We began this season by looking at our vision as a coach, why we coach, and how we want to be remembered. Looking at Episode 3, the focus was on the end of our career's. In this episode, I wanted to spend some time discussing how to develop your coaching philosophy. Our philosophy will change a little bit as we move along with our coaching journey, but some of our core values will remain the same.
My philosophy is to illuminate a path for my athlete's that helps them achieve their goals. I'm ashamed to say that it wasn't always as such. When I first began coaching my philosophy was "coach-centered". I was more concerned with what my peers would think of me and how far my athletes threw. That was pretty much it. As I have traveled along in my coaching journey, I've had a paradigm shift in the way I coach. My focus is now "athlete-centered". I provide my athletes a lot of autonomy in regards to their training, goals, meet selection, etc. When I first began coaching, I didn't feel comfortable with athlete input. Now I thrive upon learning more about myself as a coach and most importantly what my athletes think and how I can better coach my athletes throughout the course of a season and their careers!
What is your coaching philosophy? Has it changed since you began coaching? Why or why not?
