Posted by Coaches’ Toolkit.
Three things every coach should always carry:
NOTEBOOK
Always be learning. Don’t trust your memory alone. Make notes of ANY useful information, drills, exercises, concepts, ideas, whatever… You’ll be amazed how often you go back to these notes and are reminded of incredible things you’ve simply neglected to implement. Also, makes quick lesson planning possible where necessary.
WATCH
Time is a coach’s most precious commodity: optimising it while teaching requires sometimes pin-point timekeeping. Your brain can’t do this, no matter how good you think you are. Get a watch, ideally one with a stopwatch and ideally one with large numbers and a light for evening training.
FIRST AID KIT
Primum Non Nocere: ‘first, do no harm’. This is the primary rule of coaching, and being able to provide assistance if (when) someone takes a knock is essential. Get your first aid training in, and carry a kit filled with whatever you need.
These three items are the basic tools for a coach of any physical activity. Forget them at your peril…
Dan Edwardes 