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Introduction
Many new coaches enter the
profession with high aspirations
and confidence that they will
become successful coaches.
They feel that since they played
the sport at a high level or that
because of their enthusiasm
success at the coaching level
will be easy. They think that
coaching is all about the X’s
and O’s and all about winning.
Yet they struggle their first few
years unless they have a solid
mentor or a solid coaching
program with their AD. They
struggle because they make a
lot of the common Rookie
Mistakes.
Here are the top12 Mistakes
Made by Rookie Coaches.
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1. The Rookie talks about winning.
The Veteran talks about playing the
game the right way.
There are a lot of shortcuts
coaches can use to get the W. It could
start with the recruitment of athletes
to the college, manipulating the
transfer rules for HS or poaching
players from other clubs to play for
your club team. Most leagues have
policies and these should be honored
by the coach.
During games coaches can do
certain tactics that may not be ethical.
They may tell their players to continue
something against the rules because
the referees are not calling it. They
may allow their players to verbally
abuse, talk trash to the other team to
gain an advantage. Maybe their other
teams main player is the focus of
more physical play. All of these
methods may help the team win but
at what cost? Playing the game the
right way is a reflection on the coach.
It reflects on their integrity and what
they are teaching their players. If a
coach takes advantage in order to
win, that’s a pretty strong message
that the players take with them. Is
that the message we want to give our
players?
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2. The Rookie talks about their
win-loss record. The Veteran
talks about their players.
Great coaches develop personal
relationships with the players.
They figure out what makes each
player tick, how each is
motivated. They show that player
that they care about them. It
takes time and an effort on the
part of the coach. In the end, this
is what we will remember as
coaches. We forget the wins and
losses, but we don’t forget the
players.
Many coaches feel that their
ego and status is measured by
their won-loss record. They feel
that if they have a winning
record, their coaching ability is
validated. They are a better coach
than coaches who have mediocre
records. They are focused on
their records and on winning. It
drives their ego system. However
by doing so they miss the
opportunity to connect with their
players.
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3. The Rookie tends to allow
players to blame others
(players, refs, coaches), while
the Veteran teaches accepting
responsibility and the meaning
of “my fault”.
Dean Smith once wrote
something along the lines of “the
victories belonged to the players
while the defeats belonged to
him”. The coach who likes to
blame others, maybe the refs,
maybe a player or two...those are
the coaches that don’t take
responsibility onto themselves.
Perhaps the coach needed to
work with certain players more or
help to prepare for the game
better. To admit those
shortcomings is something that
is hard to do. it is much easier to
look outward and blame others.
It takes a veteran to be able to
look inward and see their own
shortcomings.
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4. The Rookie wants to do
everything and be the one in charge
of everything. The Veteran develops
and trusts their assistants.
The Rookie micro-manages his
assistants. The Veteran oversees his
assistants. The Rookie hires less
knowledgeable assistants, the Veteran
surrounds himself with the best
people.
The Rookie wants to control
everything. The Veteran will ask the
team to design uniforms, choose
footwear, and even contribute to
practice and game plan strategy
5. The Rookie coaches using the
Command Style of coaching while
the Veteran uses more of the
Cooperative Style.
The Rookie will coach through
intimidation. Will yell and scream at
players. The Veteran has a sense of
humor and has developed a
relationship w/ each player. The
Veteran knows that each player in
motivated differently and knows
how to motivate each player. The
Rookie corrects players negatively.
The Veteran attaches something
positive with the comment of
correction.
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6. The Rookie is more apt to bench
a player immediately for a mistake,
while the Veteran will not
embarrass the player but even use
the situation to build the player’s
confidence.
The Rookie coach doesn’t realize
that by benching a player when they
make a mistake will create a culture
of fear in the team. Players will know
that if they make a mistake, they are
coming out of the game. Players will
then play to “not make a mistake” vs
“playing to execute their skills”.
The Veteran will take a player out
of the game for instruction, 1v1 time
with the coach, a moment to see how
they can improve their play, explain
ways to improve their mistakes and
immediately get them back in the
game to give them the opportunity to
correct their mistake/improve their
play.
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7. The Rookie focuses on the
starters. The Veteran also works
with the “role players”.
It is easy to work with the players
who quickly pick skills up and are
able to execute them. Coaches get
that sense of accomplishment and
validation to their coaching abilities
by seeing players improve quickly.
They may get frustrated by the
weaker players who need more time
to learn the skill. They may look
down on these players and not give
them the 1 on 1 time these players
deserve. Thus the skills “gap”
between starters and bench players
grows. Eventually the coach will
need to have these bench players
step up during a game to replace a
starter but without enough attention
the bench players will falter. This
begins a downward spiral as the
coach will now become even more
frustrated with the bench players.
The veteran coach knows,
understands and believes in the old
adage about “you’re only as strong
as your weakest link”. The veteran
also knows the importance to the
team that the bench players provide.
Team chemistry, work ethic and
hustle are determined by the bench
players.
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8. The Rookie tends to hand out
MVP and high scorer awards. The
Veteran believes in “practice player
of the year” and “defensive”
awards.
It’s so easy to focus on the main
contributors on the team but it takes
a conscientious effort on the part of
the coach to focus on what really
matters. Create awards that are
based on hustle, heart, effort, team
work instead of ability. The Veteran
also focuses on the bench players in
interviews with the media. The
Rookie talks to the media about their
star players, while the Veteran talks
about their role players and the
contribution of their subs.
9. The Rookie hopes their team has
good leadership. The Veteran
teaches and develops excellent
leadership.
The Rookie assumes that
captains, elected by their
teammates, will automatically be
leaders. Chances are the players
picked the best players to be the
captains; not the best leaders.
Without any help from the coach,
these captains will not develop into
good leaders.
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The Veteran gives the captains
opportunities to lead. The Veteran
works with the captains and involves
them in running the team. The
Veteran establishes daily
communication with the captains on
how they can become better leaders.
The Veteran uses both captains and
seniors to communicate the
importance of their contributions.
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10. Half-time and pre-game talks
are intense with the Rookie while
the Veteran keeps them short and
concise.
The Rookie always tries to cover
every aspect/situation/possibility
and their talks are long-winded and
ineffective. The Rookie focuses on all
of the negatives and mistakes. The
Veteran is focused, clear, concise
and simple. The Veteran focuses on
ways to improve and factors that the
team controls. The Veteran discusses
what they need to do to succeed
while the Rookie discusses ways that
they are failing.
11. The Rookie conducts practices
that are boring and lack
imagination while the Veteran’s
practices are constant motion and
energetic.
During practices, the Rookie has
drills with long lines of players
waiting their turn; lots of standing
around. The Rookie uses this
Traditional Approach and practices
tend to get very boring and
monotonous quickly.
The Veteran has players in
constant motion, getting more
touches, reps and are usually in
game-like situations/activities. These
practices are more energetic,
engaging and fun for the players.
The Veteran is always talking with
players, calling out their names.
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12. The Rookie focuses on
teaching X’s and O’s while the
Veteran focuses on teaching life
lessons.
The Rookie feels that knowing
the x’s and O’s will make them a
great coach. They think that by
having the best plays they are going
to win. The Veteran focuses on
teaching life lessons like effort,
commitment and teamwork. Now
the Veteran will also teach the X’s
and O’s but teaches “whole-part-
whole” and how the x’s and o’s fit
into the system.
