Facts In Coaching High School Athletes

Coaching is a learning experience, in the same way that being a student or an athlete is a learning experience. Season after season, coaches have to learn more about game strategy, practice organization, community and school relations, and philosophy.

Probably the best learning tool is sharing ideas with fellow coaches and dealing with young people. The coach who becomes more perceptive about how athletes think and feel is going to establish a better relationship with them and get more out of them.

What exactly should every coach know about his players? I believe he must start with the following hard facts:

1. All players dream about being stars, but very few are willing to pay the price for total commitment.

2. If the coach does not make them do it, it will never get done.

3. Players are looking for direction, though they may not realize it.

4. What motivates one player may not motivate another. The coach must discover the trigger for each individual.

5. Unsupervised play creates more bad habits then good habits.

6. If just one player does not commit himself 100% all the time, his teammates will sense it and let down the same way.

7. Every player consciously or otherwise chooses a role model. Some choose good models, others choose bad ones. The player will make the choice by himself. The coach can only influence and hope.

8. Regardless of how much time or effort a player puts in, nobody wants to win as badly as the coach.

9. The player who lives for “next year” rather than doing it “this year” will never realize his potential.

10. The one common denominator of successful high school athletes is confidence. The coach can build it up or tear it down.

11. Remember, every player is an individual.


Coaches, especially young ones, must understand the enormous challenge inherent in directing and supervising young people, of dealing with their multifaceted personalities. And the first step in the training process is to get to know the players personally.

Remember, a salesman cannot sell anything unless they know the product inside out- or outside in. Neither can a coach show up with just a whistle and expect to coach effectively. A coach must develop perspective, perceptiveness, sensitivity, and an understanding of athletes.

Once they do this, they will be able to create an atmosphere of mutual understanding, and cope fully with their players problems.

From Jerry Wainwright

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