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Trust and Respect
By Kristen Mundahl
Head Varsity Dance Team Coach
Rosemount High School
September 3, 2005
Trust and respect are two significant issues that remain necessary
within a team. These features must be present and visible by both
the team members toward their coach and the coach toward the team.
As a coach, let your dancers make decisions that allow them to take
an active part in the team and recognize that as a coach, you respect
their opinions and input. This in turn, will promote respect toward
you as a coach.
Let your team know, that you are in charge and were hired for a
reason. Communicate to your dancers that if there is a conflict
they must come to you first. This will lead to a quicker solution
and defer further conflict within the team. Your team members will
not always agree with the choices you have made, but constantly
remind them that as a coach, you have the best interest of the team
at heart.
At the beginning of each season, make your expectations and goals
for the year very clear. Articulate to both dancers and parents
alike that they may express their input at any time, however, you
have the final decision. Encourage open communication between dancers,
parents, the booster club, board, and the coach. Let them know what
their roles are and furthermore, how they can assist you in creating
a smoother and more successful year. Each individual within the
organization must support and respect the coach at all times to
ensure these items are met.
There are several times when you as a coach will experience disrespect
from your team or individuals within the team. They may be simple
things such as talking when you have requested a silent practice
in an effort to focus more intently or complaining frequently. It
is in these situations that you must remind your team why they are
present in the first place: their love of dance, learning, and one
another. Equally, there may be times when someone expresses a greater
level of disrespect by missing a practice without letting you know
prior to that practice or tardiness. For situations such as this,
you need to establish a consequence and strictly enforce it. The
team will not respect you or your word if you do not follow through
with a consequence previously mentioned. For example, tardiness
on my team is entirely unacceptable and if a dancer should be tardy
for any reason that I was not made aware of, that dancer is required
to stay and work after practice for 15 minutes.
Within a team, it remains of the utmost importance to establish
a sense of trust and respect for both the head and assistant coach(es).
This may be accomplished simply by the head coach demonstrating
that desired level of respect for the assistant coach. The team
will follow in your lead. As a coach, it is your responsibility
to exemplify those characteristics that you wish your team to replicate.
Respect and trust filter through the team, yet must be firmly instituted
by the coaches, then the captains, and finally, the team as a whole.
Selecting captains for your team proves a challenging task, however,
an essential step in maintaining a strong, motivated, and successful
team in the upcoming year. The age of your captains depends greatly
on your individual team; some teams may consistently select seniors
and have several dancers within that class to choose from, however,
others, may select captains of any grade level. There is no one
correct way to choose captains; you may need to change your selection
process depending on the team at hand. As a coach, you need to search
for the qualities that you would like the upcoming team to embody
– strong leadership skills, the ability to teach and choreograph,
a positive attitude, the capability to build and sustain relationships
well, agreeableness, friendliness, dance experience and technique
– to name a few. Spend a significant amount of time considering
the items above, how they relate to your team from year to year,
and which individuals would then prove the greatest choice for captains.
Finally, be personable. It is not necessary for a coach to share
the details of their life, nevertheless, provide your team with
stories that they can relate to. Help them to see that you were
there once and are human just like them. Never exhibit an air of
being above them, instead, create an environment where you are in
charge, but one of them. Respect and trust them and they too, will
respect and trust you.
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