Welcome to eteamz' new Team
Management Section!
Team Management
Each month we will post a new article, courtesy of Athletic
Management. These articles are intended to help you become a better Coach or Team
Manager - outside of the X's and O's. We hope you enjoy them!
Postgame Timeout
After all the game plays have been called and the final whistle blows, your
job as head coach still entails on more important task: keeping your cool.
It's no secret that after a football game, many coaches have a hard time dealing
with their emotions. After a big game, particularly a loss, some coaches have
been known to engage in actions that they regret the next morning ... and for
days after that.
Cooldown Techniques
Through trial and error, many coaches have discovered a number of "cooling
down" techniques. They suggest that each coach develop a postgame plan that works
for him.
Sam Moser, Head Coach at Fort Dodge Senior High School, in Fort Dodge, Iowa, likes
to wind down by watching the film after the Friday night game to review its ups
and downs while it's fresh on his mind. But on Saturday, he sets his mind on matters
unrelated to football. Come Sunday, his coaching staff joins him to review film
of the opponent they're slated to play in the upcoming week. "We try to make our
whole weekly plan out on Sunday," he says. "I used to not do that. I would come
out of it Friday nights feeling pretty bad and jump right back into it Saturday
morning. It seems to me that the one-day break from it has been really effective."
Many coaches find that getting together socially with other coaches after the
game helps the decompression process. Richard Bye, Head Coach at Stevenson High
School in Sterling Heights, Mich., has a tradition in which his staff of eight
varsity coaches and six junior varsity coaches get together at someone's house
to view the tape. "We get it all out the night of the game," he says. "I think
it's very important to talk it out."
After home games, John Luckhardt, Head Coach at Washington & Jefferson College,
in Washington, Pa., and his staff go out to dinner with their families, an idea
that was promoted by Bill Dukett, an assistant coach. Emotions are released in
a safe and caring environment. "By sharing the experience with our families and
with each other, it's made it more of a positive situation," Luckhardt says.
By Carol Brzozowski-Gardner Carol Brzozowski-Gardner is a freelance
writer based in Coral Gables, Fla.
For more articles like this every month, click here to subscribe
to Athletic
Management.
|
|
|
