A Coach's Guide to Building a High School Athletic

Every coach starts out the new season with his own philosophy of how his athletic program should be built and maintained. Many coaches consider a good, strong foundation is needed to center the program around. Several factors in building this strong foundation include physical development, mental development and career development along with recruiting, faculty and parent support. Molding a young ninth grade student into a confident, mentally stable and career orientated productive young adult is an awesome responsibility. A good coach can succeed with these goals.

Physical development in a sports program is of course of utmost importance. Putting in three to four times the work than the opponents do will make the team three to four times more confident. Being strong and well conditioned is being a confident player. Doing the proper amount of work in the weight room and on the field will develop a strong, well- conditioned confident player and it will show in competition.

Mental development and toughness is also an important part of the foundation of a team. Some anxiety in the practices, strength training and games will give the young athletes the ability to deal with stressful situations. Anxiety and pressure should be expected and the player should be able to confidently conquer them, both on the field and off. Mental development is a learned behavior and it's up to the coach to properly channel this. When the coach teaches mental toughness, it will stay with the young athlete for the rest of his life. In this day and age, this discipline is very important.

Players must also achieve academic success. A firm law needs to be put down from the beginning by the coach. Academics should come first, with no cutting classes, no tardiness and laziness and no skipping homework. A player must be made to understand that academics will carry him through life, even after high school. Playing football and being a good athlete is great and will help him to develop a strong personality, but academics will ensure his future.

Recruiting players is a very important consideration in building a high school team. The coach must find ways to do this in order to build a strong team. A good way is to go to all of the elementary schools in the area and speak to every young student about athletics. Invite them to practices, games, and athletic programs, and encourage and motivate the youngsters. Let them know that even though they're still young, they are the future of the next high school athletic team. Challenge the varsity players, business people of the community, local police officers, alumni, other coaches and any other interested persons to talk to the young people of the town, and motivate and encourage them to join an athletic program when they enter high school. Many coaches use this technique and succeed quite well in building their numbers!

The faculty and administration should also be involved and behind the program. The coach should assure them that his players are students first and that his team could win without putting their academics in jeopardy. Getting the teachers and administration on the coach's side will go a long ways in building a strong athletic and academic foundation.

Involving the parents is very important to the foundation of the athletic program. Parents influence their children tremendously whether they realize it or not. Having a good relationship with the youngster's parents is immensely important. Giving the parents a copy of the coach's rules and expectations will go a long ways in the development of the players.

All of these key elements: physical and mental developments, career development, recruiting and faculty and parental support will all greatly help in building and maintaining a successful team. If a coach wisely integrates these philosophies into his athletic programs, his success with his team will be greatly increased.

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