One thing cricket coaches are encouraged to develop these days is their philosophy. I’ve been thinking about how important it is to have one.
On a practical level, it’s easy and perfectly possible to “just coach”. To treat is as a purely practical endeavour. But really, I can’t imagine a coach who doesn’t at least briefly ask “why do I coach?”. For me that’s the start of a good philosophy.
That said, it’s easy to go deep into the weeds when it comes to answering the “why” of coaching. Philosophy is endlessly ponderable with different theories and areas of study. It’s an area I’m interested in but by no means an expert.
My compromise is to do two things; first dip into philosophy with half a mind on how such ideas influence my coalface coaching. Second, keep and regularly review a short philosophy statement that tries to explain why I coach and how I coach. Once every three months seems to be the sweet spot, and I usually find I have a small update on last time.
You might find that too much effort. Or you might think it’s not enough. What I would recommend to every coach is to occasionally reflect on both “how” and “why” because we all need to create meaning to stick at this wonderful, yet often tricky job.