We had a coach this past summer (for a team that finished in top 5 in PGF Nationals premier division) that insisted all of the time, what a great coach she is. She was not at all bashful in telling us daily what a great coach she is. Her idea of a great coach is singularly tied to "how hard you work" which in turn means how hard she pushes you (her her eyes that is). The quality of what she says and more importantly the substance to what she said, was void of any detail. For example, "work harder if you want more innings", "let the ball get deep", "trust your teammates". Perhaps for those of us around the game for 30+ years, this all seems obvious. To a 16 year old, I'm not sure it means anything.
"let the ball get deeper". Ok, how? What do I do in order to do that? What does that look like? How do I let the ball get deeper? Seems the kid would already be doing it if they knew how to do it so is this really coaching? Working harder to perfect the unaddressed errors in your swing, is not productive. So "work harder at what?" What should I be doing specifically and I will work harder at it. I heard her tell another player at the end of the season, she didn't play much (and she was already committed D1) because she didn't work hard enough. Perhaps true but where is the bar? What is
Point being, this coach sees herself, and she will be the first to say this, as a "great coach". She thinks simply seeing the issue and calling it out is coaching. I could not disagree more. An effective coach is a teacher, instructor, motivator, inspirer, and frankly someone who makes the game fun but pushes and stretches the player and helps the players want to be better.....for the coach and their team if not themselves!! Not every coach is great, I take issue with this one who was the only one I ever heard calling herself great (daily) and she had no results or facts to point to in order to support that claim.