As a coach, do you engage your players?  Or are you a coach who simply tells their players what to do and has them follow along?

What’s the difference?

Coaches who Tell: These coaches are the ones who simply tell their players what to do and often times have a one-way street of communication: do this, do that, throw like this, stride like that, cover here, throw there, etc.  Often times they ARE instructing their players to do the right things, but may not be getting the most out of their coaching time without input from players.  Players can get so used to being told what to do that they wait for instruction during the game (someone to tell them what they should do in different situations).

Coaches who Engage: These coaches tend to have a little more discussion time in their practices, allow players to think through situations on their own, ask questions, and allow players to share their own answers with their teammates (vs just telling them what the right thing to do should be).  This type of coaching allows for players to develop a better understanding of the game and also promotes having players who know how to think for themselves so that they can make good decisions under pressure in the game.

Maybe it’s also a reflection of today’s society, but players seem to be less and less willing take responsibility and think for themselves and more and more likely to wait for someone else to tell them what should be done.   The way you coach *might* be encouraging one attitude over the other.

How do you coach and What do you think?  Do you find that some players just don’t know how to think for themselves on the field?