Five Lessons I Learned as a Coach—So You Don’t Have To
9/8/2025
1. Parents Don’t Like Surprises
One of the quickest ways to lose trust with parents is to catch them off guard—especially when it involves their child’s well-being. Few things are worse than a parent hearing about an injury or issue from their child instead of you. Last-minute schedule changes? Expect some frustrated phone calls. The key here is communication. Be transparent, even when it’s uncomfortable. It’s far better for a parent to hear difficult news from you in a timely, respectful manner than to learn it secondhand.
2. Believe Your Athletes When They Say They’re Hurt
“But what if she’s faking it to get out of conditioning?” Then ultimately, that’s on her. But what if she’s using pain as a cover for fear—of a skill, a performance, or failure? That’s worth unpacking. Building trust means listening without judgment and digging deeper when something feels off. Open, honest dialogue not only helps you get to the root of the issue, it also strengthens your connection with your athletes.
3. You Can’t Overprepare
Did you over-plan practice and now you’re short on time? Leave too early for a competition and end up waiting outside for the doors to open? Bring a bag of extra hair bows that no one ends up using? That’s okay. Because had you not been overprepared, you’d have run out of drills, arrived late, or had a whole team missing their bows. Preparation isn’t about perfection—it’s about anticipating problems before they happen and setting your team up for success.
4. Don’t Pretend You Know Everything
Early in my coaching career, I was afraid that admitting I didn’t know something made me look inexperienced. Instead of asking for help or clarification, I tried to figure things out on my own. Spoiler alert: it didn’t always go well. I’ve since learned that asking questions doesn’t make you look weak—it shows you care enough to do things right. Growth starts with humility.
5. Yelling Doesn’t Make You a Stronger Coach
This one is hard to admit, but in the beginning, I yelled—a lot. I mirrored what I had experienced and what I saw others doing. Over time, I realized that yelling doesn’t create respect; it creates discomfort. It shuts down communication, damages trust, and rarely leads to lasting change. If you find yourself losing your cool, step away. Take a breath. Say nothing until you can respond with intention, not emotion. Sometimes silence is the most powerful coaching tool of all.
Developing Young Coaches: Turning Inexperience into Opportunity
7/14/2025
At gymnastics clubs across the country, it’s common to see young, inexperienced coaches working their very first job. They might be former gymnasts, siblings of athletes, or simply people who enjoy working with kids. And while inexperience might seem like a drawback, it can actually be a tremendous asset—if you’re committed to training them properly in all aspects of coaching.
When we think about coaching, we often focus on teaching skills—drills, progressions, and technique. But knowing gymnastics isn’t the same as knowing how to teach it. Coaches also need to learn how to connect with athletes and communicate effectively. As you onboard and train new coaches, make sure to cover three key areas:
1. Professionalism
Teach what professionalism looks like in your gym. This includes punctuality, preparedness, appearance, and attitude. Help coaches understand what they’re responsible for before class—setting up stations, reviewing lesson plans, and showing up ready to lead. Emphasize how their presence affects both their mood and the moods of the athletes they coach.
2. Communication
Inexperience in talking with adults—especially parents—is a major hurdle for young coaches. Set clear expectations for how they should communicate, whether in person, via email, or on the phone. Teach them how to handle difficult conversations and emphasize that clear, consistent communication can prevent most issues before they escalate.
3. Relationship Building
Strong coach-athlete relationships lead to better communication, trust, and overall enjoyment in the gym. Encourage coaches to get to know their athletes—ask questions, show interest in their lives, and recognize milestones. Athletes are more likely to open up when they feel genuinely supported and understood.
With the right guidance, young coaches can grow into some of your gym’s greatest assets. Invest in their development, and you’ll see the benefits in your athletes, your staff culture, and your program overall.
PAY ATTENTION!-How to help athletes struggling to focus.
9/26/2024
Why is it so hard to keep some students focused and on task? If they love the sport, shouldn’t they want to pay attention and participate? You would think so, but there are so many factors that affect kids and their minds and the more we remember that, the easier it is to work with them. Students aren’t always being obstinate when they are struggling to pay attention, there could just be a lot on their minds. So how do we help them when reminders don’t work? Here are a few ideas:
Talk to them. You know your athletes and their typical behavior, so if they are acting out of the norm, ask them what’s going on. They could have had a bad day at school, a fight with a parent, or are looking forward to something coming up. Talk to them about what’s causing the change in behavior and help them to figure out how to move forward with practice.
Keep them in close proximity. Remember when you would be messing around in class and your teacher would walk by? You would straighten up pretty quickly, right? That’s what proximity does- it gives a silent yet immediate reminder to students that you are paying attention. Proximity can also be used as a consequence when a student is struggling with freedom, by allowing you to keep an eye on them.
Give them a job or challenge. It might seem counterintuitive, but if a student is struggling to focus, sometimes it helps to give them something specific to focus on. This could be a job such as holding your clipboard or getting a piece of equipment, or a challenge where they have to complete a circuit a specific number of times. By narrowing their focus, they may have an easier time staying on task.
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Anticipate & Communicate- How to make working with parents easier.
9/19/2024
Let’s face it, we can’t make everyone happy. We can try our hardest and do what we feel is best for the group, but in the end there will probably be at least one unhappy person. When it comes to dealing with our athletes’ parents, you can expect the same. Every athlete and their family is in a different financial situation, with a different schedule, and a different family dynamic meaning a “one size fits all” solution isn’t possible. So how do we best handle this so that we minimize tension and anxiety? Anticipate and Communicate.
When you anticipate, you are looking ahead. This might mean looking ahead at the competition schedule and anticipating the questions parents might ask or seeing that there is an upcoming school break and planning your practices around them. By anticipating, we know what to expect and how to prepare,which allows us to communicate to parents sooner. Communicating early and often is not only helpful to parents, it is appreciated as well. Like everyone, they are juggling a lot, so the more they know and the sooner they know it, the easier it is for them to prepare.
Now, you may be asking, how does this help me? Well, informed parents are happy parents, meaning you are dealing with fewer questions, less arguing, and minimized frustrations. You won’t always be able to give them answers, but communicating that to them is still a form of anticipating and communicating. You are anticipating that you won’t be able to answer their question, so you tell them when you think you will be able to. We are all busy and it may seem like constant communication is too time consuming, but in the end it will save you from hearing the same question 30 times or dealing with a parent who is frustrated about not knowing information sooner. So save yourself the headache and send that email.