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I’ve got this idea in my head that we coaches are all insane about our sports. We work crazy hours, drive all over looking for new players, and we’re (hopefully) always trying to learn and get better. The first time I wrote about coaching nerds was in my post, Coaching Nerds Unite! Study Up On Your Craft. So what’s a coaching nerd? Quite simply, folks who love their sport and are fanatically focused on getting better and learning more. In case you need a little more convincing before you’re willing to call yourself a coaching nerd, here are five good reasons why being a nerd is cool.

5 reasons why you should get on the coaching nerd bandwagon

1. There’s too much information out there to be bad at what we do: With the power of the internet at our disposal, there’s really no reason not to find out anything that you’d like to know! If you follow some of the major business leaders, they typically advise folks to be avid readers…and therefore, avid learners.

2. Knowing your stuff matters: Who does it matter to? Your boss, who wants to be able to promote a successful program on the rise. Your recruits, who want to feel confident that they’ll get great coaching and get better over the course of time they’re with you. Your alums, who want to be able to look back with pride at the state of the program.

3. We all want our fruit to be good: There’s a Bible verse that says each tree is judged by its fruit. Big, fat, juicy fruit is from a good tree; dry, withered, small fruit comes from a bad tree. So the question is, what does your fruit look like? Do your players enjoy the sport? Are they fired up about practice…even in the middle of the season? Do your players get better: day to day, week to week, month to month? How about your team chemistry…is it good? All of that (and more) is your fruit.

4. The game is constantly changing: No matter what your game is, it’s constantly changing and the true coaching nerd will stay on top of things. Whether it’s new ways to perform old techniques or learning how to incorporate a new position or how to handle scoring changes, we’ve got to learn how to use every possible way to put our team in position to be successful.

5. Players dig the smart coach: You see that play on words there? Much like chicks dig the long ball, players dig the smart coach. There’s something special about a coach that cares enough to learn about their craft. The learning coach will always hold their players’ respect…even if what they say is contrary to what another coach has taught them. Plus, the learning coach is usually so enthusiastic about their sport that it rubs off onto their athletes. Which will hopefully lead back to #3…your fruit will be a group of lifelong learners!

There you go folks! Let’s all go out and try to be the best coaching nerds we can be. We’ll be better coaches and our players will benefit from our knowledge.