How Do You Know If You're a Good Coach?

How do you know if you’re a good coach? Wouldn’t it be nice if there were one simple test to determine if you were a successful coach? Of course, there are many factors that go into coaching, but if there is a single thing you could do to ensure your season was measured a success, you'd want to do it, right?

We all know that there are coaches who are too hard on kids. They yell or display displeasure at every mistake their players make. This can be emotionally damaging, especially to young players who are just learning the game and are more interested in having fun than in winning. What these coaches don't seem to realize is that by making their players afraid of failure, they're actually increasing the likelihood of another mistake. Players who are secretly saying to themselves, "Please don't let the ball come to me," are not going to play with confidence. And players lacking confidence are not at their best.

And of course, there are coaches who are too easy on their kids. Parental complaints about these coaches are usually along the lines of, "He was a nice guy, but he didn't teach them anything." These coaches often feel that offering criticism is not in their job description. But clearly, one of the components of coaching or teaching is to point out errors and help players or students correct them. Kids don’t mind being corrected, as long as the approach taken is positive and gentle, not harsh and demeaning.

Some coaches lack either the time to prepare or experience to plan an effective practice. Of course, we hope that if those coaches have a CoachDeck, they'll have the tools they need to quickly and easily run a great practice every time, even if they never played the sport they’re coaching, or if it is simply everything they can do just to get there on time from work. Just like grownups, kids want to feel like they've accomplished something with their time, and unproductive poorly-planned practices seem like a waste.

Too many coaches believe they need to be overly-technical when coaching youngsters. They micro-manage every aspect of their players' actions, seemingly trying to exert their authority as the "expert." Often, much of what these coaches teach is way over the players' heads, and sometimes it isn't even fundamentally sound. Coaches who stick with a few basic principles and communicate those in a way their players understand often have more success than coaches who know more, but lack the ability to convey their knowledge.

So, with all the missteps we can take as coaches, how do we know if we're on the right path? What is the best way to determine if your season as a coach could be measured as a success regardless of wins or losses, and no matter how much your players improved from a skills standpoint? Here’s how: If, at the end of the season, every player on your team wants to come back again to play next year, you’ve done a fantastic job.

That’s it. If players enjoyed coming to games and practices because they weren't afraid of making a mistake, because they learned something each time and because they had some fun, there is a great chance they’ll want to come back again. And even if you’re not a great coach from a fundamentals standpoint, and you weren't able to teach the kids how to hit a curveball or how to dribble properly, at least if they come back next season, maybe they'll get a coach who can. But if the season they spend with you is their last, does it even matter how much they learned?

So don't be intimidated when your league asks you to volunteer. You don't have to have played in college or hold a Ph.D in child psychology to be a great coach. You only need to have your heart in the right place and your eyes on the goal of just being one positive stop along your players' long and enjoyable journey in the sport.

Brian Gotta is a former professional youth baseball coach and current volunteer Little League coach and board member. He is the President of CoachDeck and also author of four youth sports novels which can be found at www.sportsbooks4kids.com. He can be reached at brian@coachdeck.com.