Coaching Philosophy

Cuts / Team Size

In my mind, a perfect size for a varsity volleyball team would be 10-12 players. Volleyball is

great in the fact that there are pretty much two of each positions, and players can be fairly

versatile in their positions. I would want two setters, one opposite who can set well, three

outside hitters, three middle blockers, and one libero. These would be my prime players. I

would then grab another outside hitter and another opposite. I believe having less players is

better. This way, there would be less “playing-time” issues.

I believe cutting players would be a very hard thing for me to do, but I believe athletes would

benefit more from being cut from a team and finding a new sport or hobby than being put on

a team and not being able to play much. On my high school basketball team, I was the only

junior that year and one of two seniors who played my senior year. I thought for sure I would

get to play because I had seniority, and I felt I worked extra hard and was just as good as

some of the other players. My entire junior and senior year combined, I probably only got five

minutes of playing time. This was entirely discouraging for me, but I stuck with it. I believe if

the coach had cut me, I would have been extremely upset, but I would have gotten past it and

found something greater to do with my time than sit on a bench.

Playing Time
Along with my experience above about playing time, I feel this goes right along the lines of

cutting players at the beginning of a season. All players should be good enough to be put in

the game for at least fifteen percent of the time. After cutting any players, I believe in

arranging a time for them to come in to speak with me about how they can improve and make

the team the next year. This would require me to take sufficient notes on every athlete trying

out.

1
When the question of putting a freshman on the varsity team comes up, I believe it is fine as

long as they earn it. Being their first year playing in high school, I would not have a lot of

opportunities to see them play. As a coach, I would do re-evaluations after about a month into

the season to rearrange players if I feel there should be a shift. This way, freshmen have a

chance to prove they are good enough to play on a varsity team. I would want to speak to

every player individually to talk out any hard feelings and to maintain the unity on the team. I

would never move a player up without letting the rest of the team officially know. I feel this

happened on both my volleyball and basketball teams in high school. I was confused and

wanted to know how I could get moved up if possible, but I was never spoke to about

anything. Speaking to each player individually would hopefully solve this problem.

Student Growth
All of the following skills are somehow interconnected, but the one thing they have in

common is that I developed them all (some more than others) while participating in high

school athletics:

• Hard work

• Integrity

• self-control/discipline

• Positivity

• Decision-making

• Respect

• Enthusiasm

• Trust

• Responsibility

• Focus

• Drive

• Timeliness

• Compassion

• Unity

2
Some skills came from my parents that I got to put into practice during sports, while some

came from my teammates and my coach. These skills developed and became who I am today.

For example, I was left as a bench player in basketball, and I would get so aggravated over it. I

felt I was working harder than half of the players during practice, yet I would receive

absolutely no game time. My mom would constantly remind me, “PMA! Positive Mental

Attitude.” Though I never got more playing time as the season progressed, I learned that I

could contribute to my team’s success from where I sat. Cheering them on, yelling out positive

feedback as well as reminding them of what needed to happen in the plays and helping them

see open spots, allowed me to grow appreciative of my time on the bench and helped me feel

like I really was part of the team. This positivity has carried over in other areas of my life,

especially in college where students, especially at BYU, become disappointed, and even

depressed, quite easily.

To help my athletes accumulate a pocketful of life-skills, I would include some responsibilities

for them to do, such as not letting themselves participate at the end of practice for the

number of minutes they were late, yet they have to participate for 80% of the practice time to

play in the next game. (Ex. an athlete shows up 10 minutes late without an excuse, as a result,

they cannot participate in the last 10 minutes of practice.. Yet if they are so late that they are

there for less than 80% of the practice, they cannot play in the next game.) All of this would

also be up to their own integrity after enforcing the rule for the first couple of weeks. I would

not point out if they were late or not (of course letting them know that I would not point it out,

but having them follow through with the consequence on their own). This would help them

develop both integrity, timeliness, and responsibility.

Winning
Winning is an important part of competition, but it isn’t what competition is all about. I believe

winning can push people to new limits, but I also believe winning can destroy the purpose of

the game. People can get very carried away with winning. Coaches can push their athletes

only for the sake of winning, not for the sake of exercise or friendly competition. I want to be

3
one of those coaches who makes sure my athletes know that I do not believe winning is

everything. I am very goal-oriented, and I think reaching goals and setting new ones often is

the best form of winning. Winning can be a goal, but there are other just as important goals.

Having these other goals helps winning not to take center-stage. I would talk about SMART

goals with the team and encourage each athlete to have one or two personal goals. Athletes

would set goals with the team, and I would have goals in mind that I could suggest and get

their commitment on. Then these goals will be evaluated regularly. I hope this would instill

goal-setting in my athletes and help them see improvements of their team and also of

themselves, helping them see the good even if they lose a game.

Losing
I feel that losing teaches plenty more lessons than winning does. Aside from what I said above

about winning, losing teaches the athlete(s) that they must improve. As long as the athlete(s)

take the loss the correct way, they can use it to work on skills that may not have been as good

as the opponents’. Losing can be a way of keeping athletes humble, which can lead to other

factors such as increased sportsmanship, more respect for the coach(es) and other teammates,

and more desire to improve and win. On my middle school teams, we were known for winning

hardly any games. Once in a blue moon, we would win a game (once a season if we were

doing well). This was a discouraging time for me, but I did not want to give up. It might have

been because of my own attitude that I did not want to give up, but I believe my coaches

played a huge role in this. It is partially their job to motivate the athletes not to give up and to

push themselves to new limits. This is what losing can do. I truly admire my coaches who

pushed me to new limits and kept me in the game.

Sportsmanship
I desire my team to be respectful. I desire them to be respectful to their coach(es), the

opposing team, the fans, the referees, the parents, and others. I believe coaches should be a

great example of sportsmanship. For me, I do not believe anything should be neglected

because of bad feelings towards or grudges held against other people. I would never skimp

4
on handshaking another coach, a referee, or another school’s administrator. I would never

question a referee’s call unless it is something I have seen with my own eyes. But I would also

never question it with a raised voice or physical behavior. I believe sports are played for the

sake of getting a high from exercise and competition. I do not believe they should be played

for the sake of finding out which team or athlete is better; there are too many variables in a

game to actually determine who is truly the better team or athlete. I believe there should be a

consequence for poor sportsmanship to enforce my expectations of this great principle such

as sitting out of the next game for a period of time, etc.

Academics
There is something greatly important about the noun, “student-athlete.” Most high school

athletes do not continue sports into the college level, and even rarer do college athletes

become professionals. That being said, academics are the number one priority for any

student-athlete. I did not go on to play in any official collegiate sports, but I did go on to

college-level academics. If it weren’t for my academic drive in high school, I would not have

gotten into Brigham Young University. I had a high school basketball coach that pushed us to

greater academic heights. Because of her, my basketball team once won the highest average

GPA award at state and broke a record with our GPA. I believe the role of a coach in

academics is just as important, or possibly more important, than the role of a teacher. High

school students have several different teachers and don’t usually see them regularly or

communicate one-on-one with them, whereas a coach sees their athletes almost every day and

can make an effort to speak one-on-one with every player on the team, making a much larger

impact. I hope to be that coach who influences an athlete to work hard in school and who sets

rules and academic standards within the team, such as no GPAs below a certain average (using

a standard higher than the district’s if realistically possible) and having consequences for

breaking that standard, such as only getting to practice for half of the practice time and not

getting to play in games in order to get their grades up.

5
Citizenship
Morals are a very important part of my life. I believe all persons are created equal; therefore,

they deserve the same amount of respect a person hopes to receive. The Golden Rule! As

such, I believe my athletes should show respect to others as well as themselves, including their

bodies. If my athletes did not behave both on and off the court, there would be consequences

involved. I believe this topic goes right along with sportsmanship listed above.

Multi-Sport Athletes / Specialization

Going to school in a small town, nobody specialized in a sport. They may have only played one

sport, but they did not spend their off-season time working on their sport. I personally believe

that specialization should happen later in life. Elementary and middle/jr high school years

should be spent doing many different activities to see what the athlete is good at and what

the athlete likes to do. Further development of his/her body can alter what sport he/she plays.

I also think that high school years are when sports become more intense and competitive.

Specializing in middle/jr high school and/or high school is best, in my opinion, to prepare for

competition in high school and to promote exploration in early years.

Youth Sports / Club Sports

I personally never participated in club sports; they were unavailable and/or not of importance

where I grew up. I would highly enjoy working with youth sports though and could possibly

see myself helping with club sports, but never being in-charge. I could see myself helping with

youth rec teams in the summer and running skills camps for younger athletes. Having an

impact on others is one of the biggest reasons why I chose to go into physical education and

coaching, and the age I am thinking of (middle school/jr. high) is an incredibly malleable age

on which to have an influence. I remember clearly my middle school teachers and coaches, but

they did not spend a lot of one-on-one time with me. If I were coaching youth, I would be sure

to have one-on-one time with them to really make a connection and build a relationship with

them.

6
Advocacy
Volleyball needs a lot of promotion in the community as it competes with football in the fall

sports season. To advocate for this sport, I will utilize the school’s football games, newsletter,

website, and/or bulletin boards to promote open gyms, try outs, and games to get more

athletes trying out and more fans at games. To promote the sport in the community, I will

utilize local newspapers (putting ads in the sports section) and the local rec center (if there is

one). Targeting those who are already active and interested in sports will most likely increase

the number of fans who come to watch.

Off-Season Activities
In the off-season, I plan on having a strength-training hour either before or after school. I

would require them to come for at least 3 days a week if they are not doing another sport.

This will help them increase their strength, thus increasing their chance of not getting injured

in the sport (continuing a strength training plan during the season). I would send out a

conditioning plan for them to begin in July so we don’t have to spend that much time on

conditioning in the beginning of the season.

I would also try to hold a skills camp once during the summer and either invite a local college

to come help if it’s within the budget, or hold it myself. I would encourage them to participate

in any community volleyball teams in the summer and attend other camps, especially if they

are being held by local/community colleges, participating myself as much as I can. There

would be no penalty for those who can’t make it or choose not to do it except that they would

not improve as much as the other girls. My high school volleyball team did nothing in the off-

season except invite us to attend a volleyball camp at the community college for three days in

the summer; whereas, my basketball team was very involved in having summer basketball

games/tournaments, a camp, and open gyms in the summer. I would try to pattern my future

volleyball team after what my high school basketball team did.

7
Non-Sport Activities
I think these activities are huge in fostering team bonding. My volleyball team never did team

dinners, but my basketball team would have one every game day after school. I think this is a

great time to have team dinners; I would do the same thing with my future volleyball teams.

Team activities are also great, but aside from practice, games, team dinners, and summer

camps/open gyms, I would not want to do too much more with the team; there comes a point

where there’s too much, and the athletes would get burnt out. I think having a big bonding

activity towards the beginning of the season would help the girls get to know each other more

if they don’t already.

Having an ending activity would wrap up the season well. If the school does not already have

an end-of-the-year banquet like my high school had, or a seasonal banquet, then I would want

to have one as our end-of-season activity. This would give the girls a chance to reflect on what

they learned and how they grew; I would specifically give them time to write down answers to

some reflective questions. I would want to present an award for most outstanding senior

athlete and some others like most improved or most energetic. But I would only have two to

three serious awards. The athletes who receive these awards would be voted on by the

athletes themselves. If something funny happened in the season, I would make a funny award

to lighten up the mood, but other than that, I would have no other awards.

Team Rules
I believe team rules should be decided on by the entire team. Aside from the regular rules my

high school had about not drinking or doing drugs, my high school teams never established

team rules except for showing up to practice on time. As the coach, I would design a couple

of rules that I believe are necessary and get the team’s agreement, but the rest of the rules I

would have the team decide. I would also have certain rule topics I would bring up to help the

team decide on rules. I would have consequences for each rule so that they are enforced

correctly. These consequences will partially be determined by the team and partially

8
determined by the coach(es). Having the team decide the rules and consequences would give

them authorship and help them be obliged by them.

Scholarships
As a coach, I feel it would be my duty to know about local and community colleges and their

student-athlete benefits/scholarships. Aside from what the college offers, I also want to

encourage my athletes to apply for local and academic scholarships. I would seek out

knowledge about the colleges’ offers so I can pass that information on to my athletes. I

believe it would be important to talk with athletes to find out who is hoping to play in college

and where they want to go; this leads into college recruiting. I believe it is the coach’s job to

help the athlete find information and help them gain connections, but it is the athlete’s (and

the parents’) decision overall for whether or not the athlete should play college sports.

Injuries
I hope to be trained well enough that I can diagnose common injuries, such as ankle rolls and

sprains. I also do not want to play my athletes until both them and I feel confident for them to

play on their injury. When it comes to concussions, I believe the athlete must wait the correct

time and take the appropriate measures to heal before playing again. I believe an athlete’s

health is more important than winning a game.

Captains
I think the easy way of choosing captains is just to have the seniors be the captains every year.

But the easy way is not the best way, and it is not how I roll. As coach, I would have my

captains chosen by both me and the team. I think having two captains is optimal for a

volleyball team, three if there is a tie. I would talk about leaderships qualities and what we

would want our captains to be like. This talk would help the team single out two players they

feel have the best captain-like qualities. After talking about this, each player would write down

a first choice and a second choice for a captain, the assistant coaches and I doing the same

thing. The two players who receive the most votes would then be chosen as captains.

9
On my high school teams, I never had a choice who my captains were, nor did I know who

they were until it came time for the coin toss at every first game of the season. I would make

sure to tell all of my athletes who the captains are so they could follow their leads and turn to

them if they had a problem they did not feel comfortable telling me. Some responsibilities the

captains would have would be to lead out in practice and warm-ups, lead out in stretching,

regularly meet with the coaches briefly, and of course, meet the other team’s captains for the

coin toss.

Fundraising
My high school teams never did any fundraising, but I believe fundraising is great not only to

earn the money that is needed for the season, but also to teach the girls responsibility. I would

try to do most of my fundraising as soon as the season ends to ensure we have enough for the

next season. Something that is easier to do is to set up something for the athletes to sell, like

candles or popcorn. This is not the biggest hit with parents, neighbors, and sometimes

athletes, but it is always an option if worst comes to worst. A great opportunity to fundraise is

to do concessions at other sports games; this would easily get all of the girls involved. The

team would also be able to hold dinners where they can help make the main meal, and

members of the community can buy tickets to come watch the girls play an alumni game or

some other form of entertainment. This is probably the hardest form of fundraising, but if

there were enough advertising, I think it would work very well.

Personal Conduct
I would want to make sure my staff and I are professional at all times. This does not mean that

we can’t have fun, especially during open gyms and other activities during the season and in

the summer, but I believe that practices and games should be taken seriously, and that there is

no excuse for a coach to yell at a player, a referee, another coach, an administrator, a parent,

or anyone else for that matter, on a game day or at practice. I do not have an extreme

temperament, so it seems illogical to me to argue, yelling and using harsh body language. I

10
hope to have assistant coaches who are similar to me in this region, but I also cannot control

everything they do. In staff meetings and at practices, my expectation of this would be stated

and restated.

Off-Season Behavior / Citizenship of My Athletes

During the off-season, it is much harder to control athletes and monitor their behavior,

especially if it is at a time when I am not teaching at the school. I would do my best to set

expectations for what I want of my athletes, but I would not be able to control them or instill

consequences. I believe teaching them about school pride and them being part of the face of

the school would be the best way to help them behave. Of course long-term poor behavior

(getting into drugs, drinking, or getting pregnant) would have consequences of not being able

to play, but strictly speaking of manners would be harder to control.

Success for My Athletes

Like I stated in the beginning, success for my athletes would not be winning games unless that

is their goal. Success for me is defined as reaching their goals or the improvement they make

towards their goals. I would want to have each player set one to two goals for every two

weeks of the season. I hope to talk with them one-on-one about their goals (a great time to do

this would be on the bus to away games, but this time might not happen as often as it did in

my high school; another great time to do this would be during practices or before or after

school/practice). I want to make sure their goals are SMART goals. I hope this would not only

help them see their improvement and success, but that it would also teach them how to set

goals for the rest of their lives.

As a team, we would set one to two goals for the entire season as well as one or two for

practices, one for conference games, one for districts, and one for state if we make it. These

goals might need other, smaller goals to reach them if they are larger. I also hope that each

athlete would have an off-season goal that will help them get better for the next season. This

works well because each athlete is different--some are participating in other sports, some are

11
in other extracurricular activities, some are not doing anything. This way, each athlete would

have a personalized goal that fits, and works well for, them. As difficult as it may be, I would

do my best to keep in touch with the athletes off-season to see how their goals are coming,

whether it’s once/month or more frequent once spring and summer come.

My Family
My family is more important than anything else in my life. If the time comes that I need to stay

home to raise my children, I will do that. If it’s possible to coach while having small children,

then I would like to do that as long as it does not take a toll on my husband and children. I

imagine the perfect balance being to teach and coach before I have children, then taking a

break from teaching while I have young children, coaching in question. As soon as my children

are all old enough to attend school, I would like to start teaching again (coaching at this point

would still be in question), and once my children are old enough to be home alone (12 years

old, in my opinion), then I would like to start coaching again. This is all dependent on how I

feel and what my family can handle, of course.

I hope that my family will come watch and cheer me on at my games and support me in my

coaching career. If it adds too much stress to my husband, as hard as the decision would be, I

would quit coaching. I believe the man of the house provides and protects the family;

therefore, it is his main duty to work. My role as the woman would be to nurture the children

and be the homemaker. Of course I believe roles can change, but this is, again, the ideal

situation. If there comes a time when I am not happy coaching anymore, I would have to quit

coaching. It would be both for the benefit of me and for the benefit of the team so that I could

be happy, and so the team could continue to progress.

12