4 Ways To Support Coaches
The player development role allows for a lot of support for many in the football program. The biggest group I supported in my time in the role was the coaching staff. You spend as much time with them as you do with the players, and you can build many beneficial moments and relationships with coaches. When I mentor those who are in the role and interested in the role, I remind them one of the best ways to show their impact is supporting the coaches on staff. With that said, I am going to share the four ways you can support coaches you work with or will work with in the role.
Family Member Communication
The coaching staff is remarkably busy during the year, and this is an understatement. They must coach, plan, recruit and do many other tasks associated with the role. Many coaches leave their phones behind so they can focus on what is being asked daily. Because of this my number was shared with those who were family, friends, and significant others. About once a week I would get a message from someone associated with a coach about needing details or sending a message to their coach. This is a terrific opportunity to gain the trust of the coaches and their families.
2. Coaches Heads Up
As mentioned in the last post, coaches can and will leave their phone behind so giving them heads up on happenings is critical. This can be schedule changes, recruiting news, player situations and many other things. When changes happen after communicating with players, my next group to communicate with was the coaching staff. If there are any change(s) made, please let the coaching staff know.
Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Email me at Info@btfprogram.com
3. Reminders
Reminders are very closely related to heads up, but they are different to me because these are not changes; these are events, meetings and happenings that are set. One reminder I gave the most in my career was the staff meeting reminder. I would go down the hallways and say aloud, “Time to go to the staff meeting.” I have had coaches who deeply appreciated this because they were locked in on film or the playbook and lost track of time. Reminders are particularly beneficial during recruiting trips.
4. Building Relationships and Encouragement
Every person wants to be a part of a community and feel important to someone. With the expanse of social media, coaches like players feel direct tension before and after competition. Coaches like players also want to be known for who they are and not just what they do. In this role I have been able to create surface and deep relationships with the coaches I worked with. No matter the depth of the relationship, I made sure to encourage coaches when opportunities arose. The ones who appreciated the encouragement the most shocked me, they were the coaches who on the outside “didn’t need encouragement” because they had it all figured out. This was my constant reminder that an uplifting word can go a long way.
Check out my podcast episode on this topic here: https://youtu.be/aA6nYNAFXJY
Listen to The Player Development Pod here: https://linktr.ee/btf_program
Visit: https://www.btfprogram.com/
Follow:
Twitter - https://twitter.com/BTF_Program
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/btf_program/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BTFProgram
Tag on Social: #ThePDPod #BeyondTheField