by Dan Anderson
Question: Based on all of your experience as a high school coach, what should I be doing this summer to prep for my first season as a girls high school coach? –Newbie
Newbie,
Even if you have a few years of experience behind you, I hope some of this will make your life easier next fall.
The first thing I would get done this summer is create a team hand book. Our hand book explains our team rules on things such as ; issued equipment, transportation expectations, cell phones and meet and school conduct. It also covers expectations for practice as well as school academic eligibility policies and our district chemical violation policy. I also spell out our lettering policy, our procedure for electing captains and how the section team will be selected. We spend the first week of our season going over small portions of the handbook each day to make sure the athletes all understand. I also hand it out at our parent meeting.
I would also spend this summer creating a training plan for the season. For example I break my season down into the following phases; the adjustment phase, endurance phase, competitive phase and taper. Then as I write workouts I work to stick with the plan. Maybe you would want to write up a couple of practices for different points in your season as a guide. I would also meet with my assistant coaches as much as needed to make sure everyone is on the same page and to get their input into the planning process.
Finally, I would get as many things done before the season starts as possible. In my situation I have already ordered my busses, scheduled team pictures, visited with our strength coach, scheduled our fundraisers and begun work on hosting our invitational, the True Team, Conference and section meets. We have even scheduled our banquet! Once the season starts, you will be overwhelmed with things to do and barely able to get your head above water! The more you can get done now the easier it will be this fall.
Finally, I would suggest spending as much time as possible recharging your batteries. Get away from the pool and thoughts of the pool as often as possible and spend time with family and friends as you won’t have much time for that come fall.
I hope this helps.
Dan