Are you a good coach? Elite Camps founder Stephanie Rudnick shares advice about ego, consistency, managing the ups-and-downs, and playing favourites. For parents, we learn about the ill-effects of helicopter parenting and how young athletes prefer to hear about our epic fails. Whether you’re a coach, a teacher, a manager and/or a parent, Stephanie has some valuable insights to help you be a better coach.

SHOWNOTES

Contents

* Key Learnings

* References & Links

* Andrea’s Commentary

* Interview Transcript

* Conclusion

Key Learnings

(More KEY LEARNINGS are summarized here, including research and insight on all kinds of COACHING, whether you’re a sports coach, a teacher, a manager &/or a parent…)

Stephanie’s advice for coaches of all kinds:

Coaching mindset – 

* Leave your ego out of coaching

* Put the WE before the ME.

* We learn more from the ups and the downs

* Sure, we all want to win. But there’s only one champion at the end of the season. Manage through the ups and downs, knowing there are learnings for young athletes at every game and every practice.

For new coaches –

* Be consistent

* Create a few rules. Then stick to them, no matter what.

* Don’t play favorites

* It’s human nature to have favourites. Many less experienced coaches will reveal their favourites, usually implicitly.  Don’t do it.  Favourites create a toxic environment.

For parents –

* Stop helicopter parenting

* Let your child advocate for herself.

* Share stories about your defeats.

* Your kids don’t want to hear about your glory days. They don’t want to hear about your gold medal games. They want to hear about your defeats. The time your coach threw a chair at you.  Or when you lost in double overtime.  Or when your team-mates disappointed you. Somehow, those are the engaging stories.  Imagine the “Resilience” learnings inherent in these stories!

References & Links

Stephanie Rudnick & Elite Camps

* Stephanie Rudnick – https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-rudnick-146b5740/

* Elite Camps – https://www.elitecamps.com

* Swish for the Cure Charity Event – https://elitecamps.com/charity/

* Stephanie’s Books

* Game Plan 2.0 – https://amzn.to/2Eijr2t

* The Little Ballers of the World Series – https://amzn.to/2EgTCj6

* Life is a Sport – https://amzn.to/2EgcA9Q

Summary of Coaching Research & Insights

* https://talkabouttalk.com/talkabout-coaching

Other TalkAboutTalk Links

* Newsletter Sign-up: https://talkabouttalk.com/blog/#newsletter-signup

* Andrea: [email protected]

Dr. Andrea’s Commentary

 For this episode, I had the privilege of interviewing Stephanie Rudnick.  Amongst her many roles, Stephanie is the founder of Elite Camps, one of Canada’s largest basketball organizations.

The focus here is on SPORTS coaching.  But it will be quite evident that Stephanie’s insights transcend other domains.  Certainly, there are many occupations where coaching is evide...