Developing Your Coaching Philosophy

11633Exercise One: Week One

Developing Your Coaching Philosophy

Why do you want to coach/teach?
At what level(s) do you want to coach/teach and why?
How do you define success?
What is your current, personal philosophy of coaching/teaching?
What do you want to accomplish in your coaching/teaching career?
Goal is to help each individual develop their foundational beliefs, their core and to understand their own reasons for choosing this profession.

Exercise Two: Week One

List the specific criteria you use to assess the athletes you coach and/or teach.

How have you developed these criteria?
Why have you chosen to focus on these aspects?
Where have you learned how to assess athletes?
What characteristics are important for you?
Categorize your criteria into the physical, fundamental and mental model.
The goal of this assignment is to get students to begin the process of learning how they assess individual talent, future potential and the path necessary to get there. It is important to understand the influences we have from former coaches and teachers, which have shaped how we view athletic talent and how we go about developing that talent. Most of the criteria that each student will come up with should fit into the three categories.

Exercise Three: Week One

Coaching Self-Assessment Exercise

Step One: Assess your current abilities as a Teacher/Instructor/Coach along the following dimensions:

Knowledge of physical training for athletes.
Knowledge of the fundamental aspects of various strategies and techniques for your chosen sport.
Knowledge of the mental and emotional aspects of your chosen sport, relating to self and course management.
We are asking that each student in the class adopts and practices the concepts of self-assessment and how it relates to personal and professional growth. It is important for each student to begin asking themselves the same questions they will be examining when working with future athletes.

A good coach must be able to understand their own personal strengths and weaknesses and then identify ways they can improve upon these to become a more complete coach, teacher and leader.

Each student is asked to critique themselves according to the same principles they will use to assess future students. Students should try to be as specific as possible when assessing their own strengths and weaknesses.

Once weaknesses are identified, it will be important for students to begin the process of learning how to develop weak areas of their coaching abilities.