Blame Game - Bad avenue for coaches

There are a lot of "coaches" who don't have a clue how to coach! These individuals consistently do far more damage to young people than they do good. They tear down players' self-esteem rather than building it up. They create an extremely unsafe learning environment for their athletes. They use fear, humiliation, and demeaning, disrespectful behaviour as "teaching" tools. They are emotionally and sometimes (indirectly) physically abusive. Directly and indirectly, they pressure athletes to continue to play when they are injured or sick. They regularly kill the fun and passion that their athletes once had for the sport. These coaches have lost their way and have wandered terribly far from the true mission of coaching.

Good coaches create a safe learning environment. There is nothing safe about being on a team where your teammates regularly criticise and yell at each other. There is nothing safe about being on a team when you are picked on or disliked by your teammates. It is the coach's responsibility to set very clear limits to prevent these kinds of "team busting" behaviours. There should be no place for them on a winning team.
 

 

If you think that your most important job as a coach is to win games, you're not coaching the right way. Coaches are under a lot of pressure to win from associations, administrations, general managers, and owners. If winning is your primary goal as a coach, you have seriously lost your way and, in many cases, you'll end up winning fewer games!

Your job as a coach is to teach young people and help them grow as individuals so that they can become better people both on and off the ice. Good coaches use their sport as nothing more than a means to help students become the very best that they can be.

Winning and losing are the outcomes of games, but the outcome of a great coach lasts young athletes a lifetime. They learn to play as a team and sacrifice their individual needs for the improvement of the team, handle adversity and failure, master fears and obstacles, work hard towards a goal, believe in themselves, be good sports, and play by the rules.

 

 

 

 

Being organized with a daily plan on CoachThem, bringing positive energy to the rink every day, and supporting your athletes to be better will create a winning atmosphere. Focus on development; ask yourself if your players are improving through your teaching and drills, not blaming others or yelling to intimidate players.

It is easy to blame a goalie for not stopping a shot or a player for missing an open net or getting a penalty at a bad time. Remind yourself these are all small mistakes that happen during games at all levels. The blame is on you, the coach, if you don't react the right way, look at yourself in the mirror, and ask "How do I make them better, and do it the right way?"

 

 

Written by Robb Tallas and the CoachThem Team

 

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