Transitioning back to in season is a lot more than S&C coaches really let on. Taking into consideration that you were the primary aspect of an athlete’s development into a relatively small one, seemingly overnight, is not the easiest thing to do. The biggest challenge is that you effectively are working more hours, but have less to do. This is very difficult to process, I hope this blog will bring some levity to the dynamic and perspective on how to manage this.
Off season is jam packed from sun up to sun down with things to do. You are going a million miles a minute. Programming, reviewing with staff, strategizing with sports medicine, setting up, coaching, debriefing, breaking down, meeting with players, meeting with coaches, you know – strength coach stuff! Then you pre season starts, and it’s immediately weird. Get to work, meetings, back to the weight room, hang out, walk to the field incredibly early for practice, hang out, do stretch, walk to the sideline after saying ‘lets go’ or ‘what a great day to get better’, maybe muscle beach (injured workouts), kill time for the rest of practice, go to lunch, go to meetings, head back to the weight room, check in the football office to let the coaches know you are still there, try to sneak out but coach grabs you and asks you ‘my guys work hard this summer?’ in which you answer ‘they worked their tails off, couldn’t be prouder of them’, find another way out, and try to leave without being noticed.
Coaches are back and they are chomping at the bit to get caught up on everything. Not only that they feel behind so they are working around the clock. This means you are scrambling to get them caught up and at the same time trying to look busy instead of hanging around. Little consideration is placed on that you just went incredibly hard for the last 2-3months and you could use the break. No rest for the weary.
In part you have to manage your time to not be done incredibly quickly. This will feel incredibly counterintuitive because you were forced to be so efficient just the day before. You are turned against your instincts on efficiency and productivity to this procrastination and appearing to be busy. Not only that you have to appear to look busy so you do not make someone suspicious you are not doing anything.
The first staff meeting is this pivotal moment for the upcoming season. You have to present the entire off season’s success and glory in a 5-10min synopsis. Not only that, you get a series of questions from assistant coaches about particular guys in their position room. You have to cite from memory with detail some random metric that for some reason resonates with that coach “what did such and such weigh on June 13?” Unless you are quant or have photographic memory you probably won’t remember that, but if you dont give an answer you look weak. So you give an educated guess and hope you don’t get called that you are for all intents and purposes, lying. Or you get good redirecting the answer ‘coach he worked really hard this summer, could not be prouder of him. He really stepped up and became a leader.’
That first practice is critical as well. You get warm up, injured workouts, possibly keeping score during team periods, and maybe a competition. The general idea is that you are cheering and supporting for the entirety of practice. The key is to look busy at all times. If there are a bunch of you standing around, someone will say something. As the season progresses, you find ways to become more inconspicuous and less noticeable. For instance, after special teams you go to the bathroom for 30-45minutes. The most important lesson during practice is the grenade rule – if someone could throw a grenade and it could kill more than one person you are too close. This matters because inevitably a S&C coach will be asked to do something like hold a bag or something, if there are two people standing both will have to do it. So you protect each-other by keeping distance. Divide and survive.
This should come off as condescending. It is rather ridiculous to be so vital for only parts of the year. When the off season ends you drop to immediately become inconsequential and irrelevant. I am sure that this will come off as egotistical or insecure in one’s role. The reality is that you as the S&C coach need to be the bigger person and accept your role. I can say with great certainty, that the S&C coach has to be a flexible entity, the football coach will never be that.
The transition to season is about supporting athletes. It’s not learning to work with sports coaches. Athletes take priority. This perceived co-parenting cannot be visible to athletes. You have to be the one that makes it work, swallow whatever pride you have and make it work. The athletes know the contribution you made – that’s all that matters.
The best programs treat their S&C coach like a coordinator. They have input and say on what happens in pre-season because they have the most insight on what their development is, or isn’t. Preventing injuries should be a collaborative effort of coaches working with S&C coaches, if not becoming an avoidance of blame. Avoidance of blame or credit is not in the best interest of the athlete and that is the point. Taking into consideration the best interests of the athlete is the point of all this, regardless of how that makes the S&C coach feel.
Even in the best of scenarios there will be demeaning and belittling work to be done. Be humble and never too big to do the little things, sure but have some pride in learning to avoid things that are not part of your job description. Fight the pressure from coaches that you need to work harder. A large part of your contribution was made in the off season. Putting the athletes first will be learning to prioritize their wants and needs. Over time, with you killing every job you have, you will get more reports and responsibility. That moment you start to volunteer for the jobs that you avoided for the symbolism it creates. You have a lot of responsibility and power for what happens, but you still do what needs to be done is powerful for those around you. But it becomes on your terms and you determine what is fair.