Overview
Knowing the craft of drill and knowing your craft as a coach or trainer are two separate disciplines. While your knowledge of drill and its many intricacies is an important piece of your effectiveness, honing your skills as a coach are just as important! Here are a few easy things every coach could – and should – do on a regular basis to improve their practice!
Consume Coaching Content
Training your social media algorithms to feed you content from high-level coaches is one easy way to improve your game passively. You’ll pick up on tips, tricks, and techniques to incorporate into your own coaching practice while you continue to develop your mindset as a coach. It doesn’t matter what sport or activity, either. Listening to ANYONE who coaches at a high level can be of massive benefit to drill even if their specific sport or activity isn’t comparable. Whether it’s TikToks, Reels, Shorts, or podcasts, as iron sharpens iron, listening to anyone who is great at their craft speak to it is going to benefit you immensely!
Actively Reflect
After every practice, camp day, or session, spending time actively reflecting on the positives and negatives of your own performance is key to making improvements. Many times, we’re so exhausted from the act of coaching or teaching that this step can become an afterthought, but this is where you’ll truly level up your game. Here are some easy questions to ask yourself on the drive home from practice:
- What went well today? How can I make sure to incorporate more of that next time?
- What didn’t go as planned? Where did things fall off-track and how can I prevent that going forward?
- Who is “getting it” and what’s making it click for them? What isn’t “getting it” and what might be the barrier(s) holding them back?
- Did I like my energy, tone, posture, etc.? What do I need to crank up/turn down next time?
The simple act of reflecting on YOUR performance as a coach will pay off big time! Don’t just “turn off” when the day is done!
Talk to Others
There are a lot of hardships you’ll face when it comes to coaching. Whether it’s a drill issue, a people issue, or a situation that isn’t unfolding in the way you’d like, talking through your experiences and getting insights from others will help you process an otherwise difficult challenge in a more healthy manner! Staying in community with others will broaden your scope of understanding, help you find your own blindspots, and come to the best possible solutions for the challenges you’re facing.
While drill team coaches of the past were forced to labor in isolation, today, that doesn’t have to be the case. If you want to go one step further, find a coach who is further along in the game than you and get some one-on-one mentorship. Chances are, they’ve paid the ignorance tax in advance and can help you along your own journey!
Conclusion
While these things may seem obvious, they are probably the easiest things we see coaches just NOT doing. By incorporating each of these into your regular coaching practice, we hope you begin to ride an upward trend where every practice, camp, or session you facilitate is better than the last!