Estimated read time: 4 minutes

Hey Coach,

What type of coach are you?

A coach identifies a problem and shares their frustration. A better coach demands behavior and attempts to get it. A great coach identifies the most effective strategies and executes them often. The best coaches teach creative problem solving with a resilient mindset.

Do you coach or do you teach?

I was in the gym when I saw a team start practicing. Curious, I sat down to watch. I found myself on the sidelines wanting to help badly. I found three ways to help in ten minutes, and I want to share them with you today. I hope it serves.

This coach was stuck on the first level of coaching. They identified a problem (many of them) and shared their frustration (lots of it). The result was everyone feeling crappy. It's countercultural (and rare) for coaches to ask other coaches for feedback. What's even rarer is accepting feedback you didn't ask for. It's unheard of. It often just triggers a defense mechanism. If feedback is offered, most coaches simply say thanks and move on. Then, they'll do the same things, the same way (for years) and wonder why things haven't improved.

What type of coach are you? Are you a coach who takes valuable feedback, no matter who gives it?

Socrates said the knowledge of self is the beginning of all wisdom. Once we begin to really know ourselves, we start to see how little we actually know. We see how much growth still remains. That wisdom leads to humility. True humility isn't thinking less of yourself; it's thinking about yourself less. True humility is taking valuable feedback rather than assuming you know everything (as so many people do). When you realize it's not about you, you're ready. When the student's ready, the teacher will appear.

What type of coach are you? Are you ready to seek out feedback and act on it?

Three pieces of feedback for you to act on immediately:

1. Bones Over Cones

Do you have lines in your practice? Does your team struggle to have game-like speed and intensity in practice? Does it frustrate you when you see sloppy passes and missed layups? If your answers to these questions are yes, then you're probably doing it wrong. If you have a line of 6 players, put half of them on defense, and all three problems addressed above are solved.

As lines decrease, improvement and engagement increase. Also, an opponent raises intensity levels. Why? The drills become harder and require more effort. If a player can get away with a sloppy pass or lack of focus, they'll choose to. Defenders eliminate both.

Guided defenders:

Bones over cones, put defense on (nearly) everything you do. And yeah, it will be messy at times. But, messy wins. Bones beat cones every time.

What type of coach are you? Are you ready to get messy and engage more of your players?

2. Measurement = Magic

If you do it, measure it. If you don't measure it, it's not worth doing. Go out and watch for yourself. See how many reps a player gets in one minute of your favorite drill. Seriously, do it. You'll be blown away. For most teams I consult, they start at about 1 rep per minute. ONE REP!!!!!!!! Coaches, that is NOT efficient. It's not good, it's not SAVI.

Get those reps per minute (rpm) up to about 6. How? Use both sides of the court, side baskets, bones over cones, assistant coaches, more balls, tighter space. C'mon, do the math and be better. The math says: The more reps they get, the more engaged they'll be, and the more everyone improves. Listen to the math. Measure what you do and increase your RPMs.

What type of coach are you? Do you intentionally measure your drills?

3. Game Actions

There's a difference between skill development and player development. Most coaches (especially trainers) focus only on skill development. When you isolate a technique, or a move, or a behavior, that's skill development. Player development goes deeper; it is a holistic approach to the read, the mindset, the LTAD (long-term athlete development), and technique.

The simplest way to improve your player development lens is to adopt an action-based approach to skill development. Simplicity wins. If you want to teach a skill, pair it with an action the player will often perform. For example, take the skill of playing powerfully off two feet. What is an action that puts this particular player in that situation often? Can't think of one? Then don't work on that skill!

Simplicity wins; get good at what you do most often. Most players shoot open corner 3s too often. Don't get bored, most coaches and trainers get bored and bounce around to way too many skills, that's why there's lots of skill development and very little player development.

What type of coach are you? Are you willing to develop more than just skills?

So — what type of coach are you, actually?

If this newsletter hit home — if you nodded at measurement = magic, or bones over cones, or develop the player, not just the skill — there's a good chance you're a Teacher. Practice is sacred to you. Reps build the player. You'd rather get it right than get it loud.

But you have a blind spot every Teacher carries. And there are four other archetypes — the Connector, the Guru, the Competitor, the CEO — and you need pieces of all of them to take a program to the next level.

The new Coach Personality Test (coming soon!) names your dominant style, ranks all five, and tells you exactly who to hire to cover your gaps.

Stick around, we’ll be sharing it publicly soon. We just need a few more tweaks. 

Bonus: The cheat code (for any endeavor): Find a mentor who is an expert in their field, knows things you don't, and get as much specific feedback from them as possible. Platitudes and generalizations are good for direction, but bad for implementation. They lack the specificity needed for maximum impact.

We’re on a mission to help you take your program to the next level.

📋 Quick note: We’re working on a 25-question test that maps you to one of five working archetypes — Teacher, Connector, Guru, Competitor, or CEO — ranks all five, names your blind spot, and tells you who to hire to cover your gaps.

Once it’s ready, you’ll be able to find out for sure which one you are!

Stay SAVI,

-Tyler

P.S. If you liked this, you'll love our SAVI Coaching Podcast, The Hours. We cover stuff like this every week for your drive or your workout. Subscribe here.

P.P.S. Come hang out with our team for free for 7 days. Get everything we have, no strings attached.  👉 Click here to try it FREE for 7 days.

P.P.P.S. Want help finding the one thing for your team this season? Book a discovery call, and we'll help you figure it out. Click here to book 15 minutes with us.