Why daily documentation helps strength coaches better support athletes
I will be the first to admit that communication has not always been my strength as a coach. In the fast-paced college environment with so many different individuals with busy schedules of their own, I have struggled at times with what information to share or when and how to communicate it.
As strength and conditioning coaches, it is our job to communicate effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders. The intended result of my communication is to convey to athletes, coaches, athletic trainers and sport administrators that they can trust my ability to implement safe and effective training.
In my personal experience and in overseeing staff, programming becomes the easiest part of the job, but how you communicate with people is what sets you apart. You can be brilliant when it comes to programming and technology, but if you cannot communicate effectively with your sport coach and athletes, you will struggle to be successful in this profession.I work with sports with five different competition schedules and vastly different styles of training, and the emphasis I place on daily documentation and reflection has helped me effectively communicate with all parties.
How I do it
After nearly every session I coach in the weight room, I send the head coach, assistant coaches and athletic trainer an email with the subject line “DD/MM/YY – Team – Post-Lift Notes.” What started as a strategy to stay organized and gain rapport has turned into my superpower. This approach allows me to successfully navigate the weekly chaos of working with men’s and women’s jumpers and vaulters as well as women’s tennis, swimmers and divers. This requires building rapport with four different head coaches, seven assistant/event coaches, three athletic trainers and three sport administrators.
My postlift notes cover four areas in a bullet point list:
- Workout. I share a screenshot of the team lift for that day and the corresponding injury report.
- General notes. I share the goals or specifics of the session and anything I emphasized with the team before or after the lift.
- Individual notes. I include any individual athlete concerns, modification needs, absences, etc.
- Looking ahead. I outline and seek confirmation on the upcoming week’s schedule, including the planned intensity of the sessions, travel schedule and outline for the next phase.
I draft my notes using Workflowy, an infinite nesting online note-taking platform, and then copy it into my email. I use the same subject line and headers every time so coaches know what they are getting and how to find the information they need. Over time, I have refined what I choose to include. I now color-code the notes when anything goes wrong or especially well. I have also started to document within Workflowy what competitions we had and how we did so I am able to easily identify trends in how athletes respond to training and how that is impacting performance. These notes typically take 10-20 minutes to draft and send depending on the time of year and the complexity of the upcoming schedule.
Why I still do it
I have kept up with this style of documentation and reflection because it has made me a better coach and communicator. I encourage everyone to reach out to me with any questions, updates or concerns. I want to have difficult conversations early so we can move on to more important things, like coaching and mentoring our student-athletes to reach their full potential.
I have found that consistently implementing this system allows me to be more specific with my instructions to the student athletes before and after the workout.
I have found that consistently implementing this system allows me to be more specific with my instructions to the student athletes before and after the workout. The athletes know the goal of the phase and the session as do the coaches and athletic trainers. The notes allow us as staff to quickly catch any discrepancies in our vision of what the next session, week or phase looks like. It allows our staff to present a unified front, all with the same understanding of how what is happening in the weight room supports what is happening at practice or in competition.
With this process, I am confident in being able to concisely verbalize to athletes, coaches or athletic trainers where we are in the year, what we have done, where we are headed next and why. These notes have become my superpower that allows me to consistently and efficiently communicate with all parties. By sending the notes, I know I have provided those who may be directly impacted by that information with a concise update that may influence the next practice or lift.
While this process does not replace in-person communication, I have found it eliminates the need for frequent formal meetings and allows in-person conversations to be much more casual since the necessary information has already been clearly conveyed and can be referred to at any time. It has also improved my efficiency in annual planning and programming. With this system in place, I can easily go back and quickly refer to my notes, the injury report and the workouts themselves to see how any period went the year prior.
This framework could be most beneficial in several situations, including when starting a new position or working with a new team, covering a team during a hiring process or before taking extended time off for family leave, for example.
Feedback I have received
Communication is only effective if the other person agrees it is effective. Here is some of the feedback I have received regarding this method of communication:
Bobby Farrell, director of track and field and cross country: “The postlift notes have been a huge benefit to our program. It provides immediate key information to the coaches and they are able to apply that to their programming the very next day. The athlete benefit has been substantial as it keeps the coaching communication at a high level, which in turn makes sure the athletes are getting the best possible individual programming. This helps with their health and performance.”
Hilary Ritchie, women’s tennis head coach: “I have always been a big proponent of face-to-face and phone call conversations with strength coaches to gain feedback about the student-athletes. However, receiving postlift notes via email has been extremely helpful. Each coach on staff receives the emails, so everyone has access to the information. We can refer back to notes from previous weeks when needed. Overall, it provides a higher level of detail about the lifting sessions and how to coach our student-athletes at practice.”
Jon Maccoll, swimming head coach: “As a head coach, I often need to take a 10,000-foot view of things. Looking at the large and broad moments of where the program is going. Being able to rely on Becky’s clear and accurate notes allows me to zoom in on that part of the program when I need to. It allows me to keep the pulse of that particular aspect of our system to create success.”
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