Episode 14-Help, I need help!

In this podcast episode, Coach Rick discusses the importance of having assistant coaches in various coaching settings. He emphasizes the need for assistants who share the same philosophies and goals as the head coach. Coach Rick shares personal experiences with his brother and other unsung heroes who assisted him in coaching. He also highlights the challenges of having limited assistant coaches in high school track and field and the impact it has on athlete safety and training. Coach Rick suggests implementing a self-coaching approach for athletes and explains how it can lead to success if the team is willing to take responsibility and help each other. Hey, welcome back, coaches, to the podcast called Gotcha Coach, a podcast about coaching for coaches and presented by a real coach. Now before we get started, congratulations to my team, the San Francisco 49ers, on their sixth Super Bowl victory. Oh, well, wait a minute, I guess that really didn't happen, huh? I think I'm in denial still. Anyway, I'm your host, Coach Rick, and welcome to Episode 14 called Help, I Need Help. Now before any or all of you listeners start yelling at your device and saying, yep, you sure do need help, Coach Rick, please hear me out and give me a chance to explain what we're really talking about here today, okay? Great. Now the dictionary definition of the word help is simple and straightforward. Simply stated, help is defined as such, quote, make it easier for someone to do something by offering one's services or resources, end quote, or, quote, the action of helping someone to do something, assistance. Wow, what a simple concept, making it easier for someone to do something. I mean, isn't that what most of us do in our everyday lives? Can't older siblings do something to help to make it easier for younger siblings? I mean, think about it. Most new parents try out all of their parenting skills on the firstborn and then adjust those skills with each new child. So in reality, the eldest sibling helped the rest of the kids in the family. In my opinion, any professional, no matter what profession you're in, strives to help the subordinates that are just getting started because it makes the team much stronger, which is exactly what a coach would hope that upperclassmen would do with the newbies on your team. And again, in my opinion, any head coach worth their salt will help his or her assistant coaches when and where needed for the benefit of the team. But let's not lose sight of the role that the assistant coach plays in the success of the head coach and ultimately the team. Assistant coaches can be a true blessing to a head coach and in some cases don't even have to be officially an assistant coach. Now I talked in an earlier episode about some folks who helped me out but never received the recognition of being an official assistant coach. Dave Price and my younger brother Bruce both assisted immensely with the South Tahoe Steppers cross-country team as they ran with the girls on their distance runs and yet were never probably acknowledged as assistant coaches. But they helped me out in a great deal by providing adult supervision on the runs without me, a non-distance runner, having to be there. Once again, my brother Bruce was my coach while I had the title of manager during my son's Little League days. But Bruce was there all of the time while I was splitting my time between coaching Little League and being the head track and field coach at South Tahoe High School. If it hadn't been for brother Bruce, well, let's just say that I would have had a very difficult decision to make as to where I was going to go, coaching the high school track and field team for a stipend that helped our family a little, or coach my son and have lifelong memories. This was a huge case of having ultimate faith in the person who was my assistant. And if it hadn't been my brother, who I had the utmost faith and confidence in serving as my assistant, the decision would have been harder than it was. Again, thank you, brother Bruce. The most important thing that you need to think about when choosing an assistant coach, if and when you are involved in coaching a team or a program that calls for an assistant coach, is to do the candidates share the same philosophies and goals as you do. If not, why would you even consider them? Well, sometimes you don't have a choice. During my first head coaching gig at South Tahoe High School, I was told that my quote girls coach was a teacher that had no previous coaching experience. And I was asked if I would be willing to train her. Duh, did I really have a choice? I agreed to it. And this led to a revolving door of coaches that were assigned to me over a multi-year period where the girls on the team never really knew from year to year who was going to be their designated coach other than me. Now some were coaches that I completely supported, while some were teachers who, by contract, were making more than I was in our coaching stipend. Was I bitter? Yeah, perhaps, but we'll discuss that point later. Now during my times coaching AYSO soccer and middle school basketball, I didn't have assistants. But in reality, the team size was small enough that I could handle it without, except for the team moms in soccer who helped organize the halftime and post-game snack schedule. But as the coach of the steppers, cross-country, and track teams, assistant coaches were imperative. And many of those assistants were unsung heroes. The parents who helped drive the team to our competitions and helped chaperone a team of girls between 6 and 15 years old with a single 20 to 25-year-old male head coach and keep the program above board and without reproach. Now moving on to high school track and field. With 16 events for each athlete to choose from, it is extremely important for a head coach to have, in my opinion, at least four coaches, if not more. I mean, think about it. Most if not all high school track and field teams have the second most amount of student-athlete participants, second only to the king, football. And that number can reach 100-plus athletes. Now I could argue that both sports deserve to have the same amount of, quote, district-paid coaches, a head coach, and six assistants. But school districts, at least in California, don't seem to see it this way and would require that many of those assistants be paid via fundraising, which is never a given thing. And this makes it difficult to retain coaches year after year, if at all. Believe me when I say that I have been involved with high school teams that I grew from 30 athletes to over 100, and only had myself and a designated girls coach, because that's what the higher-ups in the district felt was needed and what they could afford, even though they don't take into consideration that you are coaching, in reality, two teams, a boys and a girls team. Now basketball has a head boys coach and a separate head girls coach, as does soccer, baseball, and softball, plus paid assistant coaches. Imagine two coaches for 100-plus athletes covering 16 events. How in the hell do you in good conscience treat the athletes with the training that they deserve, not to mention the safety aspect of not being able to oversee certain athletes as they attempt to practice their events? Think about it. How do you train your throwers in the shot and discus when your only assistant is working with your hurdlers, and with high jumpers, and long and triple jumpers, and you are working with your sprinters and relay runners? Ugh. Think about the athlete safety factor. How can anyone encourage discus throwers, shot putters, and for that matter, pole vaulters to actually be allowed to do those events in practice without adult supervision? Well, let me tell you, it does happen, and it boggles my mind. One of the things that I did was to let my athletes know that they had to learn how to quote, self-coach, and to be ready to speak to me when I was able to be with them. Now many of you will listen to this and say, huh? What do you mean self-coach? I took great amount of pride in being able to prepare my athletes in the minute details of their events so that they actually were competing and then evaluating what they did right or what they did wrong so they can prove the next time. I mean, let's be realistic. Field events are at an advantage over running event athletes as they have multiple attempts at a height or distance while runners have a one and done scenario, unless it's an invitational or elite meet where they run heats and then finals, and those athletes will have another chance to improve. Now this method may seem a little bit strange to some new or even some experienced coaches, but it's worked for me for many, many years, but there is something that you need to evaluate before you can implement this kind of coaching style. In short, what kind of team do you have? Do you have athletes that can take on this kind of responsibility and understand your concept? Do you have a team that is willing to help each other when you or any coach can't be at their event? Or do you have a team of followers that need constant attention? If it's the latter, well, in my opinion, you're probably basically screwed. You should be starting off your season by explaining what and why you are trying to do and actually instructing your athletes in their event instead of just going through quote-unquote workouts, and let them know that you have, that they have the responsibilities and that they are your assistant coach, and you should experience some success. Remember how I said in an earlier episode how I brought my eighth-grade boys along and put the team in charge of working with my seventh-graders for a specific time period during our practices, and how both teams grew and learned? Well, this can work for track and field as well. Here's what I mean. Remember, it's you and one other adult who hopefully understands and buys into your style of coaching and is actually striving to help you and the team meet your goals. Once you and your coach have instructed your athletes in an even, say, high jump, in that event, let each athlete know what it is that you're looking for during each of their jumps. Ask them questions after they jump, whether they cleared the height or not. Ask them what they thought they did right or what they did wrong, and don't accept the answer like, I missed it. Tell them to be specific. Did they miss their takeoff spot? Did they not jump up first, or did they try to jump over the bar first? Did they forget to, or were they late with their kick? Did they squeeze the quarter in their buttcheeks? Wait, what? Squeezing the quarter in their buttcheeks? Coach Rick, what is it you're talking about? Well, this is a visual that I always gave to my high jumpers. Visualizing the squeezing of a quarter, or anything for that matter, between your buttcheeks reminds you to lift your hips as you're clearing the bar instead of sitting on the bar. Try it. You'll see what I mean. Plus, your athletes will remember this because it is kind of funny, and there's nothing better than when your jumper comes back to you and says, I squeezed it, coach. In the triple jump, ask your jumper if these three phases were equal, or was one shorter than the other. Typically, the second phase of the jump for newbie jumpers is shorter than it should be. But if you teach your jumpers to clap in their head each phase of the jump, clap, clap, clap, instead of clap, clap, clap, they should eventually achieve the desired result. All of this really isn't new. When you take a required CPR class, before you can coach in most middle and high schools, one of the things they teach you is that when you are doing chest compressions, that you should do them in sync with the Bee Gees' song, Stayin' Alive, from 1977 and the movie Saturday Night Fever. Trust me, it works. I remember telling a freshman girl who was trying to advance to the Sac Waukeen Masters meet in California and break the school record in the 800 that she should think about a favorite song and find a segment of that song that took about 17 or 18 seconds and to hum it for the first 100 meters of a race in order to get into the rhythm for the rest of the race. Well, it didn't work that year, as she got sucked into the pace by the junior and senior runners, which was much faster. But she eventually became a school record holder in the 800, the 1600, the 3200, and a member of the school record 4x400 relay team, and was the first female to represent our school at the California state meet in both cross country and track. Now, if you're a little bit skeptical about how this whole letting go thing will work, here's a little inside clue. Make sure you have designated team captains for each discipline on the team. A sprint captain, a distance captain, a throws captain, a hurdles captain, and a jumps captain. The last one might be the biggest problem, as very few teams have jumpers that are high, long, and triple, and I would never allow the pole vaulters to be self-coached. So you may have to have captains for the long jump and triple jump, and another for the high jump. If you do this right, and choose the right athletes, they can be a huge asset to you and the team. Plus, they will look forward to the responsibility, as my basketballers did. In closing, high school track and field is difficult enough to coach with a full array of coaches, because you have many multi-event athletes. But to have a team that must have these multi-event athletes in events that are so very different from one another, and not have a full complement of coaches, can be very, well, let's just say it's challenging. But it can be done, and it can be done with some success. And I hope that what I shared in this episode will show you just how it has worked out for me, and how it can possibly work for you. But be diligent. Continue to lobby your school administration to allow you more paid assistant coaches. And make sure you present the safety factor involved. You as the head coach owe it to your team. I hope that you are enjoying the podcast, and if you are, will tell your friends about it. Remember, you can reach me with questions or comments at coachrickb53 at gmail.com. And just to note, we are now being listened to in Canada, in Australia, in Singapore, in 35 cities across the United States, and even, and I hesitate to say this with enthusiasm, but Moscow, Russia. Don't know what that's about, but so be it. So until the next time, take care, be safe, laugh a lot, and tell someone that you love them, especially tomorrow on Valentine's Day. I'll talk to you soon.