The Art of Coaching
Coaching is an art. This art is best explained through a coach’s philosophy. For example, football coaches call their offensive and defensive philosophies schemes. Whether it’s the spread, hurry-up, zone read, or the West Coast on offense, or the 3-4, wide 9, Tampa 2 or zone blitz on defense. In other sports these schemes may be a collection of techniques, game plans, formations, or tactics. In addition to this, coach’s also have a philosophy for developing talent, peaking, disciplining players, and establishing a team culture. All of which successful coaches fit together like a masterpiece.
The best coaches don’t pull their philosophies out of thin air. Instead, what you will find is that every successful coach is a product of successful coaching. In other words, successful coaches are successful because their coaching philosophies are part of a coaching tree. Simply stated, great coaches develop great coaches who develop great coaches.
When coaches are part of a coaching tree, they learn how to build a team around their philosophies as well as adjust their philosophies to fit the team they have. Undoubtedly, this takes years to learn and there is no step-by-step science for developing an effective coaching philosophy.
However, some coaches try to shortcut this process by copying whatever appears to be working at the time for the coaches who are succeeding right now. The problem with this is that it takes years and years of practice to learn a coaching philosophy. When a coach is lucky enough to be part of a coaching tree, they can condense these years into a few seasons as an assistant coach. Otherwise, a coach will struggle.
Indeed, a coach just can’t copy another coach’s philosophy from the outside looking in and expect to have the same success right away. It takes time and commitment to that philosophy. When a coach doesn’t commit to giving a new philosophy time, they end up comparing their beginning to another coach’s years of practice mastering that philosophy. Then when it doesn’t work right away, they chase and copy someone else. This is a recipe for a lifetime of chasing greatness while being relegated to a lifetime of being average.
If you are a new coach or a struggling coach, my #1 suggestion is to get help with your art. This may mean being an assistant coach or finding a coaching mentor. Either way, make sure the tutelage you select comes from a strong coaching tree. Then, immerse yourself into that coaching tree by:
- Learning the philosophies of that coach.
- Researching the philosophies of that coach’s coach.
- Finding other successful coaches who were assistants under that coach or that coach’s coach to learn from as well.