Before I get into the meat and potatoes of what I want to talk about this week, I need to make a couple of clarifications and some base line philosophies I hold. There is nothing wrong with being a tough coach. Nothing inherently bad about being a demanding coach that many would call a strict disciplinarian. In fact, I’d say holding players accountable to standards is part of the job description and something that needs to be a top priority for all coaches. Being tough is fine, and sometimes a great skill set to possess as a coach that can get the most out of your players. With that said, the key to being an effective disciplinarian is communication.
“My way or the highway” is a common tactic in coaching. You want the players to execute and perform to exact specifications and you want them to be diligent with their discipline. But a “my way or the highway” approach by itself, is not a effective form of creating discipline. At its roots this approach creates athletes who execute without thought. They simple do what they are told. As we all know rarely in sports is there circumstances that scenarios occur exactly like expected and without any level of variance. It is the variances and how players handle them that draws a line between the good players and the great players. As coaches we want to be pushing our athletes to meet and exceed their full potential. To do so requires both discipline to execute the routine plays that unfold as expected, but also the discipline to modify the course of action as determined by the variances. In short we want our players to be creative and fundamental.
So, how do we do both? How can we hold players accountable to the execution of the fundamentals and the with the precision we demand, while at the same time help them develop the mind to see variances and how to handle them?
The key that unlocks this balance is communication. We must be open to listening to our players. Especially in those circumstances where we see them make a mistake. What did they see? Why did they do what they did? Or what was it they were trying to accomplish? We have to understand the minds of out players if we want to help them each reach the potential for success they have. Don’t get me wrong, every mistake doesn’t have to come with a dialog back and forth with the player to analyze what has happened, timeouts would have to be 15 mins long. But we need to carve out time to assess these important questions to both learn about our athletes and help guide them to be better in the endless variances that will occur.
We want a culture within our programs in which the players understand they MUST be disciplined and are expected to execute fundamentals according to the coaching, but at the same time, the culture needs to allow them to understand that when mistakes occur in handling variances, communication is not only allowed but expected. The best way for me to help coaches with this balance is to approach your players with the mindset that in mistakes athletes were trying to do right. Why they failed is up to us as coaches to assess and then correct. Did they fail to be disciplined in a fundamental execution? Or was there some variance they saw and they tried to adjust and adjusted wrong? This is important for coaches to recognize the subtle but distinctive difference here. Demanding they do something exactly according to the plan in an instance that requires variance, is going to prove to be ineffective. At the extreme, you will create players and a team, that can perform extremely well when everything is going as planned, but will have a team that craters when under the pressure of adversity.
This is no easy task and requires a lot of time to develop within ourselves as coaches, the ability to be both a disciplinarian AND a coach who will understand at times slight strays from the path of perfect are needed. From what I have found, is most goof coaches develop this overtime, by simply being aware and conscious that this is something they want to achieve. And each coach develops their own way of finding this balance. There is no magic formula to follow. Just be aware and have a desire to lead your athletes to THEIR full potential.
On a final note, be open and encouraging for players to come to you with things they do not understand. Carve out time to meet with players individually to learn how they are feeling and help guide them through those feelings. Help them understand how to use their thoughts, ideas and feelings in a disciplined way to continue to grow in their sport and as young men and women. Demand that they be disciplined with how they execute and perform, but be open to seeing and understanding that variances will occur and in those times flexibility is needed.
Be Good, Do Good 
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