Put These 4 In Your Coaching Circle

Surrounding yourself with the right people and tools increases your odds of becoming a great leader exponentially. The people you look to for guidance and spend time with will influence you. So stock your coaching cupboard with four specific influences. #DailyMight

As a head coach in youth sports you’ll benefit greatly by having a strong, consistent, and knowledgeable circle of influence that can help you through the season. Throughout your coaching journey, the people you look to for guidance and spend time with will influence you – sometimes profoundly. It’s why stocking your coaching cupboard with four specific influences can help lead you to success more often.

The Coach

Find yourself a coach’s coach. A coach that has been in and around youth sports for a long time and understands what success looks like. Ask them questions and get answers about day-to-day operations of being a teacher in a specific sport. Gather practice plans, hand outs, parent meeting agendas. Sponge it all up. Coaching isn’t reinventing the wheel, remember that.

The Friend

Coaching is mentally exhausting. Keep in your circle a friend (who might be or might not be in involved with the sport that you’re coaching) who encourages and supports you independently of your aspirations to be a great youth coach. A friend who can tell you truths, and align you with personal goals you’ve established – independently of being a coach. Friends are valuable to help keep you grounded, and to put things into perspective during a long season.

The Mentor

Mentors vary from a coach. Mentors are individuals who you look up to from a lifestyle standpoint. They can be coaches or non-coaches, but they align with your morals, goals, and have the experience and know how to guide you through situations or new learning opportunities. Mentors support, advise, and guide you the person. They can help you to balance coaching and your personal life because they have been there before. Find someone you want to be like, and ask them to be a mentor.

The Cheerleader

Putting a cheerleader in your circle helps lift you up an encourage you to keep moving forward. Being at the front means you’ll have plenty of critics (or change resisters), and that can wear on your psyche. A cheerleader brings perspective to situations and helps you to see them through by reminding you of your strength and skillsets. They also give you the encouragement to lean into and grow in areas where you might be need improvement.

Surrounding yourself with the right people and tools increases your odds of becoming a great coach exponentially. Being at the top can be lonely, so ensure that you are bringing as many with you as possible. But not just as many as you can, make sure you are surrounding yourself with the right people, the right influences. As the Bible says in Proverbs, spend time with people you want to be like – because you and your circle will grow to resemble each other.

Give everything your everything. And then some.