What does a Coaches Club look like?
A Coaches Club is a form of coach development. It provides an additional opportunity for coaches to learn and develop their skills. The key to this development is sharing ideas with other likeminded coaches and in turn those coaches sharing ideas with you. This is the foundation of a Coaches Club. How a club looks depends on the people who are involved and what they want from being involved.
For example, imagine if you walked into McDonalds and ordered a cheeseburger only for the cashier to say,
No, actually you should get a Big Mac.
No, I just want a cheeseburger, please.
Nah, I'll order you a Big Mac, trust me.
It is the same with a Coaches Club, it should look and feel like how the coaches involved want it to look. There is no point in your coaching coordinator, sports coordinator or head coach saying a Coaches Club will meet here at this time, this often and we will talk about these topics. This would be counter-productive. It should meet the needs of those present at the time.
What does it involve?
Being in a Coaches Club requires having three things; passion, being willing to share and time.
The key ingredient is passion. If you are passionate about coaching, and being the best coach you can be, then being part of a Coaches Club will be right up your alley.
A Coaches Club is about sharing your ideas and knowledge, your challenges and issues with other coaches and in turn them sharing their knowledge with you. Regardless of what sport you are engaged with, a lot of coaching is similar so chances are that one of the coaches has been in the very same scenario as you.
Like any type of self-development, participation in a Coaches Club will take time. It could be an hour over a breakfast meeting, or 2 hours over an evening. However, consider this time as an investment in yourself. You will come away with great ideas to help you move forward in your coaching.
Why be involved?
You are a busy person. Most coaches aren't paid to coach, so you have to fit coaching around a job, family, friends and other commitments. Just finding the time to write out a plan for each session can be a challenge, so why spend more time planning and taking action to develop your coaching skills? Quite simply, taking the time to improve your coaching skills will make you a more effective coach. Being a more effective coach will lead to better experiences for your athletes and a better experience for you.
If you are going to give up your time to coach, you want to ensure that you are spending your time well. For coaches this means that your players get as much as possible out of your sessions. By improving your ability to coach, you improve the service that you provide your athletes and increase the likelihood that they will achieve their goals. Help your athletes to be the best that they can, by being the best that you can. This will give you a massive boost of confidence when you see your athletes improving.
One final thought to consider is how a coaches club will improve you as a coach, your team or athletes performance. You will be exposed to new and innovative ideas that you had never considered or thought of. If you take those and shape them to fit your coaching environment, then your performance and your teams performance can only improve.