Written By: Ashley Graves
At Streamline Teams, we realize there are parts of coaching that become your main focus while others get pushed to the side for later or delegated out to staff members.
We want to focus on a few areas that we all can find growth in such as; Team Admin, Website, Social Media, Team Branding, Sponsorship, Marketing, and Staff Development. Many of you may look at these and think you are doing them all and others might realize you need more help than you thought. A majority are probably somewhere in the middle. All of which are good places to start. Look at it as trying that set a coach recommended over coffee in the warm up lane and see where it leads, remain open minded. Our question to you is, have you tracked your success in all of these areas just as well as you track those splits of the 500 or the improvements on that weekly repeat interval set? We can all agree that everyone can always find room to improve.
Let's start with Admin. Nobody wants to dedicate time to have that hard conversation with a helicopter mom, but you know you need to answer that voicemail, it's been sitting in your inbox for three days now. Try pairing that with something you enjoy, maybe that afternoon you splurge on that $5 latte and have that tough phone call, it might make it a little less stressful.
Marketing your team can be done in a few ways but how old are those pictures on your team's website? Most parent's first interaction with your team will be on your website. Do you have professional looking coach photos or is yours from when you were ten years younger when you started with the team? If you say your that "laid back team" and that's the vibe you are going for that works, just update them with all of your coaching staff in matching team t-shirts and keep them up to date throughout the year as staff changes happen. Trust us, you will want to look as professional as possible, don't miss that new recruit just because your team didn't look organized to that family with three swimmers. First appearances matter, you are your own brand.
Staff development, when was the last time you collaborated with your staff as a group for something other than a team cheer or weekly staff meeting? Have you considered creating a coaching plan for the year together so the team is in-sync throughout all training groups? What about that upcoming coaching clinic you always say you will go to the next time around, maybe this is the year to sign up!
Maybe you kill it on Social Media and generate great leads from Facebook! How is your instagram going, do you only post monthly or weekly? Do you completely leave out stories? Maybe branch out and try multiple kinds of Social Media. You might get other kids interested if they see their swim friends excited about practice every week and they share all the cool things happening to look forward to. Branch out more, the worst that could happen is it doesn't bring any leads for new registration or recruitment.
Website, oh man. If it takes anyone more than ten seconds to find a contact phone number, email or address, you are shooting yourself in the foot before you can even begin. Make sure your website is organized and updated. Registration is coming up and it's never really too soon to have communication with recruits. Make sure everything you can possibly have online is available and easy to locate. Website frustration causes people to leave your site, you can avoid missing a lot of opportunities if you regularly keep that maintained. Maybe try a weekly reminder to update those new pictures from the meet last weekend.
Branding, please don't forget to reach out to your team dealer. Don't be that coach that needs something yesterday that actually placed their order today. That's a stressful place to be, we have all been there. The sooner you work out your season needs with your dealer, the sooner you have your attire ready to pass out. Wouldn't it be nice to hand caps out the first day of practice instead of wondering if they will make it on time for the first meet? You know you will order those anyways, you might as well place that order as early as you can.
Sponsorship needs vary from team to team and level to level. Maybe you have received emails from that taco stand down the road that you love so much that would really like the chance to vend your next meet. Or maybe that brand rep keeps leaving voicemails and wants to discuss a partnership but you never call them back because you haven't made time for it. Always make time for opportunities that will benefit your business. This year of all years, take advantage of any opportunity you have to be supported.
Here at Streamline Teams, we want to help you become the most successful you can be, that includes running a successful team off the deck as well.
Ashley began her coaching journey at the age of nineteen years old. She became the youngest female head coach in the country of a club team and combined high school program in 2014. Ashley has continued to work in the swim community in a variety of roles but is most well known for her work at Streamline Teams where she is the Founder & CEO. In her community she runs a summer swim lesson school serving both local and military families.