Siobhan Swayne

Coaching Philosophy

As a coach, it is important to have values and core beliefs that shape the way a coach
interacts with and leads his or her team. At all levels of coaching, balancing winning with
student-athlete development is important. As a coach, I would place an emphasis on winning, but
I will place an even larger emphasis on student-athlete development. Development to me, is
working hard to improve where a player is physically and mentally every day. Without
developed student-athletes, there is no winning. As a coach, all athletes will have equal
opportunities to develop during practice time, but not all athletes will have equal opportunities
during games. As long as my most skilled athletes are following all of the team rules, they will
be the ones playing in games. However, an emphasis will be placed on the development of our
non-starting players in practice. Athletes on my team will be given opportunities to break into the
starting lineup depending on their improvement and understanding of concepts in practice.
Although both winning and athlete-development are important to me, a core value that I
hold is that a list of team rules must be created and agreed upon by both the coach and the
players. Integrity and commitment to the team is something that is extremely important to me. A
player who is committed to the team enough to follow the team rules is more important to me
that a player with a lot of talent who does not follow the rules. I value hard work and dedication
and a team cannot be successful without these two things.
The thing that is most important to me as a coach is that I am a fair coach to my players
and that I will always be available and open to discussing the reasons for my decisions with my
team. I want to be a reliable coach and someone that my team feels comfortable coming to about
problems or about anything that needs to be addressed.
I will balance providing opportunities and developing student-athletes with the need to
maintain a roster size by giving equal opportunities to all players, as well as having an open mind
during tryouts. There are other important players to have on a team besides the “star.” Giving
opportunities to children that may not necessarily be the best, can ultimately lead to the
improvement of the team as a whole. Having a hard worker on the team can better other players
on the team. It can challenge the team to work harder and can improve the skills of the players
because they are constantly having pressure put on them by the hard worker. The hard working
player is also given an opportunity to improve and become a stronger player by playing against
and with higher-skilled players.
As a coach, I hope to provide my players with the best experience possible, while still
ensuring the development of these players. I hope to make my team more confident as both
players and as people. A coach has one of the largest impacts on a child’s life and it is important
to make sure the impact is a positive one.