Coaching Tip #20

Tagged – Coaching Practice

Those are the three hardest words for a coach to say, but perhaps the most important.  It is hard to say those words for two very good reasons.  Firstly, it is almost never true.  There is always plenty of fault to go around.  Secondly, you can be pretty sure that everyone else is saying that it is your fault, so the first instinct is to defend yourself and lay the fault at the feet of others.

I am not advocating that you stand in front of the collected press / management / fans / parents and admit to being at fault.  At least not often if you want to keep your job.  However, if you can manage to utter those three words, to yourself, in front of the mirror perhaps, you can find it an incredibly liberating, if challenging experience.

By taking responsibility for everything that happens in your team, you also give yourself the power to change it.  If you accept responsibility for the quality of practice, you will search for ways to improve it.  If you accept responsibility for the quality of your players’ skills, you will search for new teaching methods.  If you accept responsibility for the tactical faults of your team, you will search for new and more effective tactics.

Taking responsibility for everything that happens in your team, drives innovation and leads to personal and team development.  It is hard to look into that mirror, but worthwhile.

The collection of Coaching Tips can be found here.

For more great coaching tips, check out the Vyacheslav Platonov coaching book here.