The best coaches aren’t the best at scheme, they are the best at connecting with people.
“You know what will forever be more important than the X’s & O’s of coaching?
The ability to deeply connect with people.
Your X’s & O’s only have value if you’ve created an environment in which your people feel valued enough to perform them at a high level.”
-Ray Zingler on X
We forget the fact that all athletes are emotionally wired people.
They are not robots.
Sure, some athletes obviously respond better to different coaching styles and as a coach it is impossible to be all things to all people, but I do believe coaches can maintain a philosophy, but still strategically deliver their message in a constructive way that best resonates with the individual athlete’s archetype.
For example, a foot in the ground and a stern voice does it for some, while others may need a bit more coaxing delivered via a softer touch.
It doesn’t make one any better or worse than the other, they are just different.
I have always felt it to be very important to “treat them all the same” but “project your level of care dynamically”.
It’s not rocket science and only takes a little bit of self-awareness.
Yet, we still see coaches everywhere everyday playing favorites, as if the kids they are coaching and the parents who are paying don’t see it.
Or worse yet, coaches who think they can out scheme the need to acknowledge the very real mental and emotional sides of athlete development.
Many will rest on the laurels of their tenure and assume because they’ve always done things a certain way, that certain way is “right” or at the very least justified.
That’s not coaching. That’s immature nonsense. It’s embarrassing, if I’m being honest.
I’ve always found it funny that we preach at kids to “continue learning” and to ensure they understand the importance of “evolving” and “being adaptable”, but we’ll keep static coaches in positions of power who haven’t grown or evolved in decades because they’ve done it for a long time and had success off the backs of good players.
I don’t know everything about coaching.
In fact, the longer I do it, the more I learn how much I don’t know.
When I first started, it was all about the program, the X’s & O’s, the perfect, glorious, spreadsheet, if you will.
I have since learned it’s not about the ideal plan or the spreadsheet.
It’s about the names written on those spreadsheets.
It ain’t about the X’s & O’s, it’s about the people performing them.
You must connect with people to elevate them.
