Good Day everyone! This is Coach Paul, with you again, with what I truly believe, is a great topic to discuss; Can an assistant coach help my team win?
Without a doubt, this is a valid question to pose, and can say a lot about the desire/non-desire that YOU have as your team’s head coach, to produce a competitive/winning team (Notice that I placed ‘competitive’ before ‘winning’? With youth sports in particular, you need to stress the importance of being competitive within the rules, over outright winning. You DO want to be optimistic that your team’s competitiveness will lead to wins.).
So… Let us examine some benefits that an assistant coach can have on a team; YOUR TEAM. These are pretty insightful so hold on to your hats, Ladies and Gentlemen!
Additional Expertise
Have you ever heard/read the phrase that says ‘FOCUS on your strengths…DELEGATE your weaknesses.’? As youth head coaches, this can be something that we easily ignore, as so many of us want to be the proverbial “chief cook and bottle washer” when it comes to all aspects of coaching and managing a team. This is not true in ALL cases, but the practice of being in absolute control can be quite debilitating to your mental and emotional well-being as a coach. This can then infect your players and cause major stress.
You must be open and humble to the fact that your knowledgeable about your sport may well not be all-encompassing. When you ponder this logically, there SHOULD be areas of your sport, where you feel inadequate in your full knowledge. There is NOTHING wrong with this realization, to be clear.
This is where assistant coaches can bridge that gap, as they can often bring specialized knowledge and skills to your coaching staff. They might have experience or expertise in specific aspects of your sport, such as strength and conditioning, strategy, or technical skills. This allows them to work closely with players in specific areas and provide focused instruction and guidance.
Individualized Attention
As a lone coach on the field/court/rink, you may oftentimes feel stretched to your limits, as far as working with specific players is concerned. Even with the “chief cook and bottle washer” mindset, you can still potentially overwhelm yourself by going solo.
All of that is not to say that being a lone coach won’t net you success, but with the help of an assistant, you will be able to provide more individualized attention to players as the head coach. This is particularly important in team sports where skills and abilities vary among players. Assistant coaches can work with specific players or smaller groups to provide personalized feedback and instruction, helping them improve their skills. You can oversee all of this of course, and make adjustments where/when needed.
Practice Organization
How many times have you begun your team’s practice with little to no preparation? Hey, it happens sometimes. It doesn’t make you a terrible coach, by any stretch. However, it can make for a very disjointed and unorganized practice time, to be sure. But what if it did not have to be as such?
Your assistant coach can assist with practice planning, ensuring that sessions are well-structured and purposeful. They can help prepare drills, set up equipment, and manage time effectively. This can free up significant time for you to focus on providing feedback and instruction to players. When practice is completed, you can follow-up with your assistant to discuss what worked and what didn’t, in terms of player engagement in drills and the overall flow of practice.
Game Management
During matches, it can be a vast challenge for you as a head coach, to manage all aspects of the game successfully. You are responsible for making strategic decisions on the fly, providing instructions to players, managing substitutions quickly, and observing the performance of the whole team. That is A LOT for one person to have to carry out with any consistent amount of accuracy.
With an assistant coach at your side, they can aid you with those game management tasks. They can provide valuable input on tactics, substitutions, and strategy, helping you make effective decisions in real-time. Assistant coaches can also relay instructions and feedback from the head coach to players on the field/rink/court.
The assistant coach can play an important role in motivating and supporting players during the game. They can provide encouragement and help to maintain positive energy on the sidelines. This helps to intensify the supportive team atmosphere and keeps players engaged and motivated.
In Conclusion: Are you ready to share the responsibility of coaching a youth team?
Overall, assistant coaches provide invaluable support to youth sports coaches. They contribute their expertise, help with practice organization, support and motivate players, assist with player development and evaluations, and aid in game management.
By working collaboratively, head coaches and assistant coaches can create a more enriching, well-rounded coaching environment for young athletes. When you bring those things into account, it can result in a less stressful environment that will allow you and your assistant to focus on the important things that make a team GREEEAT!
Please feel free to leave a comment below, about this discussion! If not, you can simply say “Hi!”. I like it when people say “Hi!”. And as always…thanks for reading!