Today is officially my first day as Head Coach for both the Men’s and Women’s Volleyball teams at Medaille College. That being the case, it’s also time for me to start something that’s been a feature of this blog since nearly it’s beginning.
Back in 2013, to fulfill one of the requirements of obtaining my Level 3 Coach certification from Volleyball England I had to do a coaching log. I decided to post the entries here on the blog as something others could look at, think about, and maybe comment on. I found the process so useful that I continued it for every season since.
For the 2020-21 season I will keep two separate logs – one for each team. In a very real sense they will be mirrors of each other. When the women are in season in the first semester, the men will be in the off-season, and vice versa for second semester. Most likely, log entries will be weekly for the in-season team. They will be a bit more sporadic for the out-of-season one. It will probably follow a pattern similar to the one I followed for Midwestern State.
As was the case at MSU, my Medaille entries will not just focus on the on-court aspect of things. Yes, that will feature heavily. When coaching at the college level, though, there are a lot of other responsibilities and things which feed into what drives potential success. As such, I will also write about a bunch of off-court stuff too.
For the most part, the men’s and women’s logs will be separate. Sometimes I’ll cross-post entries, though. This will mainly relate to the work I do in a unified fashion across both programs. More on that later.
For now, I hope you find the log entries interesting, entertaining, and/or useful. And if you haven’t journaled yourself before, you should think about it. I definitely find it a very useful exercise for reflection and self-analysis.
On a related note, you may find my posts about The cultural risks in taking over a new program late and Priorities for coaching a new team interesting. They both clearly relate to my situation.
6 Steps to Better Practices - Free Guide
Subscribe to my weekly newsletter today and get this free guide to making your practices the best, along with loads more coaching tips and information.
