I was (am) a developmental coach. It’s what I do, teach the basics, build the fundamentals, and show kids how to compete. To me, the development of athletes is the core job of a sports coach.
In fact, for about any endeavor which requires training or supervision of people, the development of resources (people) is vital to a successful organization. Teachers develop kids; senior scientists take young scientists under their wing and show them what they know. Artists, writers, welders, mechanics all do the same, help develop the young or fledgling talent that comes knocking at the door.
Like I said, I am a developmental coach. The goal is to build a player from the ground up. Start with a fundamental foundation of physical movement skills and lay the bricks onto the foundation one at a time until a complete player begins to form.
Brick by brick we get better.
A coach can never emphasize enough the importance of the learning the playbook in football and baseball. We can work the fundamentals until we are blue in the face, but if the athlete fails to do the mental work necessary to burn the plays and responsibilities in their head, we are not going to be successful.
Below is one of my standard (and favorite) things to say to the young JV football or baseball players in order to get across the importance of studying and learning the plays to the point they become second nature.
“The playbook is like the alphabet. If you learn all the letters, you can make any word you want. The world becomes wide open to you. If all you learn is A, B, and C, then the only word you can make is ‘CAB’. You’ve severely limited yourself. And people, you can’t get very far in life when all you have in the arsenal is ‘CAB’.”
THE COACH HAYS 