A friend and work colleague of mine was recently appointed as senior coach of a local football club for the first time, and asked me to be his assistant.
I respect and admire this guy, who’s a lot younger than me, very much, so it was definitely an honour to be asked.
Despite my extensive time working in top level football in coach roles, I’m not a “football coach”, so straight away it showed this guy making his own decisions and trusting his judgement. Good for him! And me 😊
After being there for about 6 sessions, I’m noticing 3 main things that are making me feel good about our chances of playing to potential and ensuring a culture where people want to be and stay:
- His way – His overall manner of being humble, generous and enjoying people as a starting point, keeping his coach to player speaking tight and concise (a remembering of what it’s like to be addressed so often as a player), continually handing over ownership (where appropriate) to players – sharing “power” and empowering, designing training sessions that address things that are needed, balanced with things that players like.
- Players Engaged – The playing group are showing high levels of engagement. Understandable with a new coach taking over from the previous 8 year incumbent, but the energy and enthusiasm, is always there, transitions between activities or from stopping to talk and starting another activity are quick, and players self organise promptly. They enjoy “getting around” each other at various times doing the sessions, which keeps them physically close and connected. And finally, in what I don’t think I’ve seen before in many football player groups, during discussion when a player shares their perspective in whole group gatherings, there’s always at least 2 or 3 players genuinely and vocally agreeing with and supporting that player.
- Trust to demand- In discussion about how they want to play – “Bloods Football”, they’ve identified being highly communicative on field, as key. Giving directions, celebrating, and verbally recognising good things no matter how small. We haven’t got the bottom of this yet, but at this stage I’m sensing possible echoes of emphasising the importance of being free to be demanding on each other, in order for the team to play their best football. Implicitly, in my mind, this points to an inherent trust in the group.
It’s round 2. Let’s see how it plays out.