Coaching for Success in Life and Athletics: Relationship & Growth Minset Lens

How to Coach Girls written by Allison Foley (head coach of Boston College Women’s Soccer) and Mia Wenjen (volunteer coach and soccer mom) is a concise and practical guide that outlines an effective way to coach girls. Decades of experience coupled with expertise gleaned from fifteen professional coaches provide a solid foundation for the strategies they endorse. Coaches from all types of sports can use them to connect with the girls on their teams.

As we all know sports can help teach invaluable lessons about effort, persistence, discipline and, team effort. It can and should also teach girls to be inclusive, considerate and dedicated. Wenjen and Foley warn against an over-emphasis on winning and cite data that supports their assertion that most girls participate in sports to have fun, friendship, and physical activity. (Winning is actually a minor motivator.) They recognize that sport must be fun for participants so that they will stay with it.

Team success can best be measured by the quality of experiences team membership creates and the values it reinforces. How to Coach Girls shares specific techniques for coaches along with the rationale which underpins them. Marketing plans, ideas for making drills fun and, a season-wide overview help coaches set the stage for long-term success. Wenjen and Foley recognize that coaches, parents, and girls must work hand in glove to create a positive athletic experience for girls.

Coaching girls through the lens of relationship and a “growth mindset” are excellent ways to accomplish that. Operating from this approach means coaches can help girls win at life and in their chosen sports. That is a win/win which we can all support.

AQ Lens: Adoptees have an especially pronounced need for belonging and connection. This book provides a coaching approach that is especially suited to fulfill this yearning. Because of its healthy focus on relationship, character and “growth mindset,” it can help adoptees to discover their strengths and allay feelings of inadequacy. This approach is more about winning in life than on winning at sport. Still, the sound strategies will help girls discover their inner strength, drive, and passion. These will, in turn, support the discipline that leads to athletic success as well.