I’m going to be an assistant coach for a high school in the fall. What do I need to know?

You are asking people for knowing what to do in the job you have accepted? What is your past expercience, are you a beginner? Do you have diploma in coaching or physical training?

Set clear boundaries with parents as far as when they can communicate with you and how they are expected to act when attending meets and practices. Most distance runner parents are pretty low key. But there are some parents that just get crazy about sports, especially if they think their kid has scholarship potential for college.

Working with HS kids in extra circulars is tricky. They have to like you or else they will revolt on you. But they also have to respect your authority or else they will revolt on you. So, be prepared for a constant back and forth of being the fun coach and being the strict mean coach. Be consistent, but also be fair.

Understand that you'll have kids that aren't as passionate as you are.

If you're working under a good head coach, do whatever he says and ignore the crazies on here.

If you have an incompetent head coach, post everything stupid he does here so we can laugh, but continue to ignore the crazies on here.

You're the assistant, your job is to support your head coach and help motivate the kids.

Facilitate your head coach to do his job the best of his ability

Ignore the people on here wrote:

If you're working under a good head coach, do whatever he says and ignore the crazies on here.

If you have an incompetent head coach, post everything stupid he does here so we can laugh, but continue to ignore the crazies on here.

Second this guy right here.

Gero Mani wrote:

You are asking people for knowing what to do in the job you have accepted? What is your past expercience, are you a beginner? Do you have diploma in coaching or physical training?

total beginner but i’ve read some books!

lol no just a bachelors in computer science

Mtn Dew wrote:

Understand that you'll have kids that aren't as passionate as you are.

This is what everyone keeps telling me. it’s going to be infuriating

Ignore the people on here wrote:

If you have an incompetent head coach, post everything stupid he does here so we can laugh, but continue to ignore the crazies on here.

the head coach is probably incompetent.

example of one of the key workouts for xc:

8x200 all out

What sport?

Girls Team?

Boys Team?

Both?

Your age?

Ever coached at any level before?

Any teaching experience?

otter wrote:

What sport?

Girls Team?

Boys Team?

Both?

Your age?

Ever coached at any level before?

Any teaching experience?

XC

Yes

22

No

No

You are young. Do not get chummy and friendly with the kids. You are not their friend. No hug policy. Be careful with this. Avoid spending time alone with any of them. Do not give rides home to anyone. Fewer people will believe an accusation if you are known to never be alone with an athlete. I am very close to my athletes but they all know there is no such thing as alone time with them.

Never allow non-screened adults to work or run with the kids. Ever. I would strongly urge you to take the safesport course on-line.

You have to back up the head coach. If you think what he/she is doing is horrible and the coach is not willing to talk it over with you and adjust it's probably not going to work out.

Do not undermine/question the head coach in front of the kids. Ever. You are like two parents united.

You need a positive attitude. Be the most positive person on the team. Call out kids in private with the other coach (never have a serious conversation alone) when they are very negative.

Yes, there are kids there who will not be completely into it. Let them know that you expect them to show, and try.

Be visibly confident in their potential even if you are not secretly. After a while you will be surprised when someone does something you thought was not possible for them. It happens with several of my athletes every year.

I have seen individuals and teams do really well when they believe in what they are doing and when they have a positive attitude.

Help to create an environment where the kids do not want to be anywhere else. I know when I am doing a good job with this when kids get angry at their parents for scheduling appointments and even family vacations. My athletes train hard but we are always doing fun things. They never want to miss something.

Develop a good open line of communication with the parents but be firm in a nice way that they are not there to coach the team. They are there for support. The more successful your team is, the more they will try to take ownership.

Notice how I have not mentioned training yet? It is such a small easier part of what you will do believe it or not.

I completely agree with everything in otter's post.

Additionally, know why you are there - your own reason and why the head coach hired you. If those purposes are in conflict, get out before you start - everyone's going to end up miserable if you don't.

coach wrote:

You're the assistant, your job is to support your head coach and help motivate the kids.

Yup. An assistant role is awesome - you're essentially getting paid to train and be passionate about a sport.

If you have good ideas, run them by the head coach and let him/her decide.

Don't be a weirdo and you'll be fine.

macdaddy wrote:

coach wrote:

You're the assistant, your job is to support your head coach and help motivate the kids.

Yup. An assistant role is awesome - you're essentially getting paid to train and be passionate about a sport.

If you have good ideas, run them by the head coach and let him/her decide.

Don't be a weirdo and you'll be fine.

Yes, I love being an assistant, head coaches have to deal with things like emails from parents, meetings with the AD, making sure the bus driver knows where he's going. I used to think I wanted to be a head coach, but the head coach does all the stuff that suck, I just plan workouts and talk to the kids about running.

To add to otter's excellent post, stay off the social media with the athletes. Watch the texting and the chat groups

UmbrellaMans Laptop wrote:

otter wrote:

What sport?

Girls Team?

Boys Team?

Both?

Your age?

Ever coached at any level before?

Any teaching experience?

XC

Yes

22

No

No

Man if you are 22 and you are going to coaching HS girls you walking on a bed of hot coals with gasoline soaked underwear. BE VERY VERY CAREFUL or you will end up on the news and possibly in jail.

Good luck.

Be selective of your time and energy. Regardless of their talent level, encourage the kids that want to do the work and don't waste time on the disinterested kids. Coaches that burnout are like women that always date "bad boys" - constantly hoping that your pep talks, your pleading, and your incentives will change someone with no interest in doing so.

It's far more rewarding to get that hard working overweight freshman to break 24:00 for 5K than watching some 17:00 upperclassman spend most the workout goofing off, not listening to instructions, making TikTok videos, talking to his buddies on the soccer team instead of running cool down, missing repeats because he left his water bottle in the locker room, skipping the session because he forgot his running shoes at home...again., etc.