8 steps to a coaching philosophy.

Philosophy is defined as a set of ideas or beliefs relating to a particular field or activity. Its general intent is to cover or define the underlying bases of the subject.

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In transposing the notion of a philosophy from the academic pages to the coaching fields, it is important for coaches to understand what underlies the athletic endeavor in his charge. In short, a coaching philosophy is, simply, the underlying basis of everything that a coach does.

In my role as a high school athletic director, I have occasion to interview prospective coaches. When I ask the question about coaching philosophy, the answer usually given is that it is the offensive and defensive systems that the coach plans to employ.

While technical strategies are an important part of a coaching philosophy, the more important element is how the athletes are going to be treated. What are the building blocks of the coach's decision-making process? When pressed to give some kind of overall coaching philosophy, coaches rarely have a well thought-out answer.

This is a mistake. A coaching philosophy is important on every level of coaching. It clarifies the coach's mind on essential aspects of his coaching. It also helps clarify the details for the athletes and their parents and lets them know what is expected from everyone involved.

By having this information available from the beginning of a season it will help alleviate possible future problems and help keep the coach on a clearly defined path.

A clear philosophy will give a coach and his coaching staff a foundation upon which to base decisions. Coaches don't always give much consideration to what they are trying to accomplish. If such consideration is not given, a results-oriented climate is likely to ensue. If, typically, a coach is only concerned with wins and losses, he will wind up with unhappy members of the team and dissatisfaction with the program.

In the development of a coaching philosophy, the coach will be required to answer a series of questions on paper. The commitment to writing will help the coach explain and organize his ideas about coaching.

1. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH?

It is understandable that coaches at almost every level want to win contests. There is nothing wrong with wanting to win. The problem we run into is that wanting to win is not a clearly developed idea of accomplishment. Coaches have to think about the overall goal of student progress. Do you want the athletes to be better students? Better citizens? Better leaders? What are the benefits of sport participation and how are you going to accomplish them?

Don't forget that sports participation has a large educational component to deal with. We want our athletes to enjoy the experience, learn how to be cooperative members of a team, and be better people for having been involved in our programs.

2. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIORITIES?

A reflection of your own priorities as a coach is absolutely necessary. The coach should decide what the most important aspects of team participation are.

For this topic, the needs of the athlete should be of the utmost consideration. What is the reason for playing sports? The most common answer is to have fun. If the athlete is not enjoying the experience, he/she will not give a full effort to the cause. If the athletes are included in the processes of the team, they will learn more and give more effort to the cause.

When deciding about priorities, an athlete-centered approach is the key. Consider including the athletes in the making of team decisions. Athletes will work harder when they feel a deeper connection to the team. Creating opportunities for players to get involved is critical in developing an athlete-centered philosophy.

3. WHAT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITIES?

Another important aspect of a coaching philosophy is defining roles. This is where clarification will assist in player-coach and parent-coach relations.

It is important to think about what each constituent is responsible for Clearly lay out the responsibilities of the coaching staff, players, and parents. Each party is important to the success of the team.

Team chemistry can be undermined by any of the three groups involved. This is also a good time to clarify boundaries and appropriate ways to discuss issues with the coach.

4. WHAT ARE YOUR TEACHING METHODS?

An often-overlooked part of coaching is the nuts and bolts of teaching movement skills. People learn best by doing things. As coaches, we want to communicate what we know. Unfortunately, when we start talking, players will only retain a fraction of what they hear.

In teaching movement skills, we are better off having high levels of involvement in the development of the skill. Simply put, we learn best by actually performing the skill. The coach must consider the methodology of the coaching process. Careful consideration should be given to the way the skills are broken down and implemented in practice. Make sure that all skill work has direct relation to what may occur in game situations.

5. HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS?

The team that wins the championship will be perceived as the most successful team. Interestingly enough, the teams that don't win feel very successful because the coach has been able to nurture the idea that success comes in other forms.

This is where the coach can have a big impact on the chemistry of a team. If success can be defined in other ways, like making progress, giving effort, how much did we learn, or how much better were we at the end of the season than at the beginning, the coach will be teaching important life lessons to his/her athletes.

By defining achievement in other ways, students will learn that effort is the most important factor in athletics. While it will not always lead to victories, it will, in many cases, lead to increased opportunity for successes.

6. HOW WILL PRACTICES AND GAMES BE ORGANIZED?

Unprepared coaches have difficulty with teams. It doesn't take players long to figure out that a coach is unprepared. Coaches fully expect their players to be ready for practice. They expect players to have the proper equipment, be on time, and be ready to concentrate on the practice.

Players have every right to expect the same from the coach. Coaches have to develop a system that they will use on a day-to-day basis. When a routine is established, players become more comfortable and more able to focus on the situation at hand.

The same thing goes for game day. What is expected of all participants leading up to the game? What do coaches believe about playing time? Do you go into the game with a plan about playing time? (If you believe that every player should play in every game, you should have a plan to accomplish it.)

7. TEAM RULES AND CONSEQUENCES

Team rules are important so that a structure is provided. This is another area where team input is helpful. Young athletes will "buy" into rules that they help establish.

Developing hard-and-fast rules is difficult to do. When you make up rules, be sure that you are willing to enforce them and make sure to apply the consequences of rule breaking consistently to all players.

Does the consequence have the same meaning to a star player as it would to a bench player?

In other words, if you penalize rules infractions with a loss of playing, how would this rule affect a player who rarely plays in a game?

8. HOW WILL YOU COMMUNICATE YOUR PHILOSOPHY?

Once the philosophy is written, the coaching philosophy will be apparent. If the ideas are clear for the coach, they will also be clear for the parents and players.

The next key is to make your philosophy public. Have a parent/player meeting and distribute copies of the philosophy. This will open the lines of communication and allow for parents and players to make decisions about the expectations in the program.

Remember, if you don't have a philosophy, you will probably get a "win-at-all costs" situation. This is difficult because if you don't win games, the team will feel that they have failed.

Sports are an integral part of the educational process because of all the life lessons that can only be learned in competition. Let's make sure that our coaching philosophy is sound so that these lessons will be learned.

By David Parsh, Athletic Director, Kennedy High School Sacramento, CA