The hefty transition

This was sent by an angry Assistant Coach. She is a former College player who is in her second year as an assistant of an 18’s team.

“I had a conversation with the head coach of the team I'm coaching about doing more 6v6 and lost the battle. I was told, ‘We don't have the skills to do 6v6 so we have to specifically work on those skills.’ So let me get on a box and hit balls at girls just to have them work specifically on getting their body around the ball, but let's also take away left back and middle back, take away the block so that it's a perfect scenario.”

The last sentence, from the sarcasm file, points to an assistant coach wanting to help, have some input and feel valued.

John Kessel’s coaching mantra of “never be a child’s last coach” is a foundation of how we should be engaging and treating athletes. But what about our assistant coaches?

As a head coach, is your assistant a glorified ball tosser? Are they the fill in player when someone is sick? Are they the keeper of stats and the one to make sure the balls are retrieved at the end of tournaments?

If this is all you are utilizing them for, perhaps you need to reevaluate your mentorship.

Many assistant coaches are new to coaching, former players, fresh out of college or high school and entering a world that they only knew before as a player. Now there are club dynamics and egos, parents, logistics, caring about the 12 instead of the 1. It is a hefty transition.

How can you as a head coach help? Communication is the starting line. Have you had talks with your assistant coach(es)? Maybe you picked them, maybe not, but a collaborative session of your vision as a head coach is needed. From there, what input can your assistants give you? Are you agreeable to accept it? Some coaching egos automatically put everyone else in the backseat. Can you be the coach that allows for the possibility that you may not know everything?

What value and tools does this assistant coach bring to your team, your club and to you as a coach? Did she play at a high level. What did she learn from her coach? What are her principles compared to yours? If they align, no worries. If they are different, can you listen to each other while your cases are being made? Ultimately, the head coach makes the final decision. But can collaboration be the norm and not the exception?

 Sometimes it is someone who was out of the game and is coming back to the sport. Maybe it’s someone starting from scratch and never thought about coaching until now. When the season is over, is she anxious for her next season’s team or is she disillusioned and walks away?

Think for a second as to what makes you feel undervalued at your job? No one listens to you or your ideas? You are relegated to duties that any entry level employee could do? You are talked down to, your feedback and comments dismissed and your search for improvement and promotion is thwarted at every turn.

Sound familiar?

Your assistant coaches should learn from you. Teach them the how’s and more importantly the why’s of your season and practice plans. Ask for feedback. You don’t always have to take it, but it’s always valuable to hear other perspectives on problems and solutions. Can you give your assistant some part of practice to oversee with the thought that this is the steppingstone to being a head coach next year.

Can we treat these valuable members of the sport with the idea that echoes Kessel’s?

Never coach an Assistant Coaches last team!