Classroom Coaching: When you pull your players off the field for 30-45 mins a week, step into a classroom-type environment, to slow down, reset and focus on growing as individuals and a team.
What happens during these moments of Classroom Coaching becomes transformational and can produce greater benefits to your team than trying to squeeze that extra few mins of film and going through that drill a few additional times. When the leader improves… everybody wins!
They say anything you want to see exist in your program, has to be developed.
Let me ask you this: would you like to see the players in your program become more engaged, committed, disciplined, mature, relationally focused, communicative, and enthusiastic? It’s possible. You just have to develop it.
Classroom Coaching provides your program the space to intentionally develop it.
We have over 3000 teams across the country using the Lead ‘Em Up program as the content to lead their Classroom Coaching sessions. Let me share how a few teams in Maryland (our home base) are utilizing Classroom Coaching to transform their programs.
Quince Orchard High School – Football
Their players engage in eighteen 45-min leadership Classroom sessions a year. The players go through the 18 sessions during their offseason from March-August. These sessions are sometimes held after school before workouts, during lunch breaks, and before summer workouts; whatever it takes, wherever it has to be done.
Quince Orchard football has won two out of the last 3 Maryland State Championships, is it solely because of their Classroom sessions, not at all, but do the Classroom sessions play a role in helping set the tone for the culture and getting their players to get the most out of themselves and each other? Absolutely!
Francis Scott Key High School – Football
Eighteen sessions this past year, their first year committing to Classroom sessions helped propel FSK to their best record in 20 years, hosting a home playoff game and winning their first playoff game in decades.
Their first 6 sessions were held during the summer right before their 7-on-7 workouts. The remaining 12 sessions were held Monday afternoons from 2:30-3:30 immediately after school, right before practice. These 12 sessions re-engaged the players after being off for the weekend, set the tone mentally for the week ahead, and helped strengthen the foundation for the team all season long. This team experienced many challenges during the year, but when the foundation is strong, challenges can be sustained.
Damascus High School – Basketball
For the last 7-years Coach, Humphrey has been committing to Classroom Coaching as a critical component of his program. And over these past 7-years, Coach Humphrey continuously gets the most out of his players with several championships along the way including an 18-2 regular-season record earning them a division title and making their way to the Elite Eight in Maryland.
The Classroom sessions took place at noon on Saturday, immediately following their morning practices. We closed the book of each week making sure we were healthy, the culture was strong, we were all growing as teammates and leaders. The players began to rely on it as a tool to keep us on track and moving forward in a healthy manner.
Those are just three of many examples of programs committing to Classroom Coaching and experiencing the growth that comes from it.
Want to hear more about Classroom Coaching, listen to our recent podcast: The Power of the Classroom, with two coaches from New York, Sean Dooley and Eric Sutz who share about the transformational power of Classroom Coaching. Listen here;
Are you ready to commit to Classroom Coaching? Target 12-18 sessions annually. 30-45 mins a week. Use the Lead ‘Em Up program as the content for each of those sessions. Do it year after year. Continue to “instill” the lessons and messages into your players so it remains front of mind and lives as an active thought rather than an afterthought.
