Why Coaches Should Give Athletes Feedback All Season Long
A coach’s job is never done–from skill development to administrative tasks like scheduling, and off-season training, there’s a lot that goes into being a good coach. And while player development is one of the most important aspects of coaching youth sports, the importance of open and engaging communication with athletes throughout your entire season, cannot be overstated. Encouraging interactions and defining communication channels for athletes play a vital role in the success of your team, from pre-season to post-season.
Preseason Communications and Evaluations: Getting Everyone On the Same Page
As preseason approaches, parents and players will look to coaches for updates on tryout dates and times, and any other pertinent information, especially if they are returning players. Club and league administrators should prepare coaches in advance with all the information they should be relaying out to their teams prior to the season. Informed coaches help build credibility with parents and players who feel their club’s coaches are prepared to speak to any questions they have.
Parents and players will also look to coaches to provide a secure environment for evaluations and feedback. TeamGenius, a trusted TeamSnap partner, offers a streamlined player evaluation solution, complete with custom evaluation templates in the app. Coaches can use these in-app templates to score and review each skill on the same criteria and scoring method. Even though not everyone will be selected during evaluations, coaches communicating constructive feedback to players is crucial to helping athletes continuously improve and develop.
Mid-Season Communication: Keeping Players Engaged
Strong communication from coaches to their team is essential to keeping everyone plugged in and engaged. Clearly define your communication channels for schedule changes, updates, and announcements. TeamSnap for Teams can solve for this by helping your coaches, parents, and players stay up to date on the latest information and any last-minute changes you make through group messaging, push notifications, SMS notifications, and email alerts.
Post-game recaps, analysis, and summaries are great ways for coaches to keep players engaged throughout the season and continuously push for improvements week over week. Coaching doesn’t stop when the game is over, and having coaches who continue to coach off the sidelines, ensures players feel seen and valued.
End Of Season And Beyond: Finish On A High Note
Sharing highlights from the past year, season recaps, and big wins with your team is a great way to end the season on a high note and build rapport between players and coaches alike. Player evaluations don’t have to be a one-time thing. The end of the season is actually a great time to circle back with athletes on how they have performed since evaluations. This can be done directly in TeamSnap through our integration with TeamGenius. Having seen each athlete evolve throughout the season week over week, coaches should be able to provide a well-rounded assessment of each player on their team and share recommendations for further player development to work on during the off-season. The player feedback templates in TeamGenius allow coaches to share feedback directly with their players confidentially. Plus, player feedback and evaluation software aren’t specific to competitive organizations either; providing feedback for players on recreational teams is also an integral part of player development.
Teams that promote positive communication and respect among players improve motivation across the team. Coaches who communicate effectively with their athletes can deliver positive feedback and constructive criticism in ways that actually influence players’ performance. If you’re in the market for a new evaluation and player feedback software, you’ll love the capabilities of TeamGenius, plus it integrates directly into your TeamSnap Team account, giving you access to both the top-rated sports evaluation app and the #1 team communication and scheduling app.
If you like what you read in this post, you’ll love TeamSnap for Teams. Our top-rated mobile app keeps coaches and parents connected with features like single or group messaging, online scheduling, roster syncing, Availability, Health Check and more! Managing a club this season? Check out our sports organization solution TeamSnap for Clubs & Leagues to help streamline the operations at your club today.