May 18, 2020 | Tagged Coaching,
Stalwart Coaching-- How to be brave as a basketball coach
A stalwart basketball coach is brave in his or her mind and also brave with his or her words. A stalwart coach is a loyal coach and never throws players under the proverbial bus of critique or blame. A stalwart coach is a self-disciplined coach who always reframes the deficits into opportunities.
When you are learning to ride a motorcycle, you have to look past the turn in the road. Focusing on the turn will cause you to crash. Looking past the curve keeps your focus on where you want to go. The same is true in coaching.
You have to look down the road to where your players can be and help imagine each of them there. When you focus on the deficits, you literally turn your team into what you do not want. Improving weaknesses are crucial to your team’s success but you can unconsciously sabotage your success by defining your team by their weakness. For example, “our team is really slow, our team is really young and they make freshman errors.”
Maybe we focus on the deficits because we don’t want to set parents or others' hopes too high especially when we fear a disappointing season ahead. Maybe coaches think speaking this way is humble. Even though these labels may be true, by you speaking them into existence they become hard to overcome.
Instead, a coach should say, “our team is young and I love their willingness to learn. Our team is making progress in getting faster every day. Our team is a joy to coach and I love to see them improving.”
Coaches speak bravely by speaking with loyalty, speaking with honesty but with optimism and hope. Cowards belittle. Cowards tear others down. Cowards can't be honest. Cowards are pessimistic and rob people of hope.
Stalwart is a synonym for stable, committed, foundational, and secure. Stalwart also means outstanding strength or vigor of body, mind, or spirit. It’s a good word to wrestle with. Would you be described as stalwart? Stalwart is the image of the sea captain who rain or shine navigates the seas with courage. You can be this kind of basketball coach.
THE STALWART SOUL HAS THE WILL TO LIVE AND IS EAGER FOR THE RACE.
About NBC Basketball
NBC Basketball is one of the longest-running basketball camps in the country. NBC Camps started in 1971 and have camps in 6 countries. Camps focus on educating campers and coaches to become their best on and off the court. The mission of NBC Basketball is better players and better people. The focus of this program is on developing the intrinsic values of the heart such as mental toughness, compassion, grit, gratitude, service, leadership, follow-through, and attitude. For more information about NBC Basketball visit www.nbccamps.com.