Since I’ve started working with the athletes last year and in to this year, public perception over my techniques has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve had many parents come up to me and say they appreciate the amount of physical conditioning I am expecting of all the athletes. I was concerned when I started, esp with the girls, that the parents wouldn’t like the physical demands I put on the athletes. At the pee wee level I told them to run until they couldn’t, at the jr. high level I didn’t present “not being able to finish” as an option. In my mind, Jr. high is enough of a step up that I expect them to do all the physical work as hard as they can until the end. At the pee wee level I expect them to do all they can until they can’t go any further. The difference, in my mind, is they need to learn as they get older when to burst and when to pace themselves…and they need to listen to when I tell them to work in this manner.
Something else I’ve got positive feed back about is the way I coach during the games. Parents and spectators seem to appreciate the methods I used to teach the athletes. There has been one point during each season so far, where I thought there would be some parental backlash. Once during the pee wee season, when I called a time out during a game and had them run sprints…and again during the jr. high girls season when I called a time out and had them just hold their arms in the air. At the time I’m making the decision to do these things I think that’s what is necessary to get the message across that I’m promoting at that particular moment. Then, when the game is over and it’s time to shake hands and spend some face time with the audience…that’s when I think about potential back lash to the decisions I’ve made. Reception has been great though.
Now it’s entirely possible that any negativity and dissatisfaction parents/spectators have had with my performance has been shared with their families, the athlete(s) and the administration but not myself. I would really hope that if someone had something negative to say or some area they wished I would improve they would say something to me directly. There is no way I can know I’m not meeting the needs of the community if that community doesn’t let me know of their dissatisfaction.
Overall, I personally am content with the results of the seasons. There are some aspects that, upon retrospect, I would have changed…but overall I’m good. It is a trade mark of my teams that we seldom take time outs. It’s a matter of pride for me that I have trained my players to the point where I believe they can handle situations that arise. I like to save the time outs for the end if I need to stop the clock for a chance to win. During the pee wee season, the mistake I made was not making sure they listened to me only in high pressure situations. The one game we lost was a close game, one of my boys decided to foul on his own. Now, to be clear, that’s not the reason we lost the game. When it comes down to a couple of points…there are so many different decisions that could have been made by the players and myself through the game that would have changed the outcome. Maybe I should have taken a time out before the break and make sure everyone was very clear on what I wanted them to do…I didn’t…no biggie. During the girl’s season, at cando…I probably should have called a time out and explained to them how I want them to break the press. It might have helped…I don’t know. Overall, I don’t think that would have been a huge tipping point.