Building a coaching staff
The first task of any sports coach (or business leader) is to put together a coaching staff or in the case of business, a leadership team. This is a vital part of the team building process, because it is the coaches who will have direct contact with the players. So how does a coach compile a staff, or more accurately how did I go about doing this at the Kraków Kings U18 “YoungBlood” team.
Everything starts and ends with values. The entire staff has to share the core values and aims of the head coach and the team. For us the two most important values are education and commitment.
Education is first, because in essence this is our mission. We want to use sport as a tool to educate and inspire young people. Commitment is a way we get there. We expect full commitment from our players, and the best way to achieve that is to show full commitment from the coaching staff.
When speaking to potential coaches, the educational aspect is the first thing we discuss. Some coaches may have different priorities, for example winning above all or at all costs. This by no means makes them bad coaches; it just simply means they are not the right fit for us. Once we are on the same page with coaching priority, the next question is one of commitment. This is a high hurdle to overcome when you consider we are a team made up entirely of volunteers. So, asking individuals for a firm commitment of two practices per week, film view, practice prep, plus recruitment time is a lot to require and commit to. Once we have these two things in place, we have a solid base to start from.
Life would be simple, if selecting coaches would be limited to just those two factors. Unfortunately, the most important aspect is the most difficult one to judge: can the individual work with young players? In the case of the YoungBlood staff, “lady luck” was on our side because in the past, I had the opportunity to watch each of the potential coaches work with youngsters. I was fortunate to observe first-hand if they have the intangible quality of being able to relate to youth.
Eight coaches, committed to education, each excited about working with young people — I think we have a solid foundation, on which we can start building a great team.
To quote Bill Walsh “ ..the score will take care of itself..”
Go YoungBlood!
Dawid Ostręga
Head Coach
Kraków Football Kings u18
#KingsYoungBlood #KrakowFootballKings
