Introduction

          Coaching involves far more than just organizing practices or managing games. It is about creating a shared vision, building a strong team culture and creating common goals that everyone can pursue with togetherness. At the forefront, coaching is about impacting lives, where lessons are taught, and providing an environment where students and athletes can grow. In this paper, I will share my personal philosophy of coaching with the goal of communicating my vision in a clear and purposeful manner.

Why I Coach

          Sports has been a passion of mine ever since I was young and helped shape me into the person I am today. I am a firm believer that there is no better platform to help shape and impact lives than through sports. I find fulfillment within building relationships, developing our younger generation, and watching them grow within their sports and personally. As Gilbert (2017) highlights, effective coaching starts with a concise purpose that has a foundation of serving others and focusing on character development. I strive to use sports as a vehicle that can teach life lessons, while also creating a meaningful and lasting impact.

My Core Values

          My coaching philosophy has been built upon three core values: relationships, hard work and accountability. The culture of the program is based upon these values, and help guide how I interact with athletes, demonstrate leadership, and overcome obstacles. I have a firm belief that strong relationships are the foundation of any successful team. As stated by Gilbert (2017), we as coaches must be intentional with how we build trust to grow our relationships and connect with our athletes. These values will be more than just words that are said but actions that are walked out daily.

            Similarly, I view hard work as another rooted standard of our program. It is not just through physical effort but also preparation, attentional detail, and a high level of resilience. By having this mindset, it allows us to overcome obstacles with purpose and consistency. Over the course of the season, it helps not only during games but will build character and trust within the team.

           Lastly, accountability is glue that brings everything together with our culture. As a coach and teacher, it is a must that I model accountability daily for my athletes and students to see. We cannot expect our athletes and students to show up on time, be prepared, and follow through with commitments without it being modeled regularly. When accountability is present, it helps create the foundation of trust and respect between everyone involved. These values all directly shape the experience I want our athletes to have, which goes beyond just wins and losses.

The Experience I Want for My Athletes

          One of my biggest hopes as a coach and teacher is that the athletes and students I work with walk away from their time within the classroom or program with meaningful memories. I hope they can one day look back and realize that those memories helped have a part in shaping them, not just as athletes, but as people. Although teaching skills and winning games are important and valuable, it is the lasting memories that matter the most: the bus rides, team traditions, reading to elementary students, working summer camps, celebrating others’ success, and showing up for one another through difficult times. I want their experience to be something they reflect on and feel a sense of pride and honor being a part of something bigger than themselves.         

Defining Athletic Success

           Athletic success, in my coaching philosophy, goes beyond winning. Although winning and competition are natural parts of sports, I believe the real success within sports is personal growth, developing character, and the ability to constantly strive to give your best day in and day out. My goal as a teacher and coach is to help guide my students and athletes to pursue their best in all that they do physically and mentally and help them view their success as a journey and not defined by trophies. As Kirkland and Cowley (2023) emphasize, effective coaching should not be judged just on performance but by looking at how athletes foster resilience, trust, and respect.

The Purpose of Sport 

          At the core of sports, the purpose is to develop the whole person, and just the athlete. Sports serve as a platform to teach life lessons such as building relationships, dedication, leadership, commitment through creating lasting memories. Sports create opportunities for individuals to come together and be a part of a team to have a sense of belonging. As Gilbert (2017) noted, the outlook on sports can be a much powerful tool when it comes to self-development when coaching is purposeful. Also, Kirkland and Cowley (2023) highlighted that effective coaching depends on the context in which it is delivered and in which it can deeply impact its value. Therefore, I view my role not just as a coach but a teacher of sport to help young people grow in all areas of their lives and not just within sports.

My Responsibilities as a Coach

          As a coach, my responsibility goes far beyond teaching skills within a game. It is to create a safe, inclusive environment that helps support the development of young people. This also includes building strong relationships and connections, while consistently modeling our standards and values to foster growth. Additionally, I recognize the importance of adapting to the athlete’s particular needs and different backgrounds, ensuring clear communication and appropriate boundaries are established. As Partington and Cushion (2024) highlight, coaching involves finding balance between social and cultural dynamics, and that coaches should be constantly reflecting on how their actions and philosophies are shaping the individuals we work with. Ultimately, my goal along with my responsibility is to lead with purpose and integrity, knowing that my job extends beyond the scoreboard.  

Approach to Discipline in Coaching

          When it comes to discipline within coaching, I believe it all starts with being consistent and fair with your program. The standards need to be clearly identified and outlined for our athletes to understand what is expected of them. The handling of discipline always needs to be done in a respectful manner and explain that the discipline is to correct behavior and never be demeaning of any student or athlete you are working with. We use discipline as learning opportunities to work through mistakes and correct behavior that needs to be addressed. When explaining the correction to the athlete or student it needs to be done in a calm and composed structure to enforce learning from it. My goal for discipline through coaching is that we teach real life lessons through mistakes, and we help young people grow from the accountability that we hold them to.

My Ethical Standards in Sports

          In sports, I stand firm on being ethical and teaching our players that we must always show integrity. When no one is watching us, we are making the right choices for ourselves and the team. Being honest and making sure what we are doing is the right thing even when it is the harder thing to do. We must always show respect, both to the program and our opponent. Accountability is another standard where we must take ownership of our actions and hold our teammates accountable as well. Another ethical standard is sportsmanship, and how we handle ourselves whether we win or lose games. We must understand that sports can be very emotional but to never let the emotions get the best of us to where we show disrespect to our team or our opponent.

Conclusion

          Coaching extends far beyond what everyone sees on the court. It is important to have a clear and visible guide for everyone to follow and live out daily. The words written on a wall must be more than just words and hold true to not only you but everyone that is involved within your program. They must reflect the culture that is expected and demanded daily. If our true goal is to help mold young people, then our words and actions must be in alignment. In the end, coaching should not be just about building better athletes, but we should be striving to build better people.

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