LESSON 6: IMPROVING

Ready

“... Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” (1 Peter 5:5).

Set

If you don’t coach fastpitch softball, perhaps you haven’t heard of her. She’s the Nick Saban of college softball coaches. She’s Patty Gasso, coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. Coaching OU since 1995, she has amassed a .790 winning percentage. In the last eight years, her teams have won three national championships and two runner-up finishes.

She is also very outspoken about her Christian faith. Her players often speak about the role faith plays in their lives and on the team.

I heard her speak last year at a coaches’ conference. She described herself as once coaching with a “Bobby Knight strict disciplinarian” style. But, some years ago, she shifted because she was no longer reaching players. So she changed and sought ways she could improve in her coaching and teaching methods.

She softened some. She worked on more creative methods to teach. If Coach Gasso—a top-three coach in college softball history—felt the need to change, can we agree perhaps there’s room for improvement for us? As a practical matter, how do we improve as a coach?

These three ideas may help.

First, create a culture of constructive criticism.

If you’re a head coach, ask assistant coaches for feedback each year on what they believe works and doesn’t work. Don’t do it in a group setting. Get an independent assessment from coaches. If you hear the same thing from multiple coaches, it probably needs reassessing.

I’ve done the same with our players. We’ve had honest meetings where we assessed what they believed worked and didn’t work. This requires a trust level with players and very focused questions that don’t devolve into a gripe session for unhappy players. But these meetings have been invaluable in identifying kinks in the system.

Second, expand your network.

With their permission, go watch a coach you respect coach a practice. Have coffee with them and discuss coaching philosophy. Admittedly, this requires humility. But whether in business or sports, one of the biggest character flaws is an arrogance that prevents learning from others. It impedes growth.

Third, self-assess your coaching methods.

Think about your weekly coaching routine. Is it pretty much the same as it was three to five years ago, or has it changed?

It’s been said that if we’re not moving forward, we’re moving backward. Similarly, if we’re not improving, we’re regressing. I was talking to some coaches the other day, and we all agreed we’re not the same coach we were five years ago.

As Christians (and as parents, spouses, employees, etc.), we should be able to say the same.

Go

1. Have you changed as a coach over the years? If so, how?
2. List some specific things you can do in the off-season to improve as a coach.
3. Read Philippians 3:12–14. In verse 12, Paul begins with “not that I have already attained this.” Has Paul accomplished this yet? In verse 13, Paul uses the words forgetting and straining forward. How does this relate to improving as a coach? Paul says “press on” repeatedly in these verses. What does this tell us about the work it takes to improve?