Coaches' Guide to Team Policies

If you're like most who have joined the coaching ranks, establishing team policies may not be as exciting or come as naturally as planning and conducting practices, drawing up new plays, or coaching on competition day. But out of everything you do as a coach, it may have the greatest impact on your program. Your policies reflect your expectations for behavior and ramifications for misbehavior, the values you promote in your sport programs, and who you are as a coach. It's a task not to be taken lightly. So where do you start?

Coaches' Guide to Team Policies provides you with everything you need to create a comprehensive and fair set of policies that address players, coaches, parents, support staff, and others in your sport programs. The nearly 200 policies presented are organized around six moral values: respect, responsibility, caring, honesty, fairness, and good citizenship. Two variations of each policy are presented, one taking a strict stance and one taking a more general approach.

An ancillary Web site serves as a companion to the book, allowing you to efficiently create your own policies without having to reinvent the wheel. You'll also enjoy reading coaching tips from your peers highlighted throughout the book.

Even if you've been coaching for years, reconsidering your team's policies and rules is time well spent to ensure they are up to date and reflect your team's needs. With Coaches' Guide to Team Policies, you will go into your next season confident that your policies match the philosophy of your program and foster a positive sport environment for your athletes.

ASEP has been developing and delivering coaching education courses since 1981. As the nation's leading coaching education program, ASEP works with national, state, and local sport organizations to develop educational programs for coaches, officials, administrators, and parents. These programs incorporate ASEP's philosophy of “Athletes first, winning second.”

Content provider Dr. Laurel T. Mackinnon is a former associate professor, now an adjunct professor, of exercise physiology at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Dr. Mackinnon is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and was internationally recognized for her research on immune function and overtraining in elite athletes. She has been involved in youth sport for 15 years by coaching and managing her sons' participation in soccer, track and field, and basketball.

“I think this book is very beneficial for coaches at any level. Coaches need to establish programs based on sound team policies, which will help each person to learn what belonging to a team encompasses. This book should be in every coach's library.”

Don Showalter
Mid-Prairie High School (Iowa) Activities Director
USA Basketball Junior Development Committee Chair