Being a young coach, I am a 27 year old female coaching at the HS level in Bergen County, I use as many resources as possible. Out of 30 teams that made the Bergen County Tournament Last year, 5 of those teams were coached by females. This gives me MORE ambition to learn EVEN MORE and better myself as a coach. "Your team only gets better if you, yourself get better". "Your success in your individual role is crucial to the success of the team". These quotes stick with me, and remind me that I need to keep learning about the game.I use Alan Stein as a major resource. The man is a reading machine and he has inspired me to read more. On his website I came across one of his blogs "Mission Accomplished", where he listed 50 books read in the year. Here is the link if you want to take a look at some great summer/fall reading : http://blog.strongerteam.com/post/2009/12/09/Mission-Accomplished.aspx
I went down the list, highlighted ones I thought would be good for me and this summer I came across "KNOW YOURSELF AS A COACH". This book challenges you as a coach, teaches you to think outside of the box and put things into perspective. The book is full of highlighter, post its and tags by the time I finished reading it. This book is my new BIBLE.
Denny Kuiper helped me understand that the terms "athlete" and "coach" help define who I am. "We athletes and coaches know the advantages of team participation, of learning and practicing and performing together, of reaching for the stars, even of failing. We know we are better for having made the effort". Part of coaching is engaging people everyday, engage them in play that carries over into the rest of their lives.
I will be following up with other things I have learned from the book to share with you. I also plan on sending the Author Denny Kuiper an email expressing my appreciation for a piece of work like this!
