- Do keep in touch with team members and families. A calendar
and phone tree can make your life much easier.
- Do let parents know your ideas about snacks. Will they take
turns providing them? Will they contribute a certain amount
toward food expenses? Will they leave a supply of snacks at
your house? Will there be no snacks?
- Do have fun as a coach.
- Do let the kids solve the problems.
- Do recognize that stress increases as competition draws
near. Do recognize that the team will not be ready as early
as you would like them to be.
- Do keep your sense of humor.
- Do make clear your expectations of the team: be on time,
be respectful, be reliable, etc.
- Do ask lots of open-ended questions: Are there any other
ways you could...? What are the strengths of this solution?
What talents do each of us bring to the problem? How can we
use these talents? What do you think of the solution (or component)?
- Do remind the team to read the problem. Then read it again.
Then read it again.
- Do try to start and end your regular meetings on time.
- Do stay on top of forms and paperwork.
- Do keep track of due dates.
- Do encourage risk taking.
- Do encourage brainstorming: Look for multiple solutions.
No one criticizes ideas during the brainstorming sessions.
- Do celebrate accomplishments.
- Do encourage kids to take responsibility as a team for what
they do and do not do.
- Do let the team provide the answers.
- Do practice spontaneous as often as you can.
- Do laugh. A lot.
- Don’t allow the team to waste creative energy by blaming.
- Don’t fix up, make suggestions for cute lines, do it
for, make it neater, steer toward solutions, etc. If you think
something may be Outside Assistance, avoid doing it.
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