Writing Skills are Helpful in Running your Team.

Most high school athletic managers have limited experience in writing as their expertise are athletics. It is a good idea to learn basic writing skills as a coach or manager. Being a skilled writer can make you appear as more professional. Coaches generally need to develop work out, practice, and game schedules as well as flyers for team sanctioned events. Coaches also must email parents and players at times as well.

During emails it is key to use the following tips:

1. Use detailed subject lines
2. Use bulleted lists
3. Personalize the message if possible to make the reader feel as if you are writing to them and not just sending out a generic email.

While making schedules and flyers seems like a simple task, you can make yourself appear as a skilled professional to your players and their parents. Here are a few tips when writing flyers or schedules to your team:

1. Use Bold face folds to emphasize key points
2. Check your grammar as you want to appear as a professional to be taken seriously
3. Keep the days and times in a proper order that is easy to follow
   

R-E-S-P-E-C-T...

All coaches value winning. But winning cannot happen without players being cohesive and players having good chemistry. And that all starts and ends with the coach.

To go even further I believe it all starts with the coaches' respect for ALL players on the team. I think that there is no room in high school sports for coaches that treat star players at a higher level of respect than role players and bench players. If this occurs, a separation in the locker room is bound to come. There are a few exceptions to this. If a coach has superior talent, he may be able to do this and get away with it, but most of the time it will hurt the team's chemistry.

To be on a truly good team, means everyone believes in everyone, not just the star players. You play as one as opposed to five. This factor may not be as great as it is in pro and college competition (because the talent level is not much different from team to team), but if a coach establishes this in high school, every player will improve in their time playing there. That will, in turn, make them better men/women.

Of course, you also have leaders on your team, hopefully an "extension of the coach", which you bear more responsibility onto. This leader should not only lead on the court, but off the court as well. But the coach should not treat that leader with anymore respect than any other players, or, like I mentioned, this will create a tension in the locker room.

Communicating Between Coaches

When coaching at the next level, communication between coaches is a vital part of the game. A good scouting report is a great guide to being successful against an opposing team. A scouting report is one team’s analysis on the others, as they break down each player’s strengths and weaknesses. A lot of the time these scouting reports are shared between teams in a trade for another teams scouting report.

In order to obtain another teams report it is important to build a relationship with other coaches in the same conference or within the same area. A few examples of building relationships with another coach can range anywhere from the following:

* Staying in contact throughout the season

* Suggesting nice hotels and restaurants when coming into town

* Providing nice facilities and help at your playing field

* Showing good sportsmanship on and off the field

A good relationship with other coaches can help your team compete to its best ability and also give you an edge against opposing teams. How good are your relationships with the teams on your schedule?

Avoiding a Media Meltdown

Most coaches and athletic directors biggest fear is dealing with the media. They always seem to show up at the worst time, ask the difficult questions, and make you look like a fool. Well believe it or not any sports manager can use the media to their advantage, by following a few simple rules.

The first thing any in-season coach should do is set up a designated media conference time well away from games and practice. Setting up a weekly meeting allows coaches to choose when they talk to the media, allowing them to prepare for any tough questions, and give well thought out answers.

Now when dealing with the media you have to always remember that their job is to create interesting stories, not necessarily to report the facts. Therefore since you are representing your team and your school it is important that you choose your words wisely, to avoid giving the media any reputation killing "ammo."

Here are a few simple rules to help you avoid a media meltdown:

1. Take your time when making a statement
2. Keep everything positive
3. Only make politically correct statements
4. Be as vague as possible
5. Be polite
6. Defer any questions to your predetermined media conference
7. Always take the blame for the bad, but never except the credit for the good

If you follow the "Seven Media Commandments" you will be sure to avoid any negative news articles, angry Internet postings, and degrading parent phone calls. Although at times the media may seem to be a nuisance, you have to remember they are your necessary connection to your community. The same community that supports your team, parents your athletes, and pays your salary, so as you can see it is important to keep the media and your community on your side.

I've included a link to a video of some coaches who didn't follow the "Seven Media Commandments," for entertainment purposes only. (Note that none the the coaches in the video are working for the same teams anymore...) Check in next week as I take this concept a step further and show you how to use the media to benefit your sports program.

Coach Nicholson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G17zp0_26xU

Staying Focused

Similar to many activities, staying focused for a big game can make or break an athlete’s performance. There are many distractions that can affect an athlete’s performance when it comes to game time, especially that of a student athlete. Being a college baseball player myself I have experienced plenty of distractions. These distractions have ranged anywhere from a fight with a girlfriend, to a final exam in which I needed to ace in order to maintain the appropriate GPA.

I often found myself stressing out about anything thing and everything my first year of college. I had just moved from a small town in Florida to one of the biggest cities in the world, New York. I found myself overwhelmed at first, but knew what I was there to do, which become a student athlete.

It wasn’t until the spring semester (baseball season), until I began to feel the pressure of juggling all these activities at once. I had one semester of college behind me and had an idea of the curriculum, but had no idea how stressful playing 50+ games, traveling, keeping a social life, maintaining a long distance relationship and keeping up with school, was really going to be.

As you can imagine it was hard for me to focus with all of this going on. So I sat down with my coach and brought this to his attention. I learned to manage my time wisely and if needed, coach allowed me to miss a day of practice to meet with a Tudor. Once I really began to get my priorities in line and focus on the baseball field I felt that I performed at an elite level. I ended up starting centerfield my freshmen year and ended the year leading the team in homeruns as a freshmen.

Once I became focused I was able to compete to the best of my ability and play against some of the best college athletes in the country. This is an experience that many student athletes come in contact with and was a great lesson on time management and the ability to focus on and off the field.

The most wonderful day of the year?

I was watching television a few days ago and the question came up, "What's the best sports day of the year?" Today has to rank right up there. With all the office pools going around, basketball until midnight and gurenteed buzzer beaters, you cannot dismiss this time of the year as one of the best in sports. Not to mention, I feel like this is the only major collegiate sport that the underdog actually has a fighting chance. Everyone loves the underdog/cinderella.

If you're not a huge baskeball fan, maybe today does'nt even rank up there for you. Another great time is opening day for the MLB. If you are a baseball fan, this day is pretty special. I love to hear the crack of the bat. There's nothing like going to a baseball game, cracking some peanuts and drinking some cold beer. It indicates the beginning of sprong, and the end of winter.

Or maybe you like golf. If so, The Master's weekend has to be the best for you. I'm not a really a big golf fan, but I would never miss this event. There's just simply nothing like The Master's. There's a certain buzz in the air, especially when Tiger's playing and teeing off. If you were watching this event in 2005, you will remember one chip in forever. On the 16th hole Tiger made the most amazing chip/shot i have ever seen. I have not missed a Master's since, and i won't miss one until Tiger is'nt playing.

Whether you like basketball better than baseball, or baseball better than golf, you cannot go wrong with any of these events if you are a sports fan. Even if I didn't mention your favorite sport(football), you can't fault any of these.

As for me, I am a huge basketball fan, so I love March Madness. I love to have an excuse to sit on the couch all weekend and watch great basketball. I also love it because there is so much emotion involved in each and every single game! But that's just me.

Keys to Keeping Your Players Motivated

After many years as both a player and coach in youth sports, I have learned that the relationship between managers/coaches and players is vital to success. I have been on both sides, so I understand both the player's and coach's point of view on the subject. It can be very hard for players to stay motivated for a coach that doesn't seem to care about his players. Here are some steps to ensuring your players stay motivated and give it their all.

- Become friends with your team. If your team likes you, they are going to play harder for you. You do not have to be extremely friendly, but just make sure your players know that you are behind them and support them fully.

- Embrace a player when they do a good job. Verbal praise makes the player feel good and makes them want to keep up the good work. Embrace a big victory, by giving your team a day off from practice. The gesture of good will can go a long way in earning your team's respect.

- Never single a player out for something negative in front of his teammates. It can make a player feel alienated and embarrassed. This will hurt your relationship with the player and even impact their play in some cases. Some players have a fragile psyche and when yelled at, they then start to play scared which leads to poor play.

- Give player's one on one time in practice. It shows that you care about how they are doing, this also builds good will and lets them know that you want them to get better. The more supportive a manger/coach is, the more committed the player becomes.


These were just a few quick tips I've picked up and tested over the years. If followed, they will keep your team motivated should lead to great success.

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Building a Successful Relationship with Athlete's Parents

One of the most important speeches every coach gives doesn't happen in a locker room, on the field, or at practice. It occurs weeks before the first game, usually in an auditorium or cafeteria, of course I am talking about the preseason parents meeting. Although dealing with parents is often the last thing any coach wants to do, every experienced coach knows that it is a major part of building a successful program.

Mastering the task of communicating with parents will greatly increase any coaches approval rating, which means better job security. Where most coaches mess up when dealing with parents is by treating them like there kids that you coach everyday. You must take into account that parents are not at practice everyday, they don't understand technical jargon, and most importantly you are not their superior.

To help improve your parent communicating skills follow these guild lines and you can't go wrong:

• Always treat parents with respect and remain respectful, even if they don't do the same
• Always keep things positive, especially when talking about their children
• Set up a time and place away from games and practice to meet with parents
• Always give them your undivided attention
• Allow them to voice their opinion completely before responding

If you follow these five simple rules of parent communication, both sides will remain happy and you can stay focused on leading your team to success. Every coach knows that winning is the easiest way to solve any problem. Hope you found these tips helpful, check back next week for more.

Coach Nicholson