Being a hockey coach isn’t easy. Coaches have to deal with
parents and their complaints and worries. They also have to spend extra hours
practicing and working with their team members, and the pay typically isn’t all
that good. Some coaches are even volunteers, working full-time jobs and
juggling coaching duties at the same time for no pay!
Obviously, not everyone is going to be cut out for this (sometimes
thankless) job. There are, however, a rare few who absolutely love what they
do, despite some of the difficulties involved. Hopefully, if you are a coach,
you fall into the “good coach” category. If you’re a parent, then hopefully
your child is working with a good coach. If not, there are some easy ways to
tell if a coach is off his game and not doing his job to the best of his
ability.
A bad coach is....
1. Insensitive to
the players’ feelings: Kids,
as they say, will be kids. That means that young players are never going to
behave perfectly all the time. Even when they’re misbehaving, however, a good
coach is still concerned for their feelings. Instead of disciplining a child
loudly in front of others, he will take the child aside, gently explain what
was done wrong, and let the consequences for continued bad behavior be known.
There is never any value in purposefully embarrassing a child and making him or
her feel bad in front of others.
2. Critical without
being constructive: Part of a coach’s job is to analyze what
the players are doing right and what they’re doing wrong. The difference
between a good coach and a bad coach, however, is that a bad coach will simply
point out the mistakes and make the player feel bad for them while a good coach
will provide constructive criticism that includes suggestions on how to improve
without shaming the player.
3. Focused only
on winning: No one likes to lose, and everyone likes to win. For coaches,
though, winning should not be their main focus. Instead, their focus should be
on helping the players to have fun, gain valuable life skills from the game,
and to improve as athletes. All of these things, as well as the safety and
overall well being of the players, have to be put ahead of winning.
4. Focused only on
specific players: There are always going to be some players
on the team who are better than others. A bad coach allows these players to
become the “stars” of the team. He will give them preferential treatment in
everything from games to rule-breaking. Skill should be encouraged and
celebrated, but good coaches know how to find value in every member of their
team and how to avoid playing favorites, which only breeds resentment among the
players.
If you’re a coach, hopefully you haven’t noticed any of these
traits in yourself. If you have, it’s never too late to turn over a new leaf or
to admit that coaching might not be right for you.
If you’re a parent and you’ve seen these bad behaviors in your
child’s coach, it may be time to look into finding a different team- one with a
positive, supportive, passionate coach- for your child.
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