to be doing for a living. Relish in it but realize there are going to be mistakes, which only serve as learning opportunities for you to grow as a practitioner. Here are a few things to be mindful of as you earn these opportunities:
Your Role. What is the expectation for the task you are being asked to carry out? How do the coaches want it done? If there is an expectation for a particular cadence, set of instructions or any other pieces of the segment and how you’re expected to conduct it, make sure you know these things and have them locked in your head.
The Movements. What movements are being done, what are the main coaching cues your supervisors want you to hit, and how do you actually do the movement? You are going to have to be capable of demonstrating movements and exercises, it would be highly advisable that you practice them so you can provide a competent demonstration and avoid your athletes’ focuses being on how interesting you look demonstrating the movement. Consider demonstrating the movements for the coaches and getting feedback from them as well.
Cues. How are you going to instruct the athletes on the front end of the segment you are leading and then how will you concisely, yet effectively cue athletes on common errors they might make while completing it? Again, the “ABC” mantra is dumb; don’t yell and coach just to fill the space but make sure that what you are filling the space with is useful. Asking your coaches the common errors to look for and how to correct them would be a useful tactic going into the session.
Position. Think ahead. Where will you position yourself so that you can effectively see and coach technique, observe the entirety of the segment you are responsible for from a logistical and safety standpoint and remain out of the way of the segment as it is occurring? Different angles give you different opportunities for viewing and addressing the technique of athletes, so consider moving purposefully as you are conducting a segment.
When you are first cutting your teeth in your coaching experiences, it will be best to “play by the rules” you’ve been given for how you are expected to run a segment and then gradually figure out what wiggle room is available to innovate within the lines of those rules. Once you are more established and trusted by your supervisors, it will become easier and more natural for them to give you the guidelines of what you’re doing and then allow you to go on as you see fit, but early on, show your coaches that you are attentive to the details they give you about your segment and how they want it run and conduct the segment as such.
Inevitably, you are going to make mistakes in coaching. Hint: all of us coaches with years of experience are still making them too, only with higher stakes. The best thing you can do is accept this and realize that these mistakes are just learning opportunities, provided you actually take away a lesson from them to not make the same mistake again. Remember, feedback from the coaches you work for is not negative (and hopefully it is not negatively given to you), so receive it for the lesson it is and actively work to rectify it at your next opportunity. Reflect on these lessons and moments where you feel like something didn’t go right, but don’t dwell on them and then move forward with those experiences in mind. You are young and expected to mess up; any coach worth their salt knows and expects this and will help you learn and grow as you do. If they don’t do this, and just mercilessly MF you, you are in the wrong internship situation.
Conclusion
That wraps up how to learn and grow during your time on the floor as a coach. Remember, this is the most essential learning experience you have, so it is quite prudent on your end to soak up as much as possible, reframe your mistakes as learning opportunities and seek as many coaching opportunities as possible during your internship. In next month’s instalment, we will talk more about learning off of the floor, as there are so many mediums from which information can be derived. Where do you start in finding good information? How do you create a routine that allows you to be a continual learner? Keep your eyes peeled, as this will all be covered next month.
