Updated 5/28/24
A great high school coach inspires their players to thrive in both athletics and academics by developing their strengths as well as their weaknesses and fostering a lifetime of activity after graduation. Sounds great, right? But where do you actually start? How do you become a professional high school coach?
Here is the process at Lightspeed: The first step in a high school sports coach’s career is earning your bachelor’s degree. Many additional popular certifications that most schools require include Sports Science and Nutrition, Physiology, and Physical Education, etc.
While you’re working on earning your degree and qualifications, it’s a great time to build experience by coaching a youth team. After graduation, the final step is to detail all that experience, certifications, awards, and achievements on your sports coach resume, and send it out!
A high school coaching job’s profile includes:
- Planning strategies for games
- Organizing practice sessions
- Evaluating the performance of athletes
- Planning exercise programs
- Training athletes on the techniques and rules of the sport
- Spending time working one-on-one with athletes and creating customized training programs
- Tracking and analyzing records of performances
- Recruiting potential athletes with proper incentives
Other than these basic responsibilities, a high school coach directly oversees the promotion of teamwork and sportsmanship with their athletes. It’s your responsibility to create a positive environment for your team and to lead by example.
Experience as an athlete can often serve as a supplement for a lack of formal coaching experience, but schools competing at higher levels will require more formal experience. Individuals applying for their first coaching jobs should focus on smaller school districts and lower athletics divisions.
A Successful Coach Will Have:
- Organizational and time management skills
- In-depth understanding and experience in high school sports
- Knowledge of fundamental skills as well as advanced tactics
- Effective communication skills, especially with young people
- Understanding of student dynamics and commitment to the school community
- Deep care for their athletes
- Integrity
- Commitment to diversity
- Understanding and appreciation of the value of education
- The ability to grow, improve, and share knowledge on subjects related to sports, nutrition, and exercise
- Effective motivational skills like the ability to inspire athletes
Schools look to hire a coach with a positive attitude who will lead by example and show the same commitment and respect to their athletes that they expect in return.
We hope these tips help you prepare for the role of a professional high school coach. Click here to create an account with OLAS to find more sports coach positions with K-12 schools.
Click here to search for Coaching positions on the OLAS portal.
