Relationship Building: Ways to Unlock the Athlete's Potential

Relationship Building: Ways to Unlock the Athlete's Potential

Relationship building is the most important task that any educator must do in order to unlock the potential of the human beings that we coach or teach. With that being said, relationship building is also the most difficult skill for any educator to accomplish. Now that we live in a world driven by data and technology, relationship building can be accomplished with the use of technology and educational best practices. Today I will go over a few strategies that will allow the educator to understand their students or athletes the best way possible in order to unlock their potential. 

The first strategy that a coach or educator could do is use a Strong Interest Inventory. This assessment is used typically in the educational field. This assessment is used to tell individuals their best career paths and hobbies. To use the assessment results you could go over with an athlete once a week over the results and ask them questions about their results. This can allow the coach or educator to build rapport with the individual by learning what interests the individual. This can allow the educator to come up with examples to show to that individual that you as an educator care about them and their interests.  

Another strategy that could be done is to have a lunch or dinner with the whole class or team. This can allow for the teacher or coaches to have discussions with a group of individuals within the class or team and to get closer with the individuals on the team or in the class. This strategy is less one-on-one than the other strategies, but it still builds relationships and is a lot of fun for all involved. 

The last strategy that I will discuss about in this post is one I learned from the Kansas City Royals's Hitting Coordinator Drew Saylor. Coach Saylor has had a lot of success as a Manager in the Minor Leagues for the Dodgers and Pirates organizations. Saylor has developing many young men in both of those organizations, while also producing results on the field with the teams he has led. A piece of advice on relationship building that Coach Saylor gave to me was to use the Love Languages Quiz. 

This quiz is a fascinating assessment on finding out how an individual learns best. For example, there was one athlete who played under Coach Saylor who earned a 0 on touch/feel. This meant that the athlete could be in the zone one moment, but if touched on the shoulder by a coach or teammate, then he would lose his focus. This allowed Coach Saylor and his staff with information on what not to do, and what to do in order to help all of the athletes reach their potential. 

There are many ways to build relationships positively in the education field. No matter if you are a teacher, coach, or leader there are countless ways to help those under you to reach their potential. These three strategies aren't the only way to build relationships, but I do believe that these three strategies will work. These are tried and true best practices that can benefit anyone under your leadership. At the end of the day, we want to put those who we teach in a better place than where they were when they met us. These three strategies will build trust, rapport, and results for you and your team.