What did you learn from those around you?
I feel incredibly lucky to have been surrounded by amazing coaches.
From Andy, I learnt that it's really important to be your authentic self when coaching. While there can be a tendency to emulate other good coaches, being yourself yields far better results. Players are more likely to buy into the process and build trust with the coaching team. I also think Andy's personality and delivery was really great for this age group. He's also good at identifying areas for his own coaching improvement and seeking out these opportunities.
From Emma, I definitely learnt to trust and communicate my instincts. I can be a people pleaser and I want all players to enjoy themselves, which isn't my sole responsibility. Decision making in live/ pressured scenarios is a skill and one that needs to be practiced. I definitely didn't get it perfect but she gave me the confidence in decisions I made which allowed me to feel more comfortable to make those decisions quicker. She's also incredibly organised.
From Potter, I learnt that everyone needs a Potter, she's a bit of an enigma. The lessons learnt from the previous cycle were really helpful and her brain works at a million miles an hour so she's constantly throwing out different strategy ideas. Potter and I work in different ways, and it was really helpful for me to learn to work with someone who works differently to me. She's also incredibly proactive and decisive and helped when I started to worry about decisions I'd made on line calls.
From the players, wow, so much! I think the two key takeaways were leaning into your key skills and nailing them. I know we all want to develop and be well-rounded but there's nothing more satisfying than doing your job really well and letting other players shine doing theirs. We had a team who facilitated each other to shine! The second was just being confident and believing in yourself and your team.