Blog : 5 Coaching Tips for 2015

5 Coaching Tips for 2015

• January 1st, 2015
• Bram van Asselt

• coaching motivation sport management planning

Wipe those bleary eyes, 2015 is upon us and now is the time to make this the year of the coach.

In actual fact this year will be the Chinese year of the goat, which starts on February 19th, but don't let that distract you. Follow my 5 simple tips to make sure your team have the best possible start to their season.

Treat your return to the playing field / court like a second pre-season. Your players' basic skills can never be too strong, so strip your trainings down and work on those fundamental skills if you want to have a successful start to this year.

Here are some drills you can use to refresh the basics:
Basketball, Cricket, Football (soccer), Handball,
Hockey, Netball, Rugby, Tennis and Volleyball.

Too many cooks spoil the broth, right? Well the same applies to training sessions. If you try and cram in too many practices you're going to overload your players.

Instead pick out 3 or 4 practices to improve a specific part of your team's game. Make it clear how the skills being worked on relate back to the game.

This is number 3 on my list, but I actually think this is the most important piece of advice for a coach. For a team to play well together they need to bond, trust one another and want to work towards the same shared goal.

To build a more cohesive squad you should plan social activities outside of your regular practice. The start of a new year is a great time to do this - if the weather looks bad why not cancel training and...

Organise a team dinner
Book a lane at the bowling alley
Go paintballing
Plan a fundraising event for your club / community

After pre-season the focus for training often switches from fitness to giving priority to regular training. Conditioning is something which you should aim to maintain throughout the season, and especially after a festive break.

Good fitness levels can make the difference between driving out a win or losing in the last 10 minutes, as players fatigue and make silly mistakes. Because of this be sure to dedicate a solid chunk of your training schedule to fitness work. Try to keep it fun to encourage participations - I've included some suggestions for you to try below:

All sports: Illinois Agility Run
All sports: SEMO Agility Drill
Football (Soccer): Individual Pre-Season Fitness Tests
Hockey: Individual Pre-Season Fitness Tests
Netball: Shooter shuttles - running and shooting race
Rugby: Running with depth fitness

Keeping energy and morale high at training isn't just the responsibility of your players. A lot of the responsibility falls squarely into your lap.

Players don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

Have a lot of enthusiasm in every session you teach. Do this and your players will feed off it. Yes, players want to win trophies and improve their game, but most importantly they want to have fun, learn and play with their friends.

Ultimately that's why we all play sport, to have fun, to learn and to play with our friends. Don't lose sight of this. As it's the start of the year as coach you're going to need to get involved this week - no standing on the sidelines at training - enjoy it and your players will too.

Alex Blackman

Have a fantastic start to the year and I look forward to supporting you and your players!

Here's some other Sportplan blogs you might like to read:

Four Coaching Tips for 2014	The 5 Cs Of Being A Great Coach	5 Tips for Pre-match Talks
Four achievable goals you should challenge yourself with in 2014	From Premiership manager to grassroots stalwart, the coach is an important part in any sportsman's playing career	Psych your players up for their next big game - huddle round and listen up to our team talk tips
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