Want to know the secret to successful coaching? Communication. No matter how much you know about a sport, you’ll never reach peak performance without the ability to effectively communicate with your players and parents.
Unfortunately, communication doesn’t always happen like it should. You might have heard of the 12-year-old New Jersey boy who quit his football team when the coach wouldn’t let him wear pink gloves to the game. It wasn’t a fashion statement, but rather a sign of support for the player’s mother, who was battling breast cancer. ”I love my mom more than I love football,” the boy said.
Question is: How did the situation escalate to a point where the player felt he had to quit?
It came down to communication. The coach took a hard-line stance on the rules without taking the time to understand the boy’s situation. It was a “misunderstanding,” the coach said in an apology that ultimately won the player back on the team. The coach has now encouraged the boy to wear pink gloves for the rest of the season.
Hopefully, coaches everywhere will learn something from that debacle: the value of effective communication. As a coach, how are you doing? If you need some help improving your communication skills, here are some hints:
- Be consistent. Keep your words, tone and actions from contradicting one another. If you don’t send mixed messages, your words are more likely to have a bigger impact and stick with your team.
- Be honest, but positive. Don’t ignore mistakes, but remember to include what was done well or correctly in your criticism. Then tell the players what they can do to prevent making that mistake again.
- Be clear. Don’t get caught up in elaborate metaphors or complicated explanations. Just come right out and say what you need to say to get your point across, then move on.
- Be understood. Speak clearly and strongly — don’t mumble or babble. You might also find yourself needing to repeat the same ideas, since not everyone understands things in the same way. When this is the case, try to slightly change the way in which you deliver your message so you don’t sound like a broken record.
Does that help? Hopefully it will make your coaching experience more positive, and more successful.