Finding Support

As a coach you will often find yourself in positions where you need to be in several places at the same time or coaching two different kids for different events and need to find a way to coach both successfully.  Now if you are a coach with over a dozen kids who all need equal attention you will really find yourself in a bind.  You don't want to sacrifice the time one athlete has with you for another, but you need to figure out the best strategy.  Well, consider your options for getting a bigger staff together.

First, talk to your school about the budget for another coach.  Some schools can offer a decent stipend which will attract good coaches to help your program.  Allow that coach to take control of the events he coaches and he will feel like he can implement his plan for success (as long as it fits into the team model) and will be more likely to return to help you in future seasons.  Sometimes schools can only offer a few hundred dollars for support coaches but this is better than nothing and may still attract young, eager coaches.

You can always work with other teams to help build a strong corps of athletes to push each other.  Especially for distance runners, meeting up with members of other teams can offer competition in training which they may not be getting enough of with the members of their respective teams.  Sometimes, if you know a coach for a certain team is very good in a specific event and you have expertise in another event, working with each others athletes may benefit each other.

Finally, parent support is big.  If you can find parents that are willing to help out, even if it isn't in a coaching capacity but more in a team management function this may free up some of your time.  Maybe they will help get drinks for the athletes or will help bus athletes to the track.  Either way, the more help usually the more free time for actual coaching. Follow my blog with Bloglovin