"THE VISION TO SEE PLAYERS FOR WHO THEY CAN BE IN LIGHT OF WHO THEY ARE"
MASTER CLASS COACHES EXCEL IN ALL AREAS. TEAMS ACHIEVE CLOSEST TO THEIR CEILING WHEN THE ACCOUNTABILITY FALLS ON SHOULDERS WITH THE CAPACITY TO ABSORB, CARRY, and ELEVATE THIS LOAD.
|
FOLLOW |
LEAD |
MANAGE |
ADMIN. |
COACH |
ADAPT |
Coaching IS a myriad of skillsets, tasks, and capacities, wrapped up into the embodiment of the responsibility of the "staff".
The components above are a continuum.
And they are listed below in a particular order for a reason.
The components above are a continuum.
And they are listed below in a particular order for a reason.
#1: FOLLOW
#1: FOLLOW
Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, "Character is destiny." A coach is called to lead, and before a coach can achieve his/her highest capacity to lead, the coach must first have the humility, empathy, and capacity to follow. Following, is not only a prerequisite to leading, it is attributed to a person's character.
In the world of coaching you will be asked to abide by various authorities. A quick checklist of these: Referees, Team Captains, Team Managers, Team Medics/Trainers, League Commissioners, Club Officers, Your Staff.
You will abide and comply by rules, standards, and codes of conduct.
And, your best will be unlocked when you listen and understand and then abide and comply by those who have found a better, different, or more evolved way. This may be peers, experts, parents, or your players.
Before you do anything else well. Learn to FOLLOW.
Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, "Character is destiny." A coach is called to lead, and before a coach can achieve his/her highest capacity to lead, the coach must first have the humility, empathy, and capacity to follow. Following, is not only a prerequisite to leading, it is attributed to a person's character.
In the world of coaching you will be asked to abide by various authorities. A quick checklist of these: Referees, Team Captains, Team Managers, Team Medics/Trainers, League Commissioners, Club Officers, Your Staff.
You will abide and comply by rules, standards, and codes of conduct.
And, your best will be unlocked when you listen and understand and then abide and comply by those who have found a better, different, or more evolved way. This may be peers, experts, parents, or your players.
Before you do anything else well. Learn to FOLLOW.
#2: LEAD
#2: LEAD
Fairly straight forwardly most coaches will understand and be compelled by a call to lead. There are many ways to understand leadership and what leading is intended to look like.
With The WSA Way, as a coach, we called to translate our vision in who we believe players and teams can become, in light of who they are. We are called to lead to transform.
Develop your leadership with an ongoing humility and scrutiny of your methods, and allow your responsibility and accountability to leadership of your athletes, to motivate you to "be right" to "lead right".
Let your athletes "be the reason".
Fairly straight forwardly most coaches will understand and be compelled by a call to lead. There are many ways to understand leadership and what leading is intended to look like.
With The WSA Way, as a coach, we called to translate our vision in who we believe players and teams can become, in light of who they are. We are called to lead to transform.
Develop your leadership with an ongoing humility and scrutiny of your methods, and allow your responsibility and accountability to leadership of your athletes, to motivate you to "be right" to "lead right".
Let your athletes "be the reason".
#3: MANAGE
#3: MANAGE
Management of people and tasks will be associated to all master class coaches. And often this sphere of skills goes under developed, or simply un-developed, in many aspiring coaches.
Some would argue this is not a necessary requisite skill for coaching. I would argue that the majority, the vast majority, of coaches do not reach master class, but by default fill a void of space left by "too many players and not enough resources". The WSA Way calls on us to be "overcomers". If you have prior to reading this relied solely on your "team manager" or "club/school administrator" to take on your team's management tasks, reconsider if that is "who" you want to become as a coach.
MANAGEMENT OF PEOPLE: You will manage parents, club leaders, league leaders, players, captains, referees, and all of the relationships that interconnect to your team. And you will delegate responsibility, while accepting accountability for the roles each of these people take on in support of your team's vision.
MANAGE THE ROSTER: Quite simply recruit to build.
MANAGEMENT OF STUFF: You will manage conflict, dissension, disagreement, success, failure, and change.
MANAGEMENT OF TASKS: You will manage finances, decisions, schedules, and altogether the collective information that is required to lead a team.
Per The WSA Way, as an aspiring Master Class coach, learn to manage, and accept the accountability.
Management of people and tasks will be associated to all master class coaches. And often this sphere of skills goes under developed, or simply un-developed, in many aspiring coaches.
Some would argue this is not a necessary requisite skill for coaching. I would argue that the majority, the vast majority, of coaches do not reach master class, but by default fill a void of space left by "too many players and not enough resources". The WSA Way calls on us to be "overcomers". If you have prior to reading this relied solely on your "team manager" or "club/school administrator" to take on your team's management tasks, reconsider if that is "who" you want to become as a coach.
MANAGEMENT OF PEOPLE: You will manage parents, club leaders, league leaders, players, captains, referees, and all of the relationships that interconnect to your team. And you will delegate responsibility, while accepting accountability for the roles each of these people take on in support of your team's vision.
MANAGE THE ROSTER: Quite simply recruit to build.
MANAGEMENT OF STUFF: You will manage conflict, dissension, disagreement, success, failure, and change.
MANAGEMENT OF TASKS: You will manage finances, decisions, schedules, and altogether the collective information that is required to lead a team.
Per The WSA Way, as an aspiring Master Class coach, learn to manage, and accept the accountability.
#4: ADMINISTRATE
#4: ADMINISTRATE
Administration is associated to all master class coaches. This is one of the skills that often goes under developed, or simply un-developed, in many aspiring coaches.
Some would argue this is not a necessary requisite skill for coaching. I would argue that the majority, the vast majority, of coaches do not reach master class, but by default fill a void of space left by "too many players and not enough resources". The WSA Way calls on us to be "overcomers". If you have prior to reading this relied solely on your "team manager" or "club/school administrator" to take on your team's administrative tasks, reconsider if that is "who" you want to become as a coach.
ADMINISTRATING RULES OF THUMB
1) Read. You are responsible to read rules, emails, deadlines, team posts, club posts, etc...
2) Write. You are responsible to create communication that informs your team.
3) Decipher. A lot of administrative tasks requiring taking information, and then deciphering.
4) Do. You are responsible to find the information, register players, execute rosters, and much more.
The primary role of the Administrative Tasks is quite simply to DO them. And work long enough, hard enough, to find the resources to support your capacity to complete the tasks.
If you have decided you are NOT a good administrator - you have also decided you are not a good tryer or a hard worker. Developing "administrative" skills that suffice for a soccer team is well within the capacity of YOU.
If you have chosen to neglect this area of your team, you will fall behind facilitating your team's achievement of their ceiling.
Your club has administrators who work at a master class level. You will not be required to achieve this master class level. You are capable, though, of completing tasks.
On behalf of your players, quite simply, DO THE WORK.
Administration is associated to all master class coaches. This is one of the skills that often goes under developed, or simply un-developed, in many aspiring coaches.
Some would argue this is not a necessary requisite skill for coaching. I would argue that the majority, the vast majority, of coaches do not reach master class, but by default fill a void of space left by "too many players and not enough resources". The WSA Way calls on us to be "overcomers". If you have prior to reading this relied solely on your "team manager" or "club/school administrator" to take on your team's administrative tasks, reconsider if that is "who" you want to become as a coach.
ADMINISTRATING RULES OF THUMB
1) Read. You are responsible to read rules, emails, deadlines, team posts, club posts, etc...
2) Write. You are responsible to create communication that informs your team.
3) Decipher. A lot of administrative tasks requiring taking information, and then deciphering.
4) Do. You are responsible to find the information, register players, execute rosters, and much more.
The primary role of the Administrative Tasks is quite simply to DO them. And work long enough, hard enough, to find the resources to support your capacity to complete the tasks.
If you have decided you are NOT a good administrator - you have also decided you are not a good tryer or a hard worker. Developing "administrative" skills that suffice for a soccer team is well within the capacity of YOU.
If you have chosen to neglect this area of your team, you will fall behind facilitating your team's achievement of their ceiling.
Your club has administrators who work at a master class level. You will not be required to achieve this master class level. You are capable, though, of completing tasks.
On behalf of your players, quite simply, DO THE WORK.
#5: COACH
#5: COACH
Coaching is the TRANSFERENCE of what resides in your brain, to the application in the game and life, on behalf of the player.
Coaching is a skill most reading this will already have a sufficient mastery in.
The WSA Way outllines within a Club Wide Game Model, The WSA Way principles of coaching. This model is meant to unify and guide all WSA Coaches within The WSA Way, while allowing flexibility in each coach to bring her own style, methods, and philosophy to create a unique "Team Game Model".
It is imperative to note a few behaviors that are NOT master class coaching:
IMPARTING YOUR KNOWLEDGE - telling people what to do
SHARING YOUR KNOWLEDGE - telling people what you know
COMMENTING ON THE SITUATION - simply sharing a narrative of your opinion without purpose
BEING DEMONSTRATIVE - drawing attention towards you to get attention of your athletes by yelling or otherwise
FIGHTING FOR YOUR TEAM - making others the enemies of your team, instead of accumulating advocates
FILLING THE VOID - always intervening, speaking into the silence, over participating in the game or training
The above behaviors may at times be required - in moderation.
If you are spending large volumes of time on the above, reflect on why.
Consider how these behaviors might be interfering with the role of the coach within THE WSA WAY: "The TRANSFERENCE of what resides in your brain, to the application in the game and life, on behalf of the player."
Coaching is the TRANSFERENCE of what resides in your brain, to the application in the game and life, on behalf of the player.
Coaching is a skill most reading this will already have a sufficient mastery in.
The WSA Way outllines within a Club Wide Game Model, The WSA Way principles of coaching. This model is meant to unify and guide all WSA Coaches within The WSA Way, while allowing flexibility in each coach to bring her own style, methods, and philosophy to create a unique "Team Game Model".
It is imperative to note a few behaviors that are NOT master class coaching:
IMPARTING YOUR KNOWLEDGE - telling people what to do
SHARING YOUR KNOWLEDGE - telling people what you know
COMMENTING ON THE SITUATION - simply sharing a narrative of your opinion without purpose
BEING DEMONSTRATIVE - drawing attention towards you to get attention of your athletes by yelling or otherwise
FIGHTING FOR YOUR TEAM - making others the enemies of your team, instead of accumulating advocates
FILLING THE VOID - always intervening, speaking into the silence, over participating in the game or training
The above behaviors may at times be required - in moderation.
If you are spending large volumes of time on the above, reflect on why.
Consider how these behaviors might be interfering with the role of the coach within THE WSA WAY: "The TRANSFERENCE of what resides in your brain, to the application in the game and life, on behalf of the player."
#6 ADAPT
#6: ADAPT
Adapting includes the following:
GROWTH - become better by being steadfast in your own personal growth journey
DEVELOP - watch others, observe from others, add to your own authenticate methods and philosophy
LISTEN - listen to players, both present and former, and even opponents, and garner info to help refine your ways
ADAPT - the environment will change, you must change also; this could be day-to-day, or season-to-season or decade-to-decade.
EVOLVE - allow the failures to glean great information for your own personal transformation
The Master Class coach finds a great WAY a METHODOLOGY and applies it to his athletes. And then after weeks of effort in refining that methodology (sometimes years or a career's worth of effort) the coach is willing to rewrite his own playbook, to adapt to the super culture of the times.
The Master Class Coach shows up on game day having developed a Game Model around "transferring the ball" to find that the field is frozen, the ball is flat, and the wind is 40-50 MPH, with snow and sleet, and the team's first choice #10 (playmaking midfielder) and #8 (passing midfielder) are out sick. The "passing" game model will not be effective will these conditions. It is time to adapt.
The Master Class Coach shows up on a 30-degree night, to only 5 available athletes, in early Spring, with unfavorable outdoor conditions, after a team loss and low team morale -- and The Master Class Coach runs the best session of the season.
Because ADAPTING is one of the highest end skillsets for a coach leading a team through the vast array of unknowns along the landscape of sport.
THE WSA WAY believes YOU, as a WSA Coach are an OVERCOMER. Therefore, when called on, you will ADAPT.
Adapting includes the following:
GROWTH - become better by being steadfast in your own personal growth journey
DEVELOP - watch others, observe from others, add to your own authenticate methods and philosophy
LISTEN - listen to players, both present and former, and even opponents, and garner info to help refine your ways
ADAPT - the environment will change, you must change also; this could be day-to-day, or season-to-season or decade-to-decade.
EVOLVE - allow the failures to glean great information for your own personal transformation
The Master Class coach finds a great WAY a METHODOLOGY and applies it to his athletes. And then after weeks of effort in refining that methodology (sometimes years or a career's worth of effort) the coach is willing to rewrite his own playbook, to adapt to the super culture of the times.
The Master Class Coach shows up on game day having developed a Game Model around "transferring the ball" to find that the field is frozen, the ball is flat, and the wind is 40-50 MPH, with snow and sleet, and the team's first choice #10 (playmaking midfielder) and #8 (passing midfielder) are out sick. The "passing" game model will not be effective will these conditions. It is time to adapt.
The Master Class Coach shows up on a 30-degree night, to only 5 available athletes, in early Spring, with unfavorable outdoor conditions, after a team loss and low team morale -- and The Master Class Coach runs the best session of the season.
Because ADAPTING is one of the highest end skillsets for a coach leading a team through the vast array of unknowns along the landscape of sport.
THE WSA WAY believes YOU, as a WSA Coach are an OVERCOMER. Therefore, when called on, you will ADAPT.