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<\/p>\nAny coach can agree that their mind is going a million miles a minute at all times. Processing what is happening and then processing what may or may not happen.\u00a0\u00a0 A coach needs to analyze all these thoughts and make decisions within a split second. \u00a0\u00a0From the outside, people may look at coaching on a very simplistic level, WIN.\u00a0 Mainstream media promotes this simplistic view.\u00a0 If we look at any major league sport, if the team is unsuccessful then the coaches head will roll.\u00a0 Rarely does the media look further into the overall situations.\u00a0 One could ask, when top performers who get paid substantially more then the coach have a lack of performance, why don\u2019t they get a pay cut or get turfed.\u00a0 Within the culture of coaching, every decision made by the coach could be their final decision within that role.\u00a0 \u00a0So, lets dive deeper into decision making within the coaching role at the amateur level.<\/p>\n
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Like any athlete aspiring to make the \u201cbig show\u201d, there are many coaches coming onto the scene that are hoping to learn, educate and be continuously challenged within their coaching career.\u00a0 Coaching over the past 19 years, I have been fortunate to coach many levels and age categories within the sport of volleyball.\u00a0\u00a0 Through these years, I have had made many decisions in a wide variety of scenarios. \u00a0The decisions are not just in the moment during a key play, but also decisions made for the longevity and growth of the team or program.\u00a0\u00a0 So, to grow as a coach its important to reflect and think about these decisions for learning opportunities. Let\u2019s turn back time and look at some scenarios in my time as a coach.<\/p>\n
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Back in 2004, I sat down with a gentleman named, Shane Donen.\u00a0 He is the founder and current club Director at Seaside Volleyball Club (Seaside) in White Rock, BC.\u00a0 After I completed one year coaching at another local club, I approached Shane to coach at Seaside.\u00a0 Shane told me I was not head coach worthy but that I could be an assistant Coach.\u00a0 I was too young and not experienced enough.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 My ego just took a devastating blow.\u00a0 How dare this guy tell me I am not experienced enough.\u00a0 I am a current college player and already have been head coaching for 3 years.\u00a0 So as any young and dumb 19-year-old, I laughed and started my own club.\u00a0 Now this decision in that moment seemed like the right thing to do.\u00a0 \u00a0The Club I started, Heat Volleyball Club, would go on to run for 6 years and provide opportunities for many athletes who went on to play post secondary or to even coach.\u00a0 This was great to help grow the game.\u00a0 Now older and I guess more wiser, I look back at that decision and wish I took Shane up on his offer to be an assistant Coach.\u00a0 To be able to sit in the second chair and learn from someone else would have been an amazing experience.\u00a0 Shane, is now a very good friend of mine and still someone that I look up to for advice within coaching today.\u00a0 Shane, still runs one of the best clubs in BC and people are fortunate to be coached by him and\/or his wife.<\/p>\n
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Seeing that I am on the young and dumb timeline of my coaching career, I might as well continue down this path for another decision (or non decision) during my coaching career.\u00a0 During the years of running Heat Volleyball Club, a coach named Ryan Hofer crossed my path at multiple times to provide advice.\u00a0 Thinking I knew everything, this advice fell onto my deaf ears.\u00a0 Again 15 years later, Ryan Hofer (another good friend of mine) is my mentor while I complete my Masters at UBC.\u00a0 Ryan, is one of the most genuine and down to earth individuals I have ever met in the volleyball coaching world.\u00a0 As one of the most successful coaches in U-sport, Ryan is extremely humble and open about how the show is run within the Trinity Western University Women\u2019s volleyball program.\u00a0 Ryan is a wealth of knowledge and I always reach out to him regarding anything and everything volleyball.<\/p>\n
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Now let\u2019s take a look at some decisions that are in the moment.\u00a0 In 2018, the first super nationals were held in Edmonton, Alberta.\u00a0\u00a0 My U18 team is playing in the Div 1 tier 3 semi finals vs the Fraser Valley Volleyball Club U18 team.\u00a0\u00a0 We won the first set by two points, lose the second set in two points and now we are neck and neck going through the final set.\u00a0 \u00a0As any coach would do, my mind shifts to a million miles an hour thought process.\u00a0 Trying to think of and do anything to put the team in the best situation to be successful.\u00a0 \u00a0Thoughts and decisions are now more critical than ever.\u00a0 Timeout now or wait?\u00a0 If I wait too long, will it be the point of no return?\u00a0 To sub or not to sub?\u00a0 If I sub and that player serves into the net, which then leads to us losing the game, how will that player take it?\u00a0 How will her teammates take it, the assistant coach and\/or the parents?\u00a0 So, we sit at 13\/13. Teams must win by two.\u00a0\u00a0 Winner moves on to the medal round and the losing team packs their bags and go home.\u00a0 All the timeouts for both teams have been used and now I have a player walking up to the back line to serve who has missed her last attempt.\u00a0\u00a0 No time to ask my assistant for advice, I look down the bench and call on my strongest server out of the athletes on the bench.\u00a0 This player is cold, has not played yet at all this game and is thrown into the moment. \u00a0\u00a0She goes in and serves an ace to make it the score 15-14. She then follows that with a strong serve that provides us with a freeball that we were able to put away.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There was no book to read, no podcast to listen to and no second chance.\u00a0 Sometimes coaching decisions are made on gut feelings and of course how well you know your players. Knowing your players not only based on their ability of skill but how they manage pressure and who they are as a unique individual.\u00a0\u00a0 The moment of the team being successful is one that I will never forget.\u00a0 Luckily one of the parents captured that exact moment on film.\u00a0 At the end of the day as a coach, it wasn\u2019t about the decision made but to be able to watch the smiles on the athletes faces and to share in that moment is unforgettable.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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Even though I have been very fortunate with having success with athletes and teams, there have been many decisions not go in my favor.\u00a0 Like any human, I now reflect on and wonder \u201cIF\u201d I made a different decision where would I be right now? Possibly not writing this blog\u2026. Of course, none of us can take back time or change the past. Every decision that has been made in coaching and my personal development has led me right here, right now to this very moment.\u00a0 This is starting to sound like the \u201cMatrix\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/coachwildman\/files\/2021\/01\/matrix.jpg\")
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Will you take the red pill or the blue pill?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Any coach can agree that their mind is going a million miles a minute at all times. Processing what is happening and then processing what may or may not happen.\u00a0\u00a0 A coach needs to analyze all these thoughts and make decisions within a split second. \u00a0\u00a0From the outside, people may look at coaching on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72313,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-thinking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/coachwildman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/coachwildman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/coachwildman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/coachwildman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/coachwildman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/coachwildman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/coachwildman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/coachwildman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/coachwildman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/coachwildman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}