A Coach's Diary

Great coaches do everything they can to bring in and retain the BEST PEOPLE. It's hard to replace your best players and its especially hard replacing your best leaders, but author and school leader Todd Whitaker wrote that one of single most precious commodities on a team is an open spot, and this is especially precious for a new coach to a new team who is trying to change a culture.  That open spot could be an opening for a player, a coach, a manager, or a trainer, and the quickest way to raise team expectations, morale and your culture is to bring in GREAT people every chance you get. When we bring in new people, its important to keep them enthusiastic by spreading their energy and their excitement to the other members of the team.  When a new player first comes on, they are eager to please and eager to show what they can do.  They come in early, they work hard, and they stay late.  They have to do what they have to do to earn their spot.  Use that energy ...

We are always pushing our kids to continue to work hard, to continue to get better, and to find ways to learn and grow all the time, but the best coaches do the same thing.  We need to model what it means to be lifelong learners. Coaches who want to continue to get better find value in examining what effective coaches do.  Anytime you have two coaches comes together about talking, their coaching improves instantly. Schools have popularized an idea called Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs.  School coaches/teachers might know them as one of those meetings that they go to once a week, but when done effectively, understanding what a real PLC is can completely change your teams and your career. The idea behind PLCs is that schools are a building full of professionals who should work together to become better teachers for their kids.  Teachers engaged in the PLC process use each other and each other's experiences to get better.  They talk ab...