Coaching Thought: How Much?
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Loading ...I think a fundamental question for any coach is simply, “how involved can (or should) I be?
Obviously this varies a bit with circumstance. But certainly you see this at all levels of sport–you have your more laissez-faire “player’s coaches” and your more authoritarian types as well.
Ultimate at a club and college level, at least, seems to lend itself more to the former, simply by virtue of the sport being largely opt-in and the fact that coaches are still relatively new at these levels. Team meeting frequency can be infrequent enough that an authoritarian approach is hard to establish and maintain. I’m pretty positive that this is not the case in high school, where I get the (anecdotal) impression that your Tiina Booths have a much larger degree of control.
I find myself by and large to be a hands-off sort, who thrives more on individual interaction with big-picture guidance than being a strict or micromanaging sort. I’ve been told by at least one person that I have the right sort of laid-back disposition to be a successful coach in women’s ultimate, but I don’t exactly have a ton of experience to corroborate that (and I fear most of the readers here are similarly lacking in experience on that side of the gender spectrum).
That said, what are your own experiences with different coaching styles? Dartmouth’s men has always sort of by necessity had a more hands-off coaching style simply because we’ve never had a coach in Hanover who can regularly make practices–sometimes we have a coach or two for a scrimmage or practice on weekends, and certainly at tournaments, but in many ways the tone is set by the captains rather than any coaches.
What kind of things do you find that you need as a player to thrive that you can get from your coaches (or captains)? What sorts of things really hinder your progress? Do you prefer being left to do your own thing, or do you need somebody to really push you?
Addendum: see a post from the ’06 UCPC on Nathan Wicks’ talk about coaching Brown in their glory days of the early ’00s for more fodder for thought on coaching. I’ll address it specifically at some point soon.
Balance is key, but since the sweet spot varies from player to player…personally, I thrive under the guidance of a coach who leans authoritarian and gives a lot of individual feedback at practice, but is a little more hands-off and sticks to positive reinforcement/encouragement with simple, familiar feedback when at tournaments. Going into a tournament or game, I like to have a clear idea of what my role is and what my coach expects of me.
I prefer a coach who handles subbing lines (provided he knows the team well enough to do that effectively), big-picture strategy (“go man this point” or “it’s time to throw zone,” and “more patient handler motion”), and otherwise lets the players control the tempo and energy. When I coached, the team was small and the girls handled their own subbing…I talked more in huddles but tried to keep it simple, simple, encouraging.