No matter how long we coach, no matter how much we grow as people, some of our athletes will still bug us! I loved it when my athletes became juniors and seniors – they finally knew how best to deal with me. The first few years were often an arduous training process on how to best interact with one another.
I am all about shortening the learning curve whenever possible. In my recent Inside World Class Coaching interview with Cal swim coach Teri McKeever, I discovered a brilliant way to address our pet peeves with our athletes–tell them up front! Coach McKeever is all about effective and efficient relationships with her athletes. In order to avoid the headaches and lost time around reacting to things that drive her crazy, she simply tells her athletes up front what works and doesn’t work for her.
McKeever’s list isn’t right / wrong, good or bad. It just is. She’s been coaching long enough and worked on herself long enough that she simply knows what her pet peeves are AND that they are likely not going to change. So instead of dealing with the frustration of training her swimmers how best to approach her, she simple tells them early on.
“Certain things bother me so it’s best if you learn it now. If you want something from me here are the best ways to get it:”
Examples include:
- Be On Time!
- Help set up the pool
- Be warmed up and ready to go when practice starts.
- Don’t bring up an individual issue right at the beginning of practice.
- If you want an individual meeting, tell me in an email and let me know what it’s about so I can prepare.
Coach McKeever and her assistant also hand out a sheet detailing who handles what. It includes
- Equipment. See assistant coach. Don’t come to me if your paddle broke – see Kristen.
- Scholarship. See me. Don’t go to assistant to talk about your scholarship.
- Recruiting
- Travel
This way the athletes know who to go to for things AND they get to see in black and white that’s a lot more to coaching than just showing up for practice.
Ok coach, your turn. Spend a few minutes writing out your “Pet Peeve” list or your “How to best get along with me list” and share it with your team.
Good Luck!
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