Coaching Leadership
This is the time of the year when I receive a lot of inquires from the local colleges to accept internship students into our Strength and Conditioning Mentorship Program.
The goal of the mentorship program is to develop young men and women who are interested in the field of strength and conditioning and would like to pursue it after graduation.
During their time in our program, we teach each student a variety of topics that will help them develop their own training philosophy and give them a better understanding of the athletic development process. With this in mind, we have created a Program of Instruction that covers all the seven components utilized to develop our athletes. But, the most important and critical component that we teach is leadership. Before we get into the nuts and bolts of our program, we make an effort to provide a realistic perspective to our soon to be graduates.
In life as in athletics, you win and succeed with great leaders. We strive to teach our coaches in training that the greatest achievement men and women can make is to influence others to accomplish great achievements by providing purpose, direction and motivation.
During our first meeting with our selected few, we cover six key characteristics that helps them understand the effort and consistency necessary to be successful. The six characteristics are:
1. Knowledge: Not only determined from experience, training, and formal education, but also through personal studies of the profession.
2. Vision: Develop a clear understanding of current state, define a desired end point, discern the sequence of activity that will complete the task from start to finish.
3. Judgement: Is a matter of common sense tempered by experience and training.
4. Initiative: This is a sustaining element in the coaching profession. It is essential for a coach to recognize, execute and take advantage of opportunities.
The goal of the mentorship program is to develop young men and women who are interested in the field of strength and conditioning and would like to pursue it after graduation.
During their time in our program, we teach each student a variety of topics that will help them develop their own training philosophy and give them a better understanding of the athletic development process. With this in mind, we have created a Program of Instruction that covers all the seven components utilized to develop our athletes. But, the most important and critical component that we teach is leadership. Before we get into the nuts and bolts of our program, we make an effort to provide a realistic perspective to our soon to be graduates.
In life as in athletics, you win and succeed with great leaders. We strive to teach our coaches in training that the greatest achievement men and women can make is to influence others to accomplish great achievements by providing purpose, direction and motivation.
During our first meeting with our selected few, we cover six key characteristics that helps them understand the effort and consistency necessary to be successful. The six characteristics are:
1. Knowledge: Not only determined from experience, training, and formal education, but also through personal studies of the profession.
2. Vision: Develop a clear understanding of current state, define a desired end point, discern the sequence of activity that will complete the task from start to finish.
3. Judgement: Is a matter of common sense tempered by experience and training.
4. Initiative: This is a sustaining element in the coaching profession. It is essential for a coach to recognize, execute and take advantage of opportunities.
5. Self-confidence: Self-confidence is based on professional knowledge, training, education, faith in your own ability and that of your staff. Arrogance, on the other hand, is founded on appearance rather than substance; it focuses on self, rather than the mission or organization.
6. Integrity: High standards of personal conduct based on professional ethics and personal integrity are essential in all programs. Honesty and loyalty are indespensible attributes to the success of the team or organization.
