Why start a blog?
I enjoy coaching and want to do an excellent job of it. However, the last few years have been filled with major life events and significant changes to my time, energy, and availability. These changes have forced me to rethink my approach to coaching and, quite frankly, whether I can be a decent coach at all. After several months of talking, reading, listening, and pondering, I ended up claiming my own little space on the internet. This is my effort to dig deeper and broaden my reach simultaneously. It is my attempt to move forward and evolve as a coach. Please be nice.
Okay, but why a BLOG?
A few reasons:
It’s something I can do outside of the gym. Much of the problem-solving that coaches do involves spending more time in the gym rather than at home and is ultimately limited by the gym schedule. I have nothing against coaches who take that approach; I just don’t have the ability to do it myself. That leaves me with the option of resigning myself to lose or trying something different that fits who I am and how I approach things.
“The medium is the message.” Reading has unique benefits and is underutilized among high school athletes. I have a sneaking suspicion that having athletes do more reading addresses some of the obstacles we encounter daily during volleyball season. Reading challenges and develops the brain in ways that are different from physical activity or listening to someone speak. This blog is not a replacement for the core activities of our volleyball program, which take place in the gym, but it is a differentiated component of a more comprehensive strategy.
Writing sharpens me and enhances my process. Putting my thoughts onto a page forces me to practice and improve on my communication skills. Compared to ideas and thoughts that reside solely in a person’s memory, concepts in the form of written text are more accessible to study, evaluate, and build upon. A writing habit is also a discipline.
So who is your audience?
I intend for my core audience to be the players I coach. This is an extension of the coaching that takes place in person. I’m not sure that this demographic is a willing group of participants, but it is my target “market.” Blocks of text serve as a physical representation of the logic behind our team's psychology. I want reading to be an essential supplement for anyone wishing to excel in our system.
This blog is also for the parents of players on the team. Parenting has altered my perspective and led me to value transparency more so than before. I am very proud of what we do in our program, and I believe we create real value that players and parents can all be on board with. As a coach, I don’t think having parents sit in on open practices all the time is ideal. However, as a parent, I would want to understand, in detail, what my children are doing beyond just the surface level. Writing offers a window into our activities. I can’t require parents to look through that window, but I believe it should be available.
This blog is also for anyone else who finds their way to me. I wasn’t sure if I should make my project into something available to the public. The intended content doesn’t seem like it would have widespread appeal, and it honestly causes me to feel a bit vulnerable. Ultimately, thinking about those things revealed them as reasons to put my work out in the open. First, I realize that I cannot actually predict whether this will present any value to other people, but this seems like the best way to find out, and I’m safe in the sense that I don’t have any quotas to hit. Second, I am choosing to embrace that sense of vulnerability and the feeling of discomfort that comes with it. The marketplace of ideas is a competitive space. I ask my athletes to compete and embrace discomfort every day. It only seems fitting that I do the same.
What are you going to write about?
Behind every sports program, there is an underlying philosophy. No philosophy is perfect, and no single approach is universally the best fit for every team. However, I believe that every winning philosophy (not necessarily reflected in the record) is at odds with the prevailing popular culture our young athletes are entrenched in. I am convinced that the biggest obstacle between the young people I work with and their volleyball potential is not physical ability, resources, or experience. Instead, what plagues us are fundamental issues of philosophy, character, and habits. I don't have THE answer, nor do I think I have a solution that will appeal or apply to everyone. What I do have is my own personality and my approach to first-principle thinking. Posts will range from core coaching/playing principles, practical application, volleyball-specific topics, and reflections on personal experience. Now that I've written all that out, I really hope it's more interesting than it sounds.
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