3D Coaching

Last Fall I was attending a clinic in Michigan and was given the book 3D Coaching by Jeff Duke at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes table.

The book is based on more transformational style of coaching in three stages:

1. Physicality (Body)
2. Dualism (Body/Mind)
3. Holism (Body/Mind/Spirit)

I can honestly say that reading this book the weekend before our season started was very refreshing and I feel resulted in having my most impactful season as a coach in my young career. What I really love is that each chapter ends with a call to action and a prayer pertaining to that topic.

I highly encourage you to pick up this book. You will immediately begin to changing the way you approach coaching.

Here are the favorite quotes or lines in the book:

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that separates the great coaches from the average ones.” – John Wooden

• Lord, thank You for blessing me with the opportunity to influence young people as a coach. Give me the desire and the energy to make whatever changes might be necessary in order to reach for a higher level of coaching.

• A RELATIONAL coach gets involved in the athlete’s life. A relational coach sees the big picture and sees young people as individuals, not just as numbers on a jersey or as positions on a depth chart.
• Purpose and Mission MUST go hand in hand.

Here’s what you can you expect out of athletes who are led by 3D Coaches:

1. The will learn more quickly; they are more focused.
2. They have higher fitness compliance; they work harder.
3. They need shorter rehabilitation; they recover from injury quicker.
4. They are more adaptable to new conditions; they play just as well on the road as they do at home.
5. They have the freedom to be creative; they are “gamers”.
6. They learn life lessons better through the coach-athlete relationship

“Rules without relationship lead to rebellion.” – Josh McDowell

• Peer Modeling takes place when you take athletes who are good at a particular skill and have them help teach the cones who aren’t as good.
• Delegating tasks creates followers. Delegating AUTHORITY creates leaders.
• Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence

Players thrive on positive reinforcement. They can take only a certain amount of criticism and you may lose them altogether if you criticize them in a personal way. You can make a point without being personal. Don’t insult of belittle your players. Instead of getting more out of them you will get less.

• I’ve come to the conclusion that the teams that succeed are the ones that don’t outwork their opponents, but rather outplay them.

The enemy of teamwork is individualism. As a team, the whole has to be greater than the sum of every individual part. The only way to do that is to work together. You can go a lot farther pulling together than you can with individual people pulling separately.

Team defeats talent, when talent isn’t a unified team.