Tucker Platt
Coaching Philosophy
Reason I Coach:
I coach because I have learned many life lessons through sports. I believe that I can have a great impact on young
athletes by teaching them many things such as discipline, responsibility, integrity, and teamwork. I love kids and
competition, which I believe are two of the most important aspects to coaching. I believe I must be passionate about
both the kids and the sport in order to be all in for the program, staff, and athletes.
Mission: Values, Character, Future
Mission Statement: My mission for coaching is to transform young individuals into strong, and
confident individuals with positive character and values for their future.
Values: Respect, Integrity, and Humility
- Athletes will learn the values of respect, integrity, and humility and instill them into their life.
- Athletes will be taught to respect their teammates, coaches, family, teachers, etc.
- Athletes will be taught how to do the right thing when nobody's watching.
- Athletes will be taught that they are never too good to do anything, and they will not be built up on
pride about their works.
Character: Accountability, Authenticity, and Selflessness
- Athletes will learn how to be dependable for their teammates, friends, and family.
- Athletes will learn how to always be honest to who they are and not pretend to be someone they are
not.
- Athletes will learn not to think less of themselves but to think of themselves less.
Future: Academics
- Athletes will recognize that they are students first and athletes second. They will learn that they are
probably not going to go professional in their sport and will recognize that their sport is a privilege that
enables them to learn life lessons and make memories with their friends.
- Academics will always take priority on my teams.
Vision: Development and Program Success
Vision Statement: My vision for coaching is to develop my athletes, myself, and my assistant coaches into people of
strong character, leading to competitive greatness and a successful program.
Athlete Development:
Character Development:
- It is vital to focus on character development when coaching because sports are a tool to learn how to
become better men and women in society.
- When development and growth come in an individual’s character, they will see results in all areas of
life.
Academics:
- Academics are the first priority in order for an athlete to see success. They must be performing in the
classroom before they can perform on the court.
- When development and growth come in an individual’s schoolwork, they will see results in other areas
of life.
Athletic Performance:
- Athletes will put in the work to develop the skills necessary for competing a high level within their
conference, district, and state.
- When development and growth come in an individual’s skill set, they will see results in performance and
competition.
Coaching Development:
Communication:
- Coaches will communicate effectively with athletes, parents, other coaches, and athletic administration.
Relationships:
- Building relationships with athletes and other coaches is one of the most important parts to developing
as a coach and leading a team or individual to success.
- Coaches will go out of their way to get to know their athletes on a more personal lesson and show them
how they care about them as more than just a coach.
Strategies & Techniques:
- Coaches will network themselves to learn new strategies and techniques within their sport so that they
can better the team and athletes’ performances and overall success in their sport.
Program Success:
Winning with Integrity:
- I see a culture of winning done the right way, always going the extra mile, and giving the best effort
possible.
Conference and State Competitiveness:
- Our program will strive to be consistently at the top of our conference and state levels.
- Our program will consistently have winning record seasons and compete at a very high level.
School Records:
- School records will be set and broken time and time again due to the improvement of our program’s
success.
Coach’s Summary
What makes a good coach?
- A good coach is someone who is caring, relational, challenging, organized and diligent. A good coach knows
his/her players and how to coach each player on an individual level as well as the team as a whole. Being
versatile and knowing your athletes and how they work as well as challenging them in order to build
character in them that goes far beyond the sport they are playing is vital to becoming a good coach. The
result of coaching should be well-developed people who are shaped by integrity and truth. Positive character
will be lived out and taught through coaching.
Why do I coach?
- I want to coach to help boys become men (girls become women) of empathy and integrity who will lead,
be responsible, and change the world. I want to have an influence on younger generations and teach
them what truly matters in life by building character through sports.
- I love sports, competition, and physical activity so I see no better way to have an impact on young
people than to coach.
Why do I coach the way I do?
- I believe that it is important to teach the sport rather than coach it because when you use educational
strategies to teach a sport, it will make sense for the athletes as the strategies like scaffolding,
chunking, direct instruction, and modeling have all been research tested and prove to be beneficial.
- I would have a transformational coaching approach that has an educational twist to it because I want to
teach young kids how to play basketball successfully as well instill lifelong values and character traits
that will benefit each individual as they become a part society when they are done with their sport.
- I desire to live out the core values that I have set out for my athletes. It is evident that I want to reflect
Christ in my coaching.
What does it feel like to be coached by me?
- I would imagine that it would feel good to be coached by me. I would strive to get each athlete to their
max potential and help them become the best person they can be through that. I am also a person who
is very competitive and loves to have fun, so I think I would have a lot of positive relationships with my
athletes which also makes me think it would be a life changing experience to be coached by me.
How do I define success?
- I would define success in a way that is very similar to John Wooden’s definition “Success is peace of
mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that
you are capable of becoming.”
- Peace of mind is a very important part of success which is why every individual can define success
differently.
- I also believe that you cannot be successful if you did not do the best that you are capable of being.
- If you can have a peace of mind knowing that you did your absolute best and can walk away satisfied, I
believe that is success.
