What Makes A Great Youth Sports Coach?
Hi!
I’m Craig Sigl, the Mental Toughness Trainer.
In this clip, Coach Mendo, who runs Quick Handle Basketball Training, shares what he
believes makes a great coach.
In my acronym for coaching is my three P’s.
The first one is personality.
Okay?
You’ve got to have a personality.
Something that attracts people to you that people know that you have the kind of body
language that people can say you’re believable.
Because once you’re not believable, you’re done.
So there has to be some charisma in your personality.
You’ve got to be outgoing.
You’ve got to be interactive.
For me, I am a very touchy person.
I believe physical contact is so important in building relationships and communication.
That’s just me.
And one of my acronyms is INSECT.
And what that stands for is when you meet anybody, you should have intelligence.
Intelligence so that you come across as somebody that has some knowledge.
N… you’ve got to be nice.
Nice to people all the time.
S… you have to smile.
Smile at people.
Engage with people.
E… you always got to edify.
Edify and build up.
C is care.
You have to care.
Really show that you care for somebody.
So it’s one thing to be nice but really care “how can I help you?”
And then…
what was the last one?
“T” T is you have to touch - touch.
So all those elements in insect you got to do.
I try to do anytime I am engaging with somebody.
But back to my P’s.
The first one is you’ve got to have personality.
Second one is you’ve got to have philosophy.
A philosophy that, again, people believe in.
And on the basketball court, you know, you’re going to be believable when you can present
stuff to people as like, “what is this?”
You’ve got to have a strategy what.
And basically for me, it’s you’ve got to create an element of surprise for your
opponent that they’re not ready for and you have to be ready for anything that anybody
can throw at you.
So that’s how I teach my players.
I teach my players that whatever zone you see, whatever you’re ready for because you’ve
been prepared.
That’s just how I do it.
And secondly, we’re never going to be the same.
You’re going to see something different.
You better be ready.
Just when you think, “Oh we’re a small, slow team.
We’re going to trap you all over the floor.”
So we’re going to do unorthodox things, so you have to have a really good philosophy.
And that really takes time learning and being mentored.
And then the last P is you’ve got to have passion.
You’ve got to show you really have passion and that you’re engaged and you really care
about the process and you’re willing to put in the time to work – right?
You know I try to tell people all the time that I want to say that nobody worked harder
than I did as a player.
And that now as a coach nobody is going to out work me as a coach.
And then as an athlete still, even at my age, there’s nobody that can out work me.
“35?”
Yeah…
I wish!
But that’s why I train so hard right now because I have a bar that’s set and I want
to be that example in the best way that I can that I hope will translate.
Not for any ego fulfillment.
But’s always about the kids and it’s always about empowering so.
So… did you like that?
Well… we’ve got a lot more mental game tips and strategies for youth athletes.
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