Tick, tock… tick,tock. For players and coaches, we all know that the game is honest with the one thing in life that we cannot get back as we forge ahead: Time. We only have a finite amount of time in the game or sport that we play as coaches and players. However, we have this self-convincing belief in the back of our head that we will play or coach the game for as long as we live. In reality we know that is not the truth, but we choose to believe it anyway in a desperation of tricking our mind that the one thing that we love in life will never leave us.

What we should know is that our time comes and goes just like sand through an hour glass and the one thing in life that we can control is how we use that time. We won’t be the one defining person to reshape the way that the game is played (no matter how good we think we are), so what better way to spend your time as a coach than to learn your craft? Successful coaches today are using their time to leave no rock unturned to try as they try to find the next best drill, a better practice plan, a better system or process, or even a better way to prepare and motivate their players. Learning has become a ritual for them to get better every single day.

Whether it is hockey coaches learning a new power play system, football coaches learning about how to run a better scheme, or baseball coaches teaching better fundamentals, you will always find coaches at the higher levels trying to be a “sponge” as much as they can. They are STUDENTS OF THE GAME; always pushing themselves every day to find an article online, or watching a motivational video on how to inspire and deliver, or scouring the web to find a new drill to implement in their next practice. One thing is constant with the best coaches: They are always learning.





And if you’re not following in their footsteps as a coach, you need to wake up because you are stuck in your own ways. I completely understand the whole “old school” and “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mentalities, but what I don’t understand is how coaches are convinced that their drills and practice plans from the 80’s or 90’s are applicable to today’s game. As coaches, we need to understand that it is a privilege to be put in charge and serve as the leader of our respective groups. It is a privilege to have the trust and faith from a selected few that come from diverse backgrounds and look to us for leadership. The only way to keep and maintain that trust is to show them that we’re doing everything we can to make them better athletes, better teammates, and better people.

The last thing that our athletes want is to show up to practice day in and day out to find the same bland practices while we hammer home the same key points. In today’s world of social media and instant information retrieval, athletes want to come to practice and experience something new every day. They want to try new things. They want a challenge. Now some of the new things that we draw up will crash and burn into the ground. That is not what is important. What’s important is that you are always evolving and challenging your players in your best way possible.

Success doesn’t follow coaches that are stuck in their ways and aren’t open to change. It follows those who challenge and inspire their athletes. It follows those who are trying to find every avenue possible to teach and preach instead of giving you the same five drills with a command and demand approach. Coaches always need to remember that Perception Is Reality. When your players don’t see you putting in the effort to try and challenge them with new ideas, what do you think their perception is of you?

It’s such a simple fix. If you truly love the game, then you will put in the time and effort to try and make it better for your players. As coaches, we need to remember to have an athlete mindset. We are never satisfied with where we are at and we are going to work to learn new things and master the craft of our profession.

BE THE MOST PASSIONATE “SPONGE” YOU CAN BE

Energy and passion are contagious. Your players feed off of it and your coaches are motivated by it. Some of the most charismatic people in the world are the ones that have been the most passionate in their field of work. From Steve Jobs to Steve Kerr, the best in their field are passionate students of the game. Passion isn’t yelling with emotion or throwing temper tantrums on the sidelines. Passion is showing your team that you are 100% dedicated to guide them down the right path, that you are there to help them learn from their failures, and that you will do everything in your power to allow them to be successful.

Coaches at the highest levels have a philosophy that parallels these three goals:

To prepare their team to the best of their ability. To create a competitive and engaging environment that allows both success and failure. To use that preparation and competitive environment to push growth and progress for the athlete and the team.

The opportunity to become the best coach possible is out there for us every day. Coaches that are sponges utilize those resources every day to make themselves a better mentor, motivator, or tactician. Don’t know where to start? Start with Google. Enter what you want to fix or what you are searching to solve and see what comes up. Pick up the phone and call a coach at the higher level. You would be surprised how open they are to help because they were once in your shoes.

It may seem stupid to you (I once was thought of being stupid for doing this), but YouTube and Vimeo are amazing resources to pick up information, even for advanced coaches. I remember starting out in coaching and rewinding Dallas Stars development camp drills, Edmonton Oilers pre-game practices, and Boston University skating drills just to pick up anything in the video. I would always ask myself: What are they working on here? How is the practice progressing? How does the coach use his whistle? How can I incorporate this into my practices?

I would spend hours charting and putting each drill I found into a binder that I keep in my desk known as my “Drill Bible”. I couldn’t wait to implement drills from the higher levels and see how my players would complete them. Did I get made fun of it? A little bit. I would be lying if I told you that the other coaches chuckling over my educational methods didn’t come up to me after and tell me that they started using my research methods as well. Parking your pride and becoming a student while you are a teacher will be the first step in the right direction of evolving your coaching.

As a coach, you need to remember to park your pride and understand that you are never too smart to learn. If that was the case, you wouldn’t be where you are today. If you’re not learning, you’re dying. Being a student of the game while serving as a teacher to your athletes is the foundation for success to keep the game from passing you by.

HAVE A MINDSET THAT THE GAME IS PASSING YOU BY

It’s true… the game is passing you by. Each and every day. Young coaches and great minds are devising new schemes to try and beat the old & traditional styles of play. But that’s not important. What is important is that you are slowing that gap down by educating yourself on a daily basis.

Love him or hate him, Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh has a track record of success at the highest levels in football. Harbaugh has a mindset and philosophy that is ridden with passion that sometimes gets the best of him. We have all seen his sideline outbursts with spit flying from his mouth while he stomps the ground in his khaki pants. From Stanford to the San Francisco 49ers to his current job at the University of Michigan, Jim carries a quote with him from legendary Michigan Bo Schembechler that hangs from a banner at the practice field of wherever he coaches…“You are either getting better or getting worse. You never stay the same.”

Sign hung at the @49ers practice field: "You are getting better or you are getting worse. You never stay the same." pic.twitter.com/iB1aHrAwLQ — Eric Musselman (@EricPMusselman) June 25, 2014

If we expect our players to live by that mantra, then we need to expect ourselves to live by it as well. Every day, we must be pushing our coaching process, our team tactics, our message of hope to our players… anyway that we can become a better coach for our team is beneficial for the team in the long run. However, for coaches, it is hard to swallow your pride sometimes and realize that you need to develop your skills to get better. Its easy for some coaches to grasp that, but the sense of pride comes in play for others. Progress comes when you tell yourself the truth and you are able to feel the uncertainty and take action.

There are endless articles, interviews, tutorials, podcasts, and videos on the internet at your disposal…. Just look for them. Google it, Youtube it, email coaches at the higher level, do whatever it takes to get better. The reason why? Because you aren’t good enough, and that’s ok. What’s not ok is cheating yourself. What’s not ok is cheating your coaching staff. And it’s definitely not ok to cheat your players.

Always ask yourself this question: “How much time have you dedicated today to become a better coach?”

BUILD A SUPPORT STAFF THAT CHALLENGES EACH OTHER

A team that challenges itself every day allows itself to grow. The same goes for the coaching staff that embraces this philosophy. If your assistant coaches are “yes coaches”, you’re doomed. You may think that you have to be the authoritative figure at practice, but you could not be farther from the truth. Coaches that are allowed to own their responsibilities and grow from their mistakes will surprise you and exceed your expectations.

Do you want to surround yourself with people that challenge you or that follow you? I’m not talking about a combative environment with your coaching staff where you butt heads… That’s not healthy at all. I’m talking about someone that knows the game better than you, that is more motivational than you, that sees the game differently than you. Those are the types of coaches that challenge you to become a better coach because of one sole reason: They force you to evaluate what you are doing and determine if it is the correct way to do it.

Surround yourself by these coaches. They will bring an entirely different angle to your team and help you see things in an entirely different light. In the long run, you become a better coach from it.

EVALUATE YOUR PRACTICES AND LEARN FROM THEM

In order to have an effective and successful practice plan, you have to prepare. You have to prepare and evaluate from every angle possible. When drawing up a practice plan, you need to run a checklist of questions through your head. Questions along the lines of: Are the drills too complicated or too easy? Does the practice just touch on your weaknesses or does it go in depth on them? Is the practice laid out in a natural progression? How much time am I allowing for fundamentals and skill development? Is the practice challenging and engaging?

Finally, the core question that you need to ask yourself is: Am I excited about this practice?

If you’re not, then you need to reevaluate. If you can’t get excited about what your players will be doing today, how do you expect them to get excited themselves?

After each practice, you and your coaching staff should be evaluating several things:

What you did and didn’t like about how practice went Where you think you should make improvements Any player weaknesses that were exposed and how to fix them Keep a note of who had a great practice and who lacked…. It will put things into perspective for you.

You have to remember that your coaches and players will practice the sport much more than they will play or coach it. The best coaches don’t always have the best facilities, the best players, the best (insert excuse into here why they are the best)… However, you can bet your brass that they definitely have the best processes and practices.

When it comes to practice… You only have so much time. Don’t waste it by being unprepared.

Finally, always remember that all coaches that are successful at the highest level absolutely have one thing in common: they are all students of the game. In some way, shape, or form, they are learning how to improve their team. Whether it is hockey coaches learning about creating offensive rushes, football coaches learning about how to run the best schemes, or baseball coaches teaching the best fundamentals, you will always find coaches at the higher levels trying to be a “sponge” as much as they can.

If you want to develop as a coach… Research to get better. Soak up the information. Apply it to your game. Rinse & Repeat.

#SOAKITUP