Coaching 101: a guide on how coaches can make an impact

Coach the Coaches Seminar #1 - What we do & Why we Do it:
If you have not heard this information before, I would be surprised. It is a part of our company mission statement and it is a part of our new branding
“Warrior Playground - Where You Belong”
The idea behind this branding is that we want to empathize the “family friendly” community that we have built over the years. We want to continue our work on growing the awareness of the fact that our programs help people find a love for movement and a love for playing with us.
This seminar is all about how we work with our students, how we care for them, and how we help them excel - it’s about How we Coach, not What we Coach
We need to always be energetic and present - our students should feel our energy when they walk into the gym and we should always provide an environment that is welcoming and nurturing.
The most essential Foundational skills we teach to all levels, but emphasize for beginners and all new students are:
Building a Love for Movement & Having Fun
Resilience & Attitude
Listening & Behavior & Communication
Smart Progressions/ Regressions & Safety
Balance & Grip
It’s all about how we care for our students and how we help them build a love for movement which then inspires people to “exercise”through the act of playing - which I absolutely love
If we as coaches can read the energy of our students & can adapt our workouts to meet their fluctuating needs on any given day - then we can help elevate their experience to a point that makes them feel like they are gaining:
ENERGY, FUN, CONFIDENCE…. Just by being around us - which of course helps them feel like they are in a place they “BELONG”. If needed, we can provide the shoulder for them to lean on. They can rely on us to be there for them.
We also help them build resilience by teaching them the importance of getting back up and trying again as well as how to face their fears and rise up to the challenge. This comes from a Japanese term, which is interpreted as “Fall down 7 times, Get up 8”. Teaching our students to understand the concept that failure is a part of the learning process and that it does not actually exist or happen unless they give up - so as long as they can shift their attitude into “I just need one more try” - than we are giving them information that can change how they approach every aspect of their entire life.
Listening and Behavior is essential. If students aren't paying attention this will prevent them or others from gaining any of the “skills” we teach. As coaches, if we do not have expectations that we demand from our students, then we will have a challenging time teaching them & we may allow a student to distract ourselves or others in ways that can cause issues from safety to poor behavior and higher dropout rates. Therefore, as a coach, your communication skills with students, parents, other coaches, & management is critical. Weekly reports, homework assignments & general updates are a huge part of your responsibilities. We sometimes have issues that we need to address and if that gets swept under the rug instead of being dealt with - then we may lose a student or even worse - hurt their feelings.
Smart Training - It’s about how we build confidence with carefully structured progressions
and regressions for our students. Progressions that are designed to help build both physically stronger athletes and also mentally because they learn how to overcome fears. Regressions are used to prevent students who have not mastered a technique, to have alternative ways to work on that technique safely. Learning at least 5 ways to work on a particular skill with small incremental changes will give you the ability to coach any 1 skill for at least 10-15 minutes. This is a key quality of an experienced coach. When you are capable of this, your athletes will develop skills at a faster rate because of our programs and your knowledge of them. Balance and Grip training are the 2 most important pieces of your students development, because without those, it's hard to do everything.
This Coach the Coaches Seminar is the first time I’m requiring coaches to follow my protocols. For years I have both trained and allowed the Coaches at the Warrior Playground to use my methods as well as their own. I chose to do this because I was very present on the obstacle floor and worked closely with our coaches during the first 3-5 years of our gym. After that, I started running the business more and I saw the coaches adapt to more of their own style - this was mostly good, but some things were lost. Therefore because I know a lot of shit and have more experience as a coach than anyone in the industry 27 years, plus 10 as an obstacle coach, and I have worked with many of the best in the industry, I would like to have you all follow my protocols. They will give you a structure to follow and it will help our students & program shine.