I began my coaching career at 13 years old when my middle school gym teacher, Dave Harris, picked me to help lead a community basketball program for kindergarten kids. To say the rest is history is super corny but highly accurate. I quickly became the typical overzealous young coach looking to change the world before I could legally drive. I sought out wisdom and mentorship everywhere I went. Luckily, both my parents were high level coaches. My dad coached hockey and my mom coached synchronized swimming. Thus my quest for knowledge began with them. “What do I need to know to become a great coach?” I asked. I found their answer overly simplistic:
Your coaching philosophy…
So I went to Dave Harris, the gym teacher who had picked me to coach in the first place, “What do I need to know to become a great coach?” I asked again. To my dismay, he answered:
Your coaching philosophy…
As I grew older I continued to pursue coaching. I became NCCP certified, spent way too much money on big name coaching courses (only a few of which were useful), mentored under international level coaches, worked with junior high teams, high school teams, provincial teams, and eventually post-secondary teams. In every situation I’ve made a point of asking “What do I need to know to become a great coach?” and sure enough the most popular answer has always been:
Your coaching philosophy…
You’d think with such consistency it wouldn’t have taken me 15 years to actually sit down and formally outline my particular coaching philosophy but alas…
As part of my High Performance Coaching and Technical Leadership program at the University of British Columbia, I was made to ponder and formalize my coaching philosophy. Have a look:
The most difficult part of this assignment was limiting the presentation to five minutes (or 6:29 in my case). By connecting my five tenets with situations from my current coaching context I hope to further unpack the meaning behind my pentatonic scale.
”He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks…”
In English please: Facilitating an environment of psychological safety where players and staff alike can be vulnerable. Only once everyone feels safe can there truly be buy in to a well defined team culture.
Current Coaching Context: Leading up to this season I recognized a need for a sports psychologist on our staff. Through a previously held connection I was able to find a recent masters graduate to fill the position. He collaborated with our head coach to create and facilitate a series of team building workshops designed to establish a team culture . It took our team a few sessions to really open up to each other but since then there has been a noticeable difference in team cohesion and communication compared to last year.
”He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces…”
In English please: Growth mindset. Winning is a false idol!
Current Coaching Context: Last season I convinced the head coach to let me present to our team on the topic of growth mindset. I created a presentation that went over the neuroscience of growth mindset vs. fixed mindset as explained by Carol Dweck in her book Mindset. At the time the presentation didn’t go over well. I was in my first year with the team and the veteran players thought it was silly. I thought for sure the message fell on deaf ears. To my surprise, many of the same messages from my presentation last season ended up being codified into our teams culture this season. It did my heart good, have a look:
He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight…”
In English please: Emotional Intelligence. Having a ‘right focus’ (things that are in your direct and immediate control). Control the controllables.
Current Coaching Context: Nothing interferes with an athlete’s focus like poor officiating. Last year our athletes were particularly sensitive to bad calls. They would often lead to frustration, scoring runs against us, and technical fouls. This season I have taken it upon myself to act as a referee during the competitive phase of practice. Although the athletes still get frustrated at my calls (Admittedly, I’m not a good referee), we are better able to simulate in game situations and help them practice their emotional control. Some of the frustration is dissipated at practice because they prefer fouls being called poorly over fouls not being called. So far this season we have drastically reduced our amount of technical fouls.
”He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared…”
In English please: Daily training environment, player development, scouting, performance analysis.
Current Coaching Context: This category is the most important and time consuming aspect of my current coaching situation. I am resonsible for player development in season. Monday-Wednesday I have gym time booked for individual or small group skill sessions with our athletes. I ask the athletes what their goals are in basketball and plan based on where they want to go. I am also involved in advanced scouting our opponents. Using Synergy video technology, we create profiles for each invidiual opponent on the other team. Lastly, I work to ensure our training environment during practice. Although the head coach leads, I work around the edges to ensure our practice environment is safe, organized and full of meaningful feedback for the players.
”He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign…”
In English please: Wild animals vs. Zoo animals.
Current Coaching Context: The difference between athletes who succeed at a USport level and those who don’t is the difference between wild animals and zoo animals. A zoo animal relies on zoo keepers for everything in their day. They have no decision making power or responsibility and cruise through life without much thought. Wild animals, on the other hand, have to work for everything they get. If they don’t hunt, they don’t eat. The same can be said for our athletes. Athletes who rely on the coaching staff for every aspect of their growth and development will fail to reach their maximum potential. Athletes who take personal responsibility for their development, in addition to team programming, are the ones who excel at our level of competition and give themselves opportunities to play professionally afterward. As a staff we endeavour to empower our athletes by showing them what excellent individual development habits look like while also giving them freedom to personalize to their liking.
TL;DR – Without guidance or purpose, coaching becomes haphazard and whimsical. Figure out your values and beliefs, formalize them into a coaching philosophy, and refer to it often. It will guide your actions and decisions with consistency. Before all else, know thyself.
JP
Jackson, thanks for posting you philosophy presentation, it was very well presented. Of course the another metaphor for the pentatonic scale are the 5 players on the court in basketball. I really like how you have related each aspect of the philosophy to your coaching context. I am intrigued by the literature on expertise and how deliberate practice could be a characteristic of expert coaches. Not all coaches become expert. I think that for most coaches the role is something that give great satisfaction, but in essence it is about creating the practice to help athletes grow or progress. Expert coaches are those who deliberate over practice and spend the extra time in preparation, analysis and reflection. I would love to study this some day.
This is great. I appreciate you found direct correlations to how you coach. I have always heard that coaching is a lifestyle and at first I didn’t like that because I appreciate my personal time with my family. That being said it is a lifestyle as our philosophy guides us in every action we take with our players, and program. Having the basis for who you are and what you want to be is the only way to start.