Erica DiClemente
Educator. Coach. Learner.
A Day in the Life of a Coach
Often times, teachers who are coaches as well might get overlooked. Below I am going to take you behind the scenes in the life of a coach to eliminate any misconceptions that come along with the job and show the impact coaching can have both in and out of the classroom setting. Coaching is more than you think. It's late nights after returning from a game, it's leaving school right when the bell rings to catch the team bus, it's spending hours at home reviewing film and creating practice plans, it's developing lifelong relationships with your athletes and other coaches. It is all of that on top of prepping, planning, and making sure you are ready to give your all each day for your students in your classroom. The list can go on. Let's take a step into a day in the life of an elementary teacher and coach.
6:45am- Coaching in the Classroom
No matter the age or grade level, coaching skills can be used in a classroom setting as well. Here are a few ways you see my inner coach come out as I teach:
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In our classroom we are a TEAM- "We work together so everyone achieves more"
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I bring friendly competition into educational games.
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I teach grit and how to overcome obstacles
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Some days I take learning outside. From learning a new game of tag to learning how to jump rope, my students begin to learn characteristics of good sportsmanship at a young age.
Orton-Gillingham Card Showdown:
In my classroom we use Orton-Gillingham cards with a blending board to help our students learn how to read and blend letter sounds together. Sometimes we just sit down and work on blending words in a group circle, but to change it up a bit we will divide the class into 2 teams. Each team would line up facing the blending board and the first people on each team would step forward as I flipped a single letter on the blending board. Whichever student read the word first would get a point and they would add a tally under their team name. The winner wouldn't get any prize or anything but this is just a fun way to get the students up, working together and cheering each other on as they all learn to read.
A new game of tag:
This picture is an example of a new form of tag I taught my students. At first, they were not open to learning a new game because it sounded too difficult. Once I broke it down, as if I was teaching a new lacrosse play, they absolutely loved it. Some character traits they learned during this process were:
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Team work: once tagged you were added to the blob and had to hold hands, working together to tag others
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Communication: in your blob you couldn't just run where ever you wanted, you needed to talk to your team on how to move
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Grit: some times students got tired when they were in the blob but they overcame that to help their team
Jump Rope:
This picture is an example of a few of my students first learning how to jump rope. Believe it or not, students learn many great sportsmanship characteristics during this experience.
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Grit: Only one teacher was outside and could not always be the twirler (the person moving the jump rope). The students learned how to tie the rope to a part of the play structure so they would only need one person to twirl it.
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Communication: The twirler often times would help the jumper by telling them when to jump.
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Respect: Nobody made fun of someone for messing up or not being able to jump rope, as long as they tried they were cheered on. Also, everyone took turns to jump by waiting in line patiently.
3:30pm- Coaching on the Field
Coaching middle schoolers (6th-8th grade) and high schoolers (9th-12th grade) have many similarities. The main lesson I want my athletes to take away from participating in athletics is that it is not always about winning. I want my players to learn and grow throughout the season both as athletes and as people, showing characteristics of good sportsmanship. Sometimes we all need to experience failure in order to grow.
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Practices consist of a mixture of seriousness and fun. There are times when you really need to focus in, but the players are still kids and it is important to make playing a sport they love fun or else it might push them away from something they are passionate about. We have a few expectations at practice such as always jogging in for water or a huddle, maintaining a positive attitude to yourself, teammates and coaches, and if a teammate is down we will lift them up because again we are a TEAM. However, one of our biggest things is having fun and never giving up.
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Making practices fun:
In this short video you can see a player running through pool noodles as they pick up a ground ball. This is a fun way to teach players how to run through scooping up the ball even with obstacles (such as other players) in the way.
This was after my girls last game of their season. Even though we lost, we all saw such amazing growth and were so proud of how far we had come. If you first looked at this picture you would think we just won the championship game, but we didn't and that shows the impact of learning character traits of good sportsmanship.
7:00pm- Coaching off the Field
As a coach, you are a role model to many young student athletes. I still stay in contact with my high school and college coaches, using some of them as references because of the lessons I learned from them and the impact they have made on my life. I always viewed my own coaches as family and I aim to develop those same relationship with my players off the field.
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Just like teachers in a classroom, coaches begin to develop relationships with their players during their first week together. Having strong relationships with open communication with your players and their parents is key to a successful season. From there, I aim to help my players develop skills that can help them succeed off the field such as communication, organization, respect, and responsibility.
Communication:
Academics ALWAYS come first on our team. If you ned to take practice off to study for an exam the next day, that is more okay! All I ask is to let me know ahead of time. Having players get in the habit of communicating with an adult ties hand in hand with being mindful of their schedules and considering how it affects other.
Win or lose we AlWAYS will congratulate the other team and thank the refs or officials for their hard work. We respect our coaches, our teammates, and our equipment as we are representing our school every where we go. Respect is an important characteristic that is expected on our team.
Respect:
Organization:
Lacrosse and swimming come with a lot of equipment: sticks, cleats, mouth guard, eye protection, hair ties, swim caps, swim suit, goggles, etc. If a player does not show up with their equipment, they will not play that game. It does not matter if they are the star player or if it is the biggest game of the year. As a coach, I want my players to learn how to stay organized.
Responsibility is a character trait that can be linked to just about anything. As a coach, I want to teach my players how to be responsible. This can include knowing what field we are practicing on to what days we have games. Sometimes, a player might have an academic conflict after school. It is their responsibility to communicate this to the coaches in advance.
Responsibility:
10:00pm- Late night resources
Click the image above to go to the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA). On this page you will find updated rules, tournament schedules, and more information regarding high school girls lacrosse.
Click the image above to view a quick guide for parents to be informed about concussions and ways you can help prevent them.
Click the image above for resources on concussions, health and safety for your child at any grade level.