Farewell Michigan State University
Coaching has literally been in my blood throughout my life. My mother has been a collegiate volleyball coach for over30 years and is currently entering her 15th season at Michigan State University. My uncle is a Hall of Fame high school basketball coach in the state of Illinois. I have played basketball under some of the best high school and college coaches that have ever stepped foot on a court. I played under Hall of Fame Tom Izzo, arguably one of the best coaches nationally. The thought of not coaching never made sense to me. One would think that with all my experience I would know everything there is to know about coaching. As it turns out, I realized I knew very little about coaching and the “big picture” until after my master’s coursework was completed.
As I reflect on my journey through my MAED program one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that coaching is more than just the X’s and O’s, it is very involved. When entering my MAED classes, I had no idea I would learn as much as I did. It was eye opening how much of an impact these classes made whether it be on or off the court. Throughout this paper I will discuss what I have taken from this terrific program and how it has helped me grow into the coach I am striving to be. The MAED program has given me more clarity in areas I hadn’t really considered. Most of my course work was in the coaching area, such as KIN. Because of my interests I took the heaviest load of classes as it related to coaching specifically. However, classes in education and teaching were very helpful as they involved more of the process of learning and involved so much more than I initially thought. Fewer of my overall classes were EAD.
One of my favorite EAD courses was EAD 878. This class had to do with the development of digital usage during class and how technology in the classroom is continuing to get more enhanced. This has become more obvious to me as technology has continued to gain importance throughout each year of my education. Today, every class, in every school nationally, is running purely online due to COVID19. Teachers have had to be more creative in preparing lesson plans and forced to understand how to reach full classrooms with many students at one time. Hopefully this will end soon enough, and classes will get back to normal as soon as possible. When classes do go back to normal we may however see that technology is now offering free courses online and because of that many people may move out of the traditional classroom. This will cause a totally different look to the educational field. Students have proven the ability to learn from home and acquire the same if not more knowledge than those attending the conventional classroom. Education as we know it is changing and I believe this class has helped many be prepared to adapt,
The electronic world can create an endless connectivity that can overwhelm and necessitate the disconnection. Consumers should embrace the connectivity that comes with the digital world rather than avoiding it all together. Embracing the digital connectivity allows for students to be able to engage in the “do it yourself” approach. Rather than leaning on peers or advisors or teachers for help, the internet allows you to find out the answers to all sorts of topics and gives you a platform to do research on your own. The aim of digital technologies is not to better equip the classroom but rather expand the students mind. I believe it has done that to me over the past 2 years and throughout this master’s program since it has opened us up to a world of a lot of useful information that relates to more than the typical classroom.
Some other courses that I found very valuable to start my journey in becoming a coach in the soon future was KIN 865 and 866. During this time I was still young and hadn't grasped much in terms of how to I am supposed to act around my Student Athletes, how I am supposed to teach my Student Athletes to become better individuals on and off the court. During these classes I learned a great deal about leadership for myself and my team. I learned different styles and was able to analyze leadership behaviors using reinforcement and questioning tactics. Being a coach at a college or high school level you have to be able to be able to lead and inspire your athletes to the best of your abilities. Learning how to inspire a group of kids and knowing how to advise kids in a positive manner to help them reach where they want to get is relied heavily on me as an instructor. In order to inspire a team, you need to know and understand the team goals and each player’s individual goals while being realistic. After
considering where it is you believe your team and players are at, you must push your team and hold them accountable. If my team is ever to get down on themselves, it is imperative to maintain the teams focus and ambition by what I say and how I say it. Being positive while explaining what needs to be done better so that my teams’ goals can be accomplished by the end of the season.
Being a college basketball coach is not an easy task. Your livelihood is based on the development and production of 18-24-year-old young adults. The main requirement of all coaches, if they want to keep their job, is to win. If they don’t, the chances that they will be fired increase dramatically. Coaches at a major program, the fan base, alumni, and university expect championships. High expectations can cause pressure and push coaches to over work their players. Coaches choose hard work because it leads to improvement but when athletes hit a plateau, harder work doesn’t necessarily equal marked improvements. You must find the proper balance of practice, film, lifting and rest when trying to get the best results for you and your program. Even if your team is struggling it does not give a coach a free pass to practice double the work that is normal. This strategy can backfire. Sometimes athletes that are over trained lose motivation, become injured more, and have increased pain and soreness. These are all symptoms of overtraining and burnout which is what you want to avoid as a coach. Coaches must learn to find the right amount of each to get optimal results.
Coaching everyone the same is also a very common error used amongst coaches at all levels. Whether you are coaching high school or college, realizing that kids grow at different rates and take coaching very differently is vital for a coach. Some athletes at the high school level mature much quicker than others leaving them with the ability to do certain things better than slower developing kid. You must coach your students to the level of where they are at physically, and monitor their progressions. Yelling at your athletes can work some of time, depending on who you are yelling at. Some of your players may respond well to the yelling and harsh criticism, while others do not. This can simply take one of your players out of the game for good, and they will likely pout, put their head down, and possibly talk back. Not only does this get the player distracted from the game, but it can also get the team distracted and worrying about things out of their control.
Many things that happen to your players happen to be out of their control, and can be the most difficult for a coach to watch. Often, these things are often out of the coaches control as well. Injuries, mental illness, daily distractions, and other stressors can create challenging circumstances for coaches. We touched on this issue in KIN 829 and is something that I was aware of being a current Student Athlete, but I was unaware of the seriousness and how often it occurs to athletes. Injuries are unfortunate situations that can cause a huge strain on an athlete. The process it takes coming back from an injury can take its toll and break down athletes mentally and physically. It is important to not rush injuries and go through the correct rehabilitation program that your trainer sets up for the athlete. Mental illness is something that hundreds of athletes go through every year. It is more common in the higher levels of play due to money, fame, expectations, playing time, etc. All of these factors can play a role in mental health and why athletes go through it as often as they do. As a coach, taking the time to form a relationship with your athletes so that they can trust you and talk to you whenever they need is a big deal. Relationships allows players to come to you especially in a time where they feel like something is not right with their mental health. Getting your student athletes back to 100% is the most important thing. Getting them back on the playing field, enjoying themselves, and doing what they love most while being happy and mentally secure is the most important thing as a coach.
Since finishing my courses for my MAED program, I am beyond excited and ready to test out my learning as a coach and transfer that into my future role as a coach. These teaching practices have brought me much clarity as I am confident that this will help guide me while I mold young student athletes into men. Through some of the lessons I have talked about above, and some new lessons that I will learn on my own, I will make sure my athletes have the most positive experience on and off the court which is every coaches dream.