Dealing with the “Other” Coach

The following article was prompted by a question posted on our coaches discussion board by a coach who had players working with other, local coaches.

Because you work with your players for only several months each year, you will inevitably face the situation of “the other coach” who will be working with one or more of your players the rest of the year, and often, even during your season. Other coaches include local teaching pros, parents, coaches at summer camps and even USTA regional and national coaches, depending on the level of your players.

How can you retain your authority as overall coach of your team when other coaches are working with your players, and sometimes, giving your players conflicting advice?

The good and bad news is that while there is no set answer to address this problem that has plagued high school coaches for decades, there are a number of ways to address this situation satisfactorily for most coaches.

Think of the Youngster

As you begin looking for a solution to a conflict between coaches, remember that any solution must focus on the best interests of the player — not the coaches — as long as it doesn’t hurt the team. As a scholastic coach, your primary goal is to use sports to help young people learn life skills. Asking a teenager to choose between authority figures puts a youngster in a stressful situation.

Analyze your situation in terms of how the two coaches are currently affecting the player. Remember, this is about the player, not the coaches. Coaches work for players, not vice versa.

While you may believe that it weakens your position to defer to a player’s primary coach or to become part of a “player/teaching pro/high school coach” team, for the sake of the youngster, try to avoid making a teenager choose between authority figures. Parents, who are also investing their money in teaching pro’s work, may also get into the act if you draw a line in the sand

Think of the Team

Sometimes, what is best for an individual player may damage the team. If a local teaching pro or parent is more qualified than you, or if you agree that since the other coach is working with the player year round, you will defer to his or her goals for the player, if that local teacher is attending matches, requests that his player not participate in certain types of drills or asks that your player be excused from practices to attend his program, this weakens your team.

If you are fortunate enough to have one or two highly ranked players on a team, making them attend practice with players who can’t hit with them might not be in the best tennis interests of the highly ranked players. Allowing these players to attend another program, however, rather than practicing with the team, may negatively affect the team.

This is a difficult call for both the high school coach and youngsters who may be forced to skip the high school sports experience so as not to damage their tennis future. The views of your athletic director may supersede any compromise you develop for the situation with the private coach, so first begin by discussing with your AD any hard and fast rules he or she has for the school’s teams.

“I have been in that situation, coaching kids from the local academy who were nationally ranked players,” says Dick Wedel, head coach at Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Kansas. “In those cases, I met with them and with their parents when possible. I stress the value of playing on a team, as opposed to the cutthroat, on-your-own tournament circuit,” said Wedel, a two-time Kansas coach of the year whose teams have won two state championships.

“I like to point out to the player that he/she may be a role model for other team members — modeling strokes, strategy, etc., but also to show the other kids that the ranked player’s success did not happen by accident. Every one of these kids has been a hard worker and a good student, so they are organized and able to focus pretty well.”

Does your school, or do other coaches have special exceptions for students who work after school? Will allowing your players to attend team and private practices on alternate days work for you? Could your top players act as “assistant coaches” and help with drills and the strokework of their fellow teammates?

Many coaches will steadfastly warn that there is no “I” in “TEAM” and that any compromise in team rules hurts the team. Other coaches feel that while skipping practice for a job is not acceptable, missing a certain amount of practice for tennis practice elsewhere is acceptable.

Think of the Other Coach

While you may become frustrated with another coach giving advice contrary to your own, remember that the other coach is saying the same thing about you — and that coach may have been working with the player for many years, or may work with the player year round.

The key here is communication.

Before the season starts, ask which of your kids are working with a local teaching pro and then contact that coach to find out what their situation is. Remember, the youngster is not “your” player or the local pro’s player. The youngster, in some sense, is a consumer, who chooses you two. If he or she is committed to the local pro, then you’ve got to work with the two of them.

Next, ask any teaching pro who is working with one or more of your players to send over with the player an evaluation sheet so you know what he considers the player’s strengths and weaknesses. Ask the other coach to point out goals the player is working on and to give some history. After you initially evaluate the player, hold off on making comments to her until you have spoken with the primary coach. Give the coach your assessment of the player’s strengths and weaknesses and see if he concurs.

If you disagree with the grip or stance or swing strategy the other coach is using, discuss it with the player and the other pro; if they make the decision to go with what you feel is “wrong,” then for the good of the youngster, you have to respect that as long as it doesn’t negatively impact your team.

Another problem coaches run into is that coaching advice gets lost in translation. Your player will say, “My teaching pro wants me to do X and you want me to do Y”, when, in fact, the teaching pro is on the same wavelength with you. The player is just misinterpreting what one of you says. If you hear from your player that you are giving conflicting advice from her other coach, get in touch with the coach and discuss the situation. It may also be that the pro agrees with you that the grip or stance the player is using is inappropriate, but is at a stage in the player’s development where he doesn’t want to make that change yet.

While you can’t be calling other coaches every time you want to make a suggestion to your player, conflicts should not arise often if both coaches are qualified and have been in communication at the beginning of the season to discuss the particular player in depth.

Said one coach who asked not to be identified, “Although I have not been able to do much for the academy kids’ mechanics, by watching them a lot, sometimes I can pick up little things. And I like to talk to the ‘other’ coach to see what they are stressing and what they want to see happen on the court. A friendly relationship with the other coach is very helpful. I have also been able to help the kids emotionally at times. I don’t yell very much, and try to respect effort over results. This is not always the case when parents are paying someone big bucks to coach Buffy or Biff.

Good communication often makes the two-coach situation a non-issue.

Think of Yourself

In exchange for the professional courtesy you are showing the teaching pro, let the local pro know that if she shows up for team matches, this may weaken your position as the team coach. Good pros or parents who coach will surreptitiously watch matches from their cars, or a classroom in the building, if possible.

It may also be that you are a more qualified coach than your counterpart and you’ll have to earn your player’s confidence so that, in time, he or she accepts you as the primary coach. As in other aspects of life, respect is something you must earn, and patience is the key here. Don’t make your player (a teenager) choose between you and their pro early on — you may lose.

Be ready to accept that fact that either because of the teaching pro or parent’s attitude, or your player’s lack of confidence in or familiarity with you or your own inability to manage the situation without it affecting the team, you may have to ask you player to choose between the school team and the private program. There are times when players and coaches really can’t make both opportunities work in the best interests of the player.

There are two keys to making a two-coach situation work: #1 remember that the player and the team are the primary focus of the situation; #2 communicate early with other coach.

If you follow these two suggestions, the “other” coach will more often than not turn out to be an ally, not an adversary.

Arguments for working with the local teaching pro

#1 It’s unfair to put a youngster in a situation where they have to choose between two authority figures they may respect. Coaches who don’t work together are thinking of themselves, not the youngster.

#2 If your player has been working with his pro for years, or if the player is working with another coach year-round, they will be more likely to take the other coach’s advice than yours.

#3 If you set up a conflict, the player may tell you they agree with you, but will continue to follow the other coach’s advice, seriously damaging your effectiveness because you have lost the player’s respect.

#4 Regular communication with the other coach will prevent advice to the player from getting “lost” in translation.

#5 A local teaching pros is probably a better player than you are and this carries more credibility with many parents and players when they are forced to make a choice between coaches.

Arguments against working with the local teaching pro

#1 Deferring to or even working with another coach may be seen as a lack of authority on your part. Even if your player understands the relationship, the rest of the team may not.

#2 If you are comfortable with one local pro, but not another, it will be difficult to allow one player to work with her outside coach while telling another player she may not.

#3 If you work with a local pro, you may send the message that he or she is welcome at team matches and this may be a conflict for a player with two coaches. This might also be perceived as a lack of authority by other team members. Discuss this with the other coach in advance.