"Am I the only coach feeling stretched too thin?"

This is the first sign of feeling the effects of burnout. It wasn’t until I looked around that I noticed some of my peers were experiencing similar effects in their own environments.

Coaching can make you feel like you are on an island at times - but it doesn’t have to be that way.

After working on mitigating the tough aspects of coaching, I sought to connect with anyone who also wanted to discuss the successes and challenges we face as leaders in sport.

One of the ways we can make our world feel a little smaller and connected is by engaging other coaches.

In this article, I will describe an initiative that I created that has helped fellow coaches feel connected, challenged, and engaged with their peers.

I am not professing that I have stumbled onto something that others haven’t tried before. What I have found is that bringing together a group of people to connect takes them back to a place where we keep our ’why?’ at the forefront.

“What can I do to rekindle my love for coaching?”

After presenting on coach wellness at a conference, I met with my mentor and told them there was something missing for coaches who were struggling with the rigours of their roles.

Webinars and videos provide great content to coach, but there isn’t much on how to coach - or how to successfully navigate the situations and interactions that we deal with the most.

I mentioned that I always wanted to create a coffee club where coaches met to discuss these things, and not just the technical and tactical aspects of the sport we coach.

Their response? “You should do that".

I set about creating an interest form for the Coaches’ Coffee Club, set a day and time and then sent the form into the social media universe.

I didn’t know what would happen when I sent an open invitation to my coaching network - but the outcome has become an important window on my weekly Sunday calendar.

"The outcome has become an important window on my weekly Sunday calendar..."

“To lay the groundwork, we chalk our field”

To prevent the discussion from veering wildly off course, we set some simple ground rules.

This is what we have come up with:

• This space is to talk about our successes, challenges and experiences as coaches.
• People are encouraged to share, but it isn’t mandatory. You can share when you feel ready - or you can listen and take notes.
• The session will be on, whether you attend or not. Turning up isn’t obligatory. The club is here when you need it or can attend.
• No rabbit holes. We know what issues plague sport on a big-picture level, with such issues like tackle-height changes or referee shortages. The sessions are meant to focus on things we face in a weekly training environment, where coaching meets human interactions and conflict head-on.

"To truly get to know your fellow coaches, show them that you care to spark conversation"

I recommend a quick check-in with your group.

We use a ’green, amber, red’ check-in that I acquired from a player who participated in the exercise during an internship.

When we start the session, we indicate how we are doing by letting the group know our status. I use the chat roster to acknowledge each participant verbally and ask how they are doing:

• “Green” means you are in a good headspace and things are well.
• “Amber” means you are experiencing some stressors but are doing okay.
• “Red” means you’re not doing ok and could use more support from peers.

More often than not, people let their guard down during the check-in. Hearing that others are experiencing similar occurrences has a way of grounding the group.

If someone brings up an event or information from their week that is interesting, we try to acknowledge that or ask if we can bring that up later in the session.