Mike Young: Role of the coach
Coach of the Australian Test Cricket Team.
John Buchanan changed his life through coaching him.
Coaches change lives.
Be aware. Everybody you coach is different.
He does most of his coaching with elite cricketers now in hotel rooms not on fields. You’re not going to change their behaviour in 2 days. You don’t have a lot of time to train. Once you get to a certain level it’s all about talent. Either you’re good or you’re not talented. Good form/ bad form is rot.
Coaches talk a lot of rhetoric.
In coaching you have to be:
Committed to the job
Open-minded
Aware
Confused!
Honest
Imagine
No ego
Go the distance.
He asked how many in the audience were coaches and a lot of hands went up.
Think about our assets (job house car children bank account share portfolio…)
Q. If you had to give away all your assets except one what do you keep?
A. Our kids.
Every day you are coaching you’ve got MY KID.
Bottom line is: You’re the coach. You’re the mentor. You make a difference in their lives. A big difference. What you’re supposed to do is Care Be There Mentor.
Don’t think you should know everything.
Be aware of those kids. Maybe the only time they have freedom to be themselves is when they’re with you because it’s not so nice at home. Are they acting up? Maybe they’re looking for attention from you because you matter to them. You’re the coach.
Confused! There’s always something happening to confuse you when you’re a coach. Why’s it happening? I don’t know!
Honest. My job is to be honest. It’s all about honesty. At the end of the day nobody can ask anything more of you than: Tell them the truth as you know it to be.
If someone comes up and asks you a question and you don’t know the honest answer is: “I’m not really sure but we’re going to find out (Internet…)” Don’t go and given them an answer you don’t really know.
Imagine: Let the kids sometimes tell you what they want to do.
No Ego: Why do they have ‘Coach’ on the back of their shirt? Don’t the kids know their coach?
Give the kids a nice environment where they want to come and enjoy themselves. Chill.
Teach them:
Punctuality
Having fun with their mates
Go the Distance Once you’ve put your hand up go the season. Don’t let the kids down.
Recommend
Suggest
Relax
Suggest options to do something different and understand you make a hell of a difference just by being there for the kids.
Let them tell you what’s comfortable. What do you think? Which feels better? Is that the one you want to go with?
Watch him play and go with what he wants to do.
If anyone can come up with a solution for the “parents on the sidelines” problem let us know. Parents are killing sport. What can we do about it? (Suggestion: Video every game and ban parents from games but give them the video. Get government legislation! Give parents a job washing towels or cutting up oranges.) When kids don’t make the team it’s never the kids’ fault – it’s always the coach! (according to the parents).