A Coach’s Mindset: Building a team? Or building an athlete?

“A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life,” said John Robert Wooden, a renowned College Basketball coach. Wooden played for Purdue University. While there, he earned three-time All-American honors from 1930 to 1932. He also led his team to two Big Ten titles. Then later on in his coaching career, starting in 1946 at Indiana State as their athletic director and head men' s basketball coach, they brought their team to a national tournament in 1948. Mostly, Wooden is honored with his time as head men’s basketball coach at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He was hired in 1948 and led the team to four undefeated (30-0) seasons, won 10 NCAA titles, and set records with his 88 consecutive wins and 38 consecutive NCAA Tournament wins. 

Wooden was known for his UCLA Dynasty and his specific coaching philosophies. Like his focus on fundamentals, and more importantly, his Pyramid of Success. This pyramid was a framework for athletes' character development to achieve their greatest potential through traits such as integrity, enthusiasm, and cooperation. Wooden’s Pyramid of Success is why his words stated above carry so much weight. He was able to lead such a successful team and had such a well-known legacy because, as a coach, he didn’t focus on the game. He focused on his athletes and who they were as people, not just players on his team. With this mindset Wooden helped mold many players into not just amazing athletes into amazing people, who have admirations, commitment, and confidence. 

Growing up, I played many sports, starting in youth programs for soccer and softball. Then later in Middle School, I fell in love with basketball, playing for a recreation team, while also taking many different genres of dance classes–jazz, hip-hop, rhythmic gymnastics, tap– at a local dance studio. Now in High School, I have found cheerleading, while also immersing myself into other sports, like tennis, through becoming the Washingtonville Varsity Boys Tennis team's social media manager. Sports have always been in my life, and I have witnessed many different coaches and coaching styles. Along with how coaches affect and influence every athlete differently on their team.

Starting, I interviewed Coach Kevin Powers, a health teacher at Washingtonville High School. Coach Powers has taught for the past 25 years and has also served as the athletic trainer for several years. He coached sports such as cross country and track and field. In addition, he has coached youth baseball teams for over 10 years. As well as a health teacher, Coach Powers also specifically teaches a class that I am currently in called Coach Certification. Where he teaches basic athletic training knowledge–wrapping injuries, learning the muscles and bones in the body, and also learning the nutritional side of athletics– overall preparing students for a potential career in athletic coaching. Coach Powers’s interview provides a better understanding of coaching and how coaches should carry themselves for their athletes. 

Q: What do you think is the most important characteristic a coach needs to have to benefit and motivate their athletes? Why are these the most important characteristics? 

A: One of the most important characteristics of a coach is integrity.  A quality coach has compassion for their athletes, but never uses words or actions to betray their values. They will often be required to put the needs of their athletes ahead of their own and make personal sacrifices of time and effort. Quality coaches lead by example and seek to create a culture where all athletes, not just the starters, feel supported and encouraged to be the best they can be, not just on the playing field, but as a contributing member of society. Quality coaches use sports to teach life lessons.  

Q: Every coach is different, making coach styles different. Similarly, every athlete is different, making every reaction to a coach different. How should coaches handle the different needs of different athletes to make sure all their athletes are performing at a high level, and respect them as a coach?

A: One of the ways that a coach can handle different athletes with different needs is to know their athletes. Not just the positions they like to play or what they can do to help the team, but as a person as well.  In the process of getting to know their athletes, it will help them to know that their coach cares about who they are as individuals. In addition, in the process of getting to know athletes as individuals, it will help the coach to know the best way to motivate them.  When athletes feel supported on an individual level, I firmly believe that their desire to work hard for the team will increase.

Q: How do coaches ensure that athletes who don’t get a lot of play time continue to come back for future seasons, even though they aren’t playing in their current season? Should coaches treat/coach these athletes differently from athletes who are starters/get a lot of playtime? 

A: The best coaches make everyone feel like they are an important part of the team, not just the starters. One of the ways that coaches can send the message that everyone is important is to hold all athletes to the same standards of accountability. Regardless of how much playing time an athlete receives, they need to abide by team rules or contracts. Another way coaches can get everyone involved is to celebrate each athlete’s accomplishments, even at practice. A track athlete who will never earn points for the team should still be celebrated when earning a personal best.  A non-starter on a team that works hard at practice should be publicly praised by the coaching staff of any team. Team-building activities or games can also be done to help emphasize that everyone is important to the team.  

Q: If you had to give one piece of advice to a new coach, what would you tell them? 

A: Be positive and seek to make sure your athletes know you are there for them on an individual level.  Work hard to build a culture of positivity that starts with you. Be a coach who is approachable and willing to listen to their players.  It can be difficult to get to know every athlete on a large team, but try to have individual conversations with athletes before or after practice.  Building healthy relationships and trust is an important part of being a quality coach.   

Coach Powers brings up many good insights on the world of coaching. Mainly, he brought up the point that coaches need to act as an example, while coaching their athletes, not only to be better at their sport. But to also coach athletes on how to be good members of society through creating positive relationships, life lessons for their athletes to learn and grow from in all aspects of their lives, and providing safe and inspiring spaces for athletes, not just at meets or games, but also, most importantly, at practice. A certain coach that came to my mind while interviewing Coach Powers was Coach Matthew Anastasi, the boys and girls Varsity Tennis coach at Washingtonville High School. 

Coach Matthew Anastasi has been teaching at Washingtonville High School for 8 years. He teaches tenth-grade English and a twelfth-grade elective class, Evolution of the Hero. His twelfth-grade English elective class is all about courage and bravery and all things adventures, through ancient Greek mythology all the way to everyday fairytales, not just the common superhero stories. The topics he teaches in this elective class can also be seen in the lessons he teaches on the tennis court. 

Coach Anastasi grew up playing tennis recreationally, but started taking tennis more seriously during his high school career at Cornwall Central High School. Later, he played tennis at the division three level at Mount Saint Mary’s College. Now he has been coaching tennis ever since he got hired at Washingtonville, and each year, he has been a major factor in the program's growth. So when interviewing Coach Anastasi, my main point of focus is seeing how he interacts and motivates his athletes, given that every athlete is different, and how those athletes react to his coaching. 

Q: What do you think is the most important characteristic a coach needs to have to benefit and motivate their athletes? Why are these the most important characteristics? 

A: You have to come with energy and passion every day. Looking outside of myself. I just think about my JV coach, Mr. Lepere. When he walks on the court and gets people ready for a match, even at the lower level of tennis, he gets his athletes so motivated so fast, through the energy he brings on the court. When you bring energy into a competitive spirit and passion to improve at your sport, the athletes model after that. 

Q: So would you say that they're the most important for your athletes to learn from you as the coach and look at you as a role model? 

A: Yeah, definitely. And I think teaching is a lot like that, too. It's just the simple law of your attention and the law of engagement. If you're more interested and engaged in what the person is teaching you or bringing to you, then you're going to be more attentive to the details and more motivated to do well. So I just kind of think that it's like human psychology. You have to build interest for kids and athletes to want to do things. 

Q: Every athlete performs and is motivated in different ways. How do you, as the coach, handle the different needs of different athletes to make sure all your athletes are performing at a high level, and respect you as a coach?

A: Well, the hard part with that is I feel like I'm still learning how to do that. It's like not one size fits all for a lot of these athletes, especially when it comes to an individual sport like tennis. As a team, we have team themes and expectations about what I, as the coach, am looking for and what I expect from the team. But, within the team, there are definitely things that make different athletes act and form in a certain way, which I have to counteract. Even with a couple of my best players, I've had to really think about what I say to them, when I say it to them, and how I say it to them. Part of that is knowing what your athletes need and when they need it. 

On the side of getting respect from your athletes, as the coach, you really come from reinventing yourself as the coach for your athletes and having team expectations. I also think getting respect from your athletes can happen in a couple of different ways. One way is going back to that energy and passion piece. I think kids are, again, more inclined to follow those who have passion and energy. Even if an athlete is not having the greatest day at school or doesn't love their sport on a certain day. When an athlete comes to practice, and the coach has the right energy, you, as the coach, can still buy in getting respect from that athlete. And then the other piece again is communication, being able to listen to what your athletes need and knowing what the line is between what is reasonable and what’s not.

Q: Thinking about your athletes, can you name an athlete who plays almost every match (either singles or doubles) and then name an athlete who plays expedition? Does the coaching style for these athletes differ? If they do differ, how are they coached differently? If they aren’t coached differently, why? 

A: It's hard. I have seen the growth of the tennis program, and at the start, in my first couple of years, pretty much anybody could start on my team because it was just beginning. But now I have pretty high expectations for certain positions and certain kids on my team. The good part of tennis is that it's very results-based. Athletes know that if they want to get to a spot on the team, they have to beat the people ahead of them. Opposite of that, if an athlete doesn’t want that spot, it is obvious, making decisions for the team cut and dry. The other part of that, too, is that athletes always need to know they need to do a better job at certain things, but also just in general, creating self-made motivation. There's also always this idea that a player could get hurt or something could go wrong during a season, and then there's the next man up. So this season in particular, it happened a lot with the girls' team. We had a couple of injuries, a couple of people missing for matches, and it was just kind of like a rotating door of people getting ready to play. And that's challenging because sometimes you're used to a certain position or used to not playing and just being a practice player. But you've got to keep reminding the players who are not regular starters that they've just got to be ready when their time is called. And I've kind of copied that from what a lot of basketball coaches always say. You never know when your number is going to be called. And I think that's a very fair way to coach.

Q: Going off the previous question. How do you ensure that athletes who play mainly in the expedition come back for future seasons, even if they don’t play as much in their current season? Do you think at practice, you find yourself just giving more praise to those athletes on expedition, ensuring they continue to come back and continue to put in that extra effort?

A: Yeah, definitely, an example is a couple of weeks ago, the tennis team got to work with one of the national coaches for U.S. tennis, Mark Bey. We got a chance to learn from him a little bit, and he made it a big point to say, no matter if it's your best player or your player on the bottom or weakest player, he said he makes it a point to make sure he finds every athlete at least twice and gives them something constructive and positive at least twice. So I think it's a good rule of thumb because, honestly, I don't think the top player on the team versus the bottom player on the team should get more or less praise. I think everybody. And that's part of the expectations. I think everybody should be praised when they meet expectations, no matter what position they're in.

Q: If you had to give one piece of advice to a new coach, what would you tell them? What characteristics do they need to have to be successful as a coach? 

A: Well, I definitely would say to be genuine. Your personality is essential; a coach shouldn't try to be somebody they are not, to make the players like you more, or to make players want to perform in your sport. As a coach, you have to bring genuine passion and energy. Other than that, I think coaches have set some high program expectations, and the right people will help you as a coach, and the program will fall into place. Coaching is not just a show up and do it job. If a coach wants to run their team well, they have to show kids what they, as the coach, want and how to do it well, and then their athletes will put in the effort to do it well.

Both Coach Powers and Coach Anastasi have offered amazing insights about the true dedication, commitment, and pride a coach actually needs to not only lead a successful team, but also to inspire athletes to be the best person they can be, not only the most valuable player. Athletes need coaches like Coach Anastasi and Coach Powers, who truly care about sharing their passion, love, and experience for their sport with all of their athletes. Not just their aspirations of a highly successful team. Coaches similar to Coach Anastasi and Coach Powers view all of their athletes as important individual contributors to the bigger picture, which is the success of their team. 

It is important for all athletes to know and hopefully experience this style of coaching. Having a coach genuinely care and see an athlete for who they are as an individual athlete can make or break their success as a team. Being coached in this style shows athletes that they are valued in all aspects; they are valued for their talent, their drive, their personality, their success, and even their shortcomings. It shows an athlete the idea of being a team player, showing that no matter what happens to the team itself, everything an athlete contributes to the team should be acknowledged and, in most cases, celebrated, which will benefit the greater good of the team. Without it, athletes will lose their affection, enthusiasm, and connection to their sport.