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Owned by Shamus

Coaching shouldn’t be lonely. A community where coaches grow together, share game-changing drills & build a modern foundation for developing athletes.

32 contributions to Hey Coach!
What’s actually in a coach’s notebook? 📓
Everyone assumes it’s genius plays and timeout speeches. Here’s what’s really in mine: 1. A lineup that’s been crossed out four times. The final version is always the one I wrote in the last 90 seconds before the first whistle. 😆 2. “Ask everyone how their week was.” Not a drill. A reminder that the people come before the game. 3. One drill I stole, with the original coach’s name next to it. Good coaches borrow. Great coaches give credit. 🤩 4. Half-finished sentences. “Tell them that...” and then nothing. I’m sure it was important. 5. A coffee ring. Sometimes two. Proof of a long planning session. 6. Things I said that landed. I write these down so I can say them again, on purpose.🤓 7. Things I said that did NOT land. I write these down too, so I never say them again. 8. A tiny doodle of a court with arrows going everywhere. It made total sense at the time. 9. One line from a player that stuck with me. Usually the best coaching lesson of the season, and it came from them, not me. 10. A question I don’t have the answer to yet. The best pages in the book. The notebook isn’t really about the plays. It’s where you catch yourself learning. Your turn: what’s the one thing in your notebook that nobody would expect? Drop it below. 👇
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What’s actually in a coach’s notebook? 📓
Keep One. Change One.
Keep One. Change One. I had an interesting conversation with a player recently during practice. We were working on changing a technical skill. Rather than giving him a list of corrections, I asked him to focus on two things as the drill progressed: Keep one thing. Change one thing. Keep one element of the skill that was already working. Change one element that we were trying to improve. That's it. As the drill progressed, we could evaluate the adjustment, reinforce what was working, and gradually introduce another change. It got me thinking about how we coach skill development. As coaches, we often see five things we'd like an athlete to correct. And because we see them, we want to fix them. But does giving an athlete five corrections actually accelerate learning? Or does it create five competing thoughts when they're trying to perform a skill that needs to become instinctive? There's a difference between understanding a correction and being able to execute it. And there's an even bigger difference between executing it in a controlled drill and trusting it under pressure. I think our job as coaches is to make the next adjustment clear enough that the athlete can explore it, feel the difference, and eventually own it. Not every rep needs another correction. Sometimes the athlete just needs another opportunity to figure it out. Keep one. Change one. Repeat. I'm curious how other coaches approach this. When you're helping an athlete change an established skill, how much do you introduce at once? And how do you know when they're ready for the next adjustment?
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Before The First Major Tournament
Weeks before the first Premier tournament are some of the most important, and most misunderstood, weeks of the season. This is when coaches feel the pressure to: • Fix everything • Add more systems • Run harder practices • “Get ready” fast But this phase isn’t about adding more. It’s about tightening what already exists. Right now, the biggest gains usually come from: • Clear roles • Repetition under light pressure • Emotional stability from the bench • Teaching athletes how to reset after mistakes Your team doesn’t need to look perfect yet.They need to look connected. A good question to ask this week: Are we practicing to perform, or practicing to learn how to compete together? Curious how others are approaching this stretch: What’s one thing you’re intentionally not changing before your first Premier?
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Leadership Reminder for This Week (Read Before Practice)
Most coaches think leadership shows up when things are going well. It doesn’t. Leadership shows up: - After the missed serve - After the blown rotation - After the bad call - When the score flips and eyes turn to the bench That’s when your athletes are learning the most from you. Here’s the hard truth… 👉 Your energy is always coaching, even when you’re silent. Not your drills. Not your systems. Not your speeches. Your responses. This week, try this simple self-check: When pressure rises, do I… - Talk more or simplify? - Tighten control or trust the work? - React emotionally or stay predictable? Athletes don’t need perfect coaches. They need calm, clear, consistent ones. If you’ve started the course, this is exactly what we’re building: - Leadership habits that hold up under stress - Rituals that protect you from emotional coaching - A coaching identity you can return to when things get messy And if you haven’t yet, it’s waiting for you in the Classroom under Coaching Leadership Foundations. 👇 Question for you: What’s one habit you know your athletes are copying from you right now, good or bad?
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📣 New Course Released: Coaching Leadership Foundations
Coaches, We just released our first full course inside Hey Coach! Coaching Leadership Foundations. This isn’t a mindset course. It’s a field manual. No fluff. No hype. Just the leadership principles and habits that actually show up: - In practice - On the sideline - Under pressure - Over a long season Inside the course, we cover: - How your energy shapes athletes (whether you like it or not) - Creating a safe but competitive environment where players grow faster - Holding accountability without fear - When to step in vs when to get out of the way - Leadership rituals and identity that hold up in real games - A full Coach Integration Module to lock this into daily habits This is built to be referenced mid-season, mid-tournament, and mid-mistake. 👉 You’ll find it now in the Classroom under Coaching Leadership Foundations. If you go through it, I’d love to hear: - What hit home - What changed how you coached this week - What you want to see next - Better coaches build better athletes.Let’s keep raising the standard together.
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Shamus Dowler
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4 points to level up
@shamus-dowler-4019
Disruptor. Constructor. Problem Solver.

Active 10h ago
Joined Sep 5, 2025