Coaches Corner

I've been spending a lot of time on coach development over the past 5+ years and have made a number of observations. Primarily, that coaches have different needs and interests and different times . I call it Maslow's Hierarchy of Coaching Needs and, like Maslow's Hierarchy , there is little scientific basis for it. The concept of Maslow's Hierarchy is that someone needs to be satisfied at one level before having the capacity to progress to the next. For beginner coaches, technical is the focus for the first 5 years, then tactical for 5 years, then Sports Science and Sports Medicine for 5 years, then the actual ability to 'coach' after that. 1  For anyone still reading, yes, the 5 years is arbitrary but feels about right. It takes a long time! Now, what are the practical implications of this? Primarily it is related to coach development. A good coach developer knows that coaching skills are critical, and that curiosity is a trait of high performing coaches. But

I often see questions on coaching forums asking what 'technique' or 'system' should be used for what division. This is a good question and I doubt the questioner is completely satisfied with the wildly contradictory responses they get, but I understand the question. What I don't understand is why there is always such a sense of immediacy. That is, the need to know what to do THIS year. I've never really operated in situations like this. The question I'm usually asking is, what do I have to be able to do next year and the year after.  To a large extent, what athletes can do this year is already with them. Of course, you can change during a season, but really, you are polishing what already exists. While you are polishing what already exists, you also need to be introducing what will be required next year. You don't have to be able to do it perfectly, but the athletes need to learn the fundamentals. While you are polishing and teaching, you also need to en