If you have spent any time recently in the world of sport, you’ve probably heard the term “coach developer” mentioned in passing. Maybe at a coaches’ meeting, in a national federation document, or in a professional development email that landed in your inbox. But what does it actually mean? What does a coach developer do,…
If you’re a sports coach who cares about getting better, not just at drawing up drills, but at the craft of developing people, you’ve probably noticed that the field of coach development is constantly moving. New research, evolving frameworks, and changing athlete expectations are reshaping what it means to be a skilled, current coach. The…
There’s a question worth sitting with before you read another word: What do your athletes say about your program when you’re not in the room? Not what they say to your face, or what they post on social media, or what they tell college recruiters. What do they say to each other, late at night…
Performance coaches and trainers are rarely starting from zero. A coaching philosophy already exists in most programs, even when it has never been written down. It shows up in what gets praised, what gets punished, how mistakes are handled, and what “good effort” means on the hardest days. The challenge is that an unnamed philosophy…
Many coaches quietly carry an assumption that growth is supposed to be a solo project. The job can reward independence and self-reliance, especially early on, when proving competence can feel like the main task. Yet coaching is also deeply social, complex, and emotionally demanding work, and the conditions surrounding community sport coaching can amplify that…
“Better” coaching looks different depending on your season “Better” coaching is seasonal. For coaches who care deeply, feeling stuck or tired does not always mean something is wrong. Often it means the current way of working has reached its limit, and a different kind of growth is necessary. In the early years, progress can look…