"You should get to know your players Burt."
Sandra Bullock sent that message to Coach Burt in the Blind Side movie. There is 100% truth to that, but I'm here to invert this quote and attack it from a different angle. What if players did a better job getting to know their coaches?
Stay with me…
We are going to talk about recruiting first, and then once you're on the team.
As a junior hockey coach, we did a lot of recruiting. We did it our way and to our standards. My staff understood and had seen and experienced some of the horror stories of recruiting.
I’ll use myself as the first example from when I was a player. This kind of recruiting put up red flags for me as a player:
I didn't care how beautiful Cheyenne, Wyoming was
I didn’t believe it when he said, “you’ll be on the first line and powerplay.” (after he saw me play for a weekend)
I wasn't going to fall for that as a player. When I fast-forwarded to the start of my coaching career about 5 years after my last junior game, I had hoped this recruiting tactic had gone by the wayside... Nope, and it was worse.
Not gonna name names but here are stories we experienced while recruiting players:
One team told a player they had advanced 5 players the previous year to the NAHL, the team didn't exist the year before.
We lost over 7 potential recruits in my second season coaching there because they were promised one of the following:
first-line position
first powerplay unit
call up to their tier 2 affiliate
starting goaltender position
What's my point?
Get to know the coaches, stop committing without further investigation of these false promises. They can't get you places you don't deserve to go, you have to do the work. Ask hard questions in the recruiting process, you won't regret it, if the coach can't articulate how you'll achieve those things, forget it.
Promises should put up red flags, they shouldn’t be reasons to pick up the pen and sign.
If the coach can't answer what he likes about your game, how you'll fit into his style of play, what environment he is trying to create in order to maximize each individual, and his process for doing all of it (in extreme detail), don't put pen to paper.
There's a whole list of questions you can ask a coach to find the right fit in my book if you're interested.
The Process Doesn’t Stop When You Sign
Okay, so now you find the right fit and get on the team. Keep asking the coach questions. Build a relationship. Don't just answer his questions like you're being interviewed, have a conversation. The players that have maximized their time in our program have gotten to know the staff the best.
If I as a coach know about you that's better but there is “a best” scenario out there. Explore it. When both player and coach have the most trusting relationship possible because it's a two-way street, that's where the "secret sauce" is.
Ask your coach why he does what he does? What his coaching style is? What challenges he/she has faced in their life up to this point? Why did they start playing the game in the first place? Playing for that coach won't be a terrible experience if you have a relationship on at least that level.
Be willing to ask the right questions in recruiting, then learn more about your coach as a person once you’re on the team. You'll prefer your experience more than if you didn't.
This piece was inspired by a section in The Guide. Check out the e-book here.