Coaching Tip #68

Tagged – Tip of the Week, Coaching Practice, Player Development

The best reason to do anything is because you love to do it.  This is doubly so when what you are doing is playing a  game such as volleyball.  To a large degree, the coach, especially the first coach, is responsible for a player’s love of the game.  That coach has the responsibility, over and above everything else, to inspire and teach a love of the game.

Of course, it is important that the player learns the skills and tactics of the game, but most players, no matter how good the coach is, will not become top players.  But if they learn to love the game when they are starting their journey, even if they never reach any representative team, will stay in the sport as club players, officials, referees, and fans.  Those people are the lifeblood of any sport.

At different points in the player’s career, the coach’s exact role in that process is different.  Sometimes they must nurture and develop that love.  At other times, the best they can do is not to destroy it.  But at all times, the coach has to teach their players to love it.

A collection of more Coaching Tips can be found here.

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