How to be Coachable

When it comes to being "coachable" the majority of people visualize it as players being quiet and doing what the coaches tell them to do which are two valid skills to develop to be coachable, the dictionary states, "Being coachable means being open to asking for and receiving feedback, looking inward at how you can move forward, and being interested in growth. You don't take things personally or as criticism, instead, you see it as an opportunity." This goes to show individuals actually need to speak up, ask questions, and look to grow themselves because even with knowledge being shared with them by a coach it is truly up to the athlete to be able to take that knowledge and apply it. Knowledge alone is not power as the power comes from continuous practice and enforcing what we learned.

Side Note to go with enforcing what we learn: we must understand the process, movement, and actions that are required to achieve the end results. I personally tell every athlete to worry about the process over results and focus on how their body feels and moves when executing a specific activity because we want to become consistent, which means we must have a consistent process that will lead to better and more consistent results. For example, let's say a player is working on rotating their hips before making contact. They hit a beautiful line drive down the middle but did not rotate their hips. Results-wise they did great, however, they did not rotate their hips which means the proccess was bad. Bad proccess leads to inconsistent results.

5 Ways to Demonstrate your coachability:

1) Ask for feedback: This will force you to receive information of your progress, strength, and weaknesses.

2) Ask follow-up questions and/or reiterate what your coach or teacher said to ensure you understand everything that has been said.

3) Thank them for giving you the feedback

4) Request advice and suggestions on what you can do to improve

5) Invite difficult and or hurtful truth/unexpected responses about anything

If you want to do something about it, here are 11 ways to test your coachability right now:

1. Your intent to develop and improve is serious

2. You want to evolve, grow and adapt or switch gears when needed

3. You are prepared to keep your commitments to your coach

4. You are willing to be open, honest, and objective

5. You are prepared to show humility

6. You are ready to do the hard work of personal reflection

7. You are open-minded and willing to try new ways of learning

8. You are willing to explore, challenge, and change thoughts, feelings, and actions that you recognize are limiting your development

9. You take constructive feedback well and are eager to learn from it

10. You are willing to give regular feedback on your coach’s effectiveness

11. You understand that your coach will support, encourage and challenge you while you do the work and reap the benefits