Softball Coaching Tips - Communication Failure

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Over the last 48 hours or so I've been hearing a lot about the importance of communication between coaches and players. Much of it has to do with how poor communication directly affects player performance.

Before we get into specifics, think about it in your own work situation. You're working hard, believing you're doing a good job for the company. But the boss never says "boo" to you.

At the same time, that same boss is constantly talking to and complimenting a co-worker performing similar work at a similar quality level. Now be honest — how motivated would you be to continue working hard?

That's the way players often end up feeling. Some require more feedback than others, but all want to feel that connection to the coach. When they don't, they often start trying to figure out what's wrong — and often with disastrous results. There may not even be anything wrong, but in the absence of good communication the players start to fill in the blanks on their own.

The first situation I heard about was with a high school team. The complaint from a few of the parents I know is that the head coach only talks regularly to three girls on the team. It's as if the others don't exist according to the parents. And that makes the rest of the girls feel left out.

There is a somewhat happy ending to this tale, though. The assistant coach apparently does get it. He went out of his way to talk to one of the girls who was feeling left out, and just that act alone helped turn her season around.

She wasn't having fun, felt isolated, couldn't seem to do anything right. But a few encouraging words from the assistant and it looks like her season will end on a high note. She even hit her first home run.

The second instance was with a travel team of younger girls. The complaint here is that there is little to no communication from the coaches to the players or parents. Parents rarely know when practice is going to be held until a few days before, which makes it tough to plan the rest of their lives.

More importantly, though, it seems like no expectations are being expressed to the girls. They're not sure what they should be doing, so in the absence of instruction they pretty much do nothing. Hopefully that situation will change soon or it could be a very long season for that team.

Good communication isn't terribly difficult, but it does require some effort. And some level of frequency. For those with players who can't drive themselves to practice or games, communication with the parents is essential. You may not like dealing with them, but deal with them you must.

Of course, there's more to it than simply making statements or sending out emails. A good coach/communicator will get to know his/her players, what motivates them, what their interests are, and how they best receive instruction.

Some have to be goaded or chided into working harder. Others will take offense at that approach. As a coach, you need to know what drives each of your players and work with that to the best of your ability. The more personal connection your players feel toward you the more willing they'll be to run through a wall if you ask them. And the better you get to know them, the better you'll be able to weather the inevitable storms that crop up with every team.

So with the season cranking up, be sure to take a look at your coaching style and communication skills, and make adjustments where needed. Too much communication will rarely get you in trouble. Too little will rarely NOT get you in trouble.

Anyway, that's the way I see it.

photo credit: speech bubble