How To Build Strong Player-Coach Relationships
Relationships are pivotal to successful coaching. After all, coaches’ messages are less likely to be heard, let alone followed without effective relationships between coach and player. And if you cannot get your messages through, how can you be a successful coach?
Have you ever had to listen to someone you didn’t like or respect? It’s likely that whilst listening to this person all you heard was “blah, blah, blah I’m an idiot.” Well, without effective relationships with your players, it’s possible that’s all they are hearing when you speak. The good news, however, it that having a strong relationship with your players can have the opposite effect. And everything you say sounds like counsel from the gods. Which is what all coaches desire.
Therefore, building strong relationships with players warrants a lot of sports coaches’ time and effort. So much so, that it should account for the majority of your coaching effects. Building strong relationships is more important than having the best game plan or getting the best out of each player. This is because without strong relationships you will not be able to produce the latter.
Maintaining these relationships over a long period of time is also crucial, as relationships will break down over time if they are not nurtured. Therefore, you must continuously improve and preserve your relationships.
The Player’s Role
Relationships, however, go both ways. And without your players playing their roles in the relationships, they are likely to fail. The player’s role is discussed in this article by Alan Stein (see link below) and could be used by coaches to help get their players in the right mindset for building strong player-coach relationships.
Don’t be afraid to use the points in this article to spell out to your player why they should invest some time into you. Just make sure before you do, you are investing at least the same amount of time into them. Whilst this might seem narcissistic at first, it is for the benefit of both player and coach to have a strong relationship, so if it has to come to this, so be it.
"A relationship requires a lot of work and commitment."
See below a link to the article by Alan Stein. In this article, Alan discusses the roles both coaches and athletes must play in building a strong player-coach relationships. And most importantly, he provides sports coaches and players with some tips on building those relationships.
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