Coaching Today's Player In 2020

I was listening to Paul Biancardi speak about how to better communicate, connect with, and coach today's athletes.  Paul Biancardi is a former college basketball coach and is now the ESPN's National Recruiting director.  He has been around the game and its top athletes for years, so he has good insight on how to be an effective coach for athletes today.

He starts off talking about how important it is for us coaches to understand that our athletes are different than they were when we were growing up and we have to communicate with them differently.

COACHING TODAY'S PLAYER IN 2020 

1 - HOW coaches deliver their message MUST change. 

2 - Coach's core values, principles, and standards have NOT changed. 

3 - Today's players are CONSUMED with the future. We have to make sure that we are communicating EFFECTIVELY.

How we communicate and deliver our message has to be different.  The core values, principles and standards are the same, but how we give it has to be different.  If we aren't doing a better job of connecting and communicating, our players will start hitting the 'snooze' button on us and tune us out.  

We have to communicate effectively on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.  When athletes aren't responding in a way that you would like, the problem might not be you, but the way that you are delivering your message.  Make sure that your message is being delivered the right way for each person and at the right time to maximize effectiveness.

Everybody responds differently to coaching, so be mindful of what you say, how you say it, and when you say it.  Timing is everything.  Talk WITH your players and not at your players, and don't embarrass your players in front of their peers.  Be demanding, but be more instructional with your words than critical with your words, and it might help you better connect with your players. Plant positive seeds every day in your players.

Shout PRAISE.
Whisper Criticism.

Trust | Beleive-In | Buy-In

You have to CARE FOR & UNDERSTAND your players BEFORE you can really CONNECT WITH & COACH your players. To get BUY-IN, you have to first have BELIEVE-IN from your players. Build the TRUST with your athletes first, then get the BELIEF, & the BELIEF gets the BUY-IN.

When your players know that you care about them as people, that is when they will listen to you the most. Invest more time away from the game and in person.  Learn how to communicate by asking relevant, open-ended questions and LISTEN to what they are saying. Ask them to describe things to you. Ask them why and how. Don't just ask them how they feel today. Get them answering in sentences. Get in-depth and personal with your players. Spend personal time with them.  Get to know who they are, what they like to do outside of the game.  Ask them what their favorite shows and movies are.  Ask them about their weekends.  Spend personal time with them.

When you invest in your players as people and when you work to build trust, it allows your relationship to grow & they will better listen to you because they know you care about them on a deeper level. Your message will be better received by the team because they ALL know you care.

What you teach is what they will learn. What you emphasize will determine your team habits. What you tolerate will determine your daily atmosphere and culture.