Demand their respect - Advice for first-time coaches

I had an e-mail with this question just the other day, and I gave a really thorough answer, so I wanted to share it with you as well. It's probably the most important aspect of coaching color guard or working with kids at all - because if they don't respect you then you can't get anything else done. The second thing is getting them to get along and work together, even if they don't like one another.

The big thing with teaching kids these days is that you can't expect to be their friend, you have to make sure you assert yourself as an authority deserving of respect. This is where a lot of guard instructors come off as mean or rude - but it's not necessary, you just have to find your own personal balance. Keep in mind that kids LOVE structure! They may grumble about it sometimes, in fact I probably get called a "slave driver" at least once a week, but all in all the kids who have a rehearsal agenda and are kept on task at least 90% of the time have WAY more fun in guard than if they are just left to run free and do what they want. You will most likely have some who will want to have some control of practice as well, but rather than just letting them say what they want whenever they want I would give them a part in "planning" with this activity: Goal setting.

One of the biggest things that has helped my guards get along is this goal-setting. We will sit down and make two lists; one for season-long goals and one for short-term goals (either for each rehearsal or each week). We make a big poster-sized checklist to hang on the wall in a very visible place. Then, every couple of weeks we have a chat to decide if we have been meeting our goals or if they need to be adjusted. And this definitely doesn't have to be formal!! We do stuff like this while we are sitting around taping flags or eating a snack. I even do this with my guards that I do clinics with, though it's an abbreviated version where we set camp goals and then season-long goals and the camp goals are things that I can help them with but the season-long goals are things that they have to take care of themselves.

We also do weekly or bi-weekly teambuilding exercises. You can find TONS of these online, and you can even assign specific members the task of researching team building games and teaching them each week. It puts a little pressure on everyone to be group-minded and have some compassion for those who are the center of focus.

If you have any questions about color guard you would like answered, please feel free to contact us! We will get back to you ASAP and may even post your Q&A on our blog!

<3 Jackie