I am focusing on improved communication this year as a goal for myself. As a: program coordinator, teacher, coach, admin intern, father and husband, I realize that effective communication is crucial if I am going accomplish my many goals this year. I plan on using this blog to communicate with community members about the projects and teams I am working with while also sharing personal reflections and stories.
What is “Tahoma Style?”
“Tahoma Style” is a phrase that has stuck with me since having a discussion with our athletic director last spring regarding what we felt was best for student athletes and coaches in our school system. At the end of our discussion I realized that we were both trying to identify traits, skills, and habits that we felt needed to be taught and identified with student athletes and coaches. The traits, skills, actions, and habits that were identified are responsible for creating behaviors that can be considered “Tahoma Style” for our athletes and coaches.
I think “Tahoma Style” is the way we want our student-athletes and coaches to carry themselves while in: competition, the classroom and the community. “Tahoma Style” also seems to apply to how coaches work with their student-athletes. After talking with Tony about what he does to promote and teach “Tahoma Style” for both coaches and student-athletes in the football program, I found myself wondering what other coaches in our district consider as the key components for “Tahoma Style” and how it is implemented within their programs. Additionally, I wondered how the phrase was connected to what I do in the classroom as a teacher and in the school as an administrative intern this year. Since we have labeled Classroom 10 as what we want for teachers and students in the classroom, then maybe we need to label what we want for our district coaches and student-athletes as well while they learn, train and compete outside of the classroom. Though many of the components of classroom 10 can be found in my wrestling practice plans and in the gym during our wrestling practice, there is a difference in how I get the most out of my athletes compared to how I push my students and the more I think about how I coach kids, the “Tahoma Style” of coaching seems to fit.
As the head wrestling coach for THS, I have worked for the past five years to create a sense of pride in our student athletes that is connected to what I consider “Tahoma Style”. When I became a head coach five years ago, one of the first orders of business was to create and communicate my philosophy on coaching. I feel that it is crucial that our coaches not only write out their philosopy or coaching identiy page but also share it with their athletes and others in their program. Sharing our coaching philosopy and goals is definitly an aspect of "Tahoma Style." Below is my coaching philosophy and goals.
Coaching Philosophy
Tahoma Style: Pride through Commitment to Excellence!
The sport of wrestling is both challenging and rewarding. Our staff strives for each wrestler to experience great physical and mental growth while being an active participant in the THS Wrestling Program. Wrestling is a non cut sport and anyone that completes a season with the THS wrestling team will experience personal growth. Wrestlers will be able to achieve growth through commitment to individual and team excellence. It takes courage to fully commit to the pursuit of excellence. Great athletes have the mental toughness to be courageous even in bleak situations. Courage is required to keep pushing while tired, in pain, or behind in the 3rd round. Much like in life beyond athletic competition, sacrifice, perseverance, and above all courage are required to make it through intense struggle. Though one athlete can never make or break a team’s season, a unified group of athletes can accomplish great things if they put heart, body and mind into the cause. Our staff works hard to facilitate a program that helps our student athletes become: stronger, confident, proud, competitive, decisive, humble and most importantly committed to each other and the team’s goals. Winning matches is not the primary goal of this program. The program’s success is a by-product of our athletes’ commitment to excellence while consistently making good decisions both on and off the mat.
My Coaching Goals:
1. Continue to align philosophy, goals and wrestling technique for Wolf Pack, Tahoma Middle School, Bear Claw Freestyle Club and Tahoma High School athletics so our student athletes will experience smooth transitions.
2. Increase athletes’ classroom and athletic performance with a training plan that incorporates sound technique, goal setting, top physical training, good nutrition and moral guidance.
3. Create opportunities for Tahoma athletes to grow through community contributions.
4. Continually work to improve communication with: athletes, the student-body boosters, alumni, parents, teaching staff and other THS teams.
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