A Coach's Diary

What do you do when your students or athletes don’t act or respond how you want them to? What do you do when they aren’t living up to your expectations? What do you do when you need to discipline them or redirect them? In our school district, we are learning about Restorative Practices and the power of community building and relationship restoring circles. Restorative practices are a process designed to build and sustain meaningful relationships, and to restore the relationship when it is harmed or damaged. Frank Martin is an old-school basketball coach, meaning he is tough and disciplined. But even a no-nonsense, old-school coach like Coach Martin can see the importance of being what our kids need, and the importance of teaching, teaching, teaching. When I was a kid, when you did something wrong, the coach would yell at you and make you run. They would yell at you and run you until you learned your lesson, or until he lost his voice.  You can’t get away with that today. Today’s ki...

One season, I had a team that just couldn't shoot it very well. We had one really good shooter, and everybody else wasn't very skilled at shooting. We played very hard, we were aggressive on defense, but shooting was not a strength of ours. I spent the first few practices complaining about our ability, or lack thereof, to shoot the ball. During one of my complaining sessions, my dad asked me, "What are you doing to teach them how to shoot?" That question changed my career as a coach and as a teacher. From then on, I stopped being a victim of my personnel, and I took ownership over what I taught them and their skill and ability. All it took was a mindset shift and good guidance from dad. Instead of saying my team can't do this _______________," ask yourself three questions: 1 - Why can't they? 2 - How can I teach this? 3 - What am I allowing them to do? Don't be a victim of your personnel. If your team can't shoot, teach them how....