While a coach’s role has changed over the years, so has the tools and ways his job is done. A coach used to have a ball, a chalk board, chalk, and some film. That was it. Now these days you have all of that, the internet, a considerably larger sized fan base, as well as the popular professional aspect. Coaches have to not only deal with their team, but they now have to deal with the public relations aspect far more often than they used to. There have been new methods and tools developed over the years to help coaches and teams deal with these newer changes and tasks that face them.
The internet and its many uses have made their way to the spotlight. While a lot of junk is available on the internet, and a lot of crap is spewed by those that pretend they know everything from the safety of being behind their monitor, there is a lot of positive material online. In the right spots, coaches will be able to network with other coaches and gain valuable advice and tips. Coaches may also to just bang heads together with other coaches and solve problems that would otherwise escape them and cause unnecessary frustrations. As mentioned above you must exercise extreme caution when going online to find any materials.
Another internet usage for coaches is the ability to keep in touch with their team, and provide them with potential new work out ideas or other activities that they could do around the house to not only stay in shape, but to improve their game. Often the value of the internet is horribly warped and misrepresented when in today’s age; it has become a unique and hard to beat tool in the everyday coaching life.
Aside from the informational uses that the internet provides coaches, it also allows them an avenue in which they can shop around to obtain gear for their team. This allows a coach to shop literally worldwide in a matter of seconds, getting the best prices that are possible for what the team needs. Before the internet days, coaches were restricted to wholesalers and local vendors. While some people would say it is destroying local business, it is just going to force them to become more competitive.
Coaches also have the choice of practicing outside at a great many locations now with the boom in popularity of basketball. Parks, Schools, and various other locations are installing full basketball courts, and they are constantly in use. This also can be used as a recruitment tool by coaches as they can have their team out on display and show people that may think of playing at some point what kind of things a basketball team does. The level of personal interaction that it provides was often not accessible before because basketball wasn’t as popular, and people would just walk on past. Now when folks are playing basketball outdoors, people stop and look, and even stay for a time and watch!
Coaches have a full complement of tools available to them now, it is up to them to find which ones best fit their team and the needs of it, and get the ball rolling!
Photo credit: SD Dirk
