Are your athletes willing to learn and improve every day, even a challenging new skill or do they shy away from it? Explaining to your athletes what it means to be coachable and how it can help them grow in their sport and in life is a great topic for a team huddle discussion during your next practice.
It can be frustrating as a coach when you’ve told a player how to change their technique or think of their off-ball movement differently and you get a defensive response, “Yeah, but..[insert excuse]” or “I know coach.” Even if the athletes says "yes, coach." they may not make the change on the field or court. When you find yourself in this situation, it’s time to have a conversation with the team about what it takes to be coachable.
Being coachable means you’re leaving room for the possibility that there’s something you haven’t learned yet that could make you even better. [1] It means you’re open to listening to feedback, able to receive constructive criticism without taking it personally, willing to take a look at your own performance in order to improve it, and generally a super-badass-enthusiastic go getter type of person.
Share this info-graphic with your team to explain what it means to be coachable.
Want to discuss more ways to get your team to the next level? Contact me for a free 15 minute consultation.
[1] https://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-probert-mpt/what-it-means-to-be-coachable-and-why-you-should-care_b_9178372.html