Training Coaches

One of the biggest problems in Christian school athletics is the lack of qualified coaches. Ideally, coaching slots would be filled "in-house" with teachers and staff members. Most often, however, many coaching positions are filled from outside the school with parents or other interested applicants. That necessity poses a big problem for the Christian school. How do you get everyone on the same page philosophically and spiritually, and how do you ensure your coaches know what they are doing in terms of coaching theory and practice?

The first step in building a quality Christian program, is to have a clearly defined philosophy built on the principles of the ministry. This starts with leadership. Any sports ministry--church or school--requires good leadership. The leader of the athletic ministry must be able to train, evaluate, exhort, correct, and minister to his/her staff of coaches. When necessary, the leader must dismiss coaches who are not committed to the ministry philosophy in word and action. It is critical to the success of the program for every coach to see him/herself as an extension of the sports ministry philosophy, and to take responsibility for the physical and spiritual training of their team members.

Before you train them, you need to hire coaches who meet the following criteria:

• Committed to the philosophy of the school/church/ministry
• Supportive of, and submissive to the leadership of the athletic program
• Led (called) by Christ to serve in this aspect of the ministry
• Ability to publicly verbalize their faith in Jesus Christ
• Committed to leading and shepherding their athletes
• Competent (to some degree) in theory and practice of coaching

In the next few days, I will break down what I consider to be the critical components of  an athletic ministry philosophy, as well as the primary elements of training a coaching staff.