Public Relations

Players need to conduct themselves in a way that is respectable. After all, these athletes are role models to many young people around the world. To stay in the good side of the public eye, players should be aware of how they maintain their image with the team, coaches and the rest of public.

Tools Players can use:

News – How writers, reporters, competitors perceive you and your personality will be in the news. People everywhere see or hear the news, and believe what they are told.

Speeches – When making an announcement, write a speech with a lot of thought. You want to sound articulate, and dress professionally. Talk about positive things, and don’t forget to say thank you.

Mobile Marketing – This is the way you promote yourself as an athlete. Going from city to city giving a demonstration, holding a camp, displaying a new product, or trying out for a new team. All of these things need to be done with respect and class.

Special Events – Make an appearance on a talk show, attend another sports event, go to award shows, or unveil a new product. These events can be used as good public relations if you conduct yourself in the right manner.

Public Service Activities – These are things like donating to a charity, cancer research, visiting a hospital, helping kids read, and other public serving activities. If a player does this regularly, he will be seen in a different way than a player who does it rarely or not at all.

As I said, Athletes are role models. So if they want to act like one, they must practice good public relations and stay out of trouble as much as possible.

Coach to Coach Connections

An important aspect in the sports management field that is often overlooked by many people is the relationships opposing coaches have with one another. This can be a very useful tool in achieving goals throughout your career. By having close connections to coaches of other teams that can lead you vital information about opponents and give you a one up against other teams. The way to become connected is very easy to do and with a few simple steps you can have close connections with opposing coaches in your field as well.

1) Respect
The main aspect you need to remember with communicating with opposing coaches is to always be respectful of the coach and their team. Never put down a coach for the way he or she handles their team. Putting down their coaching techniques would cause the coach to dislike you and not want to help you in the future.

2) Compliment
A secondary aspect to being respectful would be complimentary to the other coach. Compliment their techniques used in handling their teams and the way they approach the game. Try finding similarities between the way the both of you conduct yourselves with teams. This similarity will ultimately lead to a close connection that can be used in the future as a reference or as vital information against an upcoming team.

3) Friendliness
Being friendly with other coaches will lead you to having a positive outlook with the other coaches. This positive outlook allows you to associate yourself with all the opposing coaches and it makes the other coaches want to know you as well. Thus by simply being a friendly, nice person you can achieve your goal of associating yourself with the other coaches in your field.

4) Direct Connections
Once all the other steps have been achieved you can begin to recieve and give out your person phone number or email address to directly connect yourself to the other coaches. Having a way to directly contact other coaches gives you additional support when coming up with strategies for different teams and possibly information other coaches knew about a certain team that you did not.

In summation, by achieving these four simple steps you can connect yourself to the peers in your field which is an important strategy for achieving your goals. Knowing all the coaches you play against will better your chances against their teams and other coaches teams because of all the insider information you will have. Hence, your job will become easier and you will become a winner in no time at all.

Dealing With Conflict

It is very important to a team to consider everyone when making a decision. Whether it be the practice times and routines or where a dinner will be held; it is crucial to make sure everyone can have their own input on the situation. However when a group of people work together there will most likely be a conflict. Sometimes it will be a minor issue but regardless of the severity of the issue, it must be worked out through to a conclusion or a compromise that all team members can accept, even thought everyone may not entirely agree there needs to be common ground on every issue.

Mutual respect among team members is necessary, but too much difference can bring upon new challenges and that can ultimately reduce the team as a whole. It is important to focus on the problem and how to solve it rather than on the person that is upset.

These are some good ideas on how to manage conflict among a team:

1. Avoid taking a win or lose stand: this will give one person the power at anothers expense. This approach is not constructive because there will always be a loser. Most conflicts wont start out this way but if a team member faces a personal defeat, then reaching a compromise is almost always impossible.
2. Avoid accusations, threats , or degrading comments. Instead try to emphasize common interests and mutual goals of the team.
3. Support your position with facts: Show how your position is consistent with accepted standards and pointing out the ways that your view could benefit the teams ultimate goal. Also point out errors in the other view, but make sure to talk about their position not the person.
4. Use bargaining strategies to arrive at an exchange of concessions until a compromise is reached. Both parties can win through a compromise, even if your going to settle for less your not losing altogether as you would in a win or lose situation. a successful compromise satisfies each persons minimum needs.

Communication Between Teammates

Communication between teammates is an essential part in the team's success. Whenever there is a lack of communication on any sports team it shows in their performance. Usually a lack of communication is due to some of the players not getting along and overall it hurts the entire team.

According to Allaboutfastpitch.com communication reduces individual errors on the field "It's hard to make a mistake when u are constantly encouraging and supporting your teammates. Less worry means less anxiety. Less anxiety means your body can relax and perform at an optimal level." Also, effective communication means less mental errors "Increased communication helps players stay focused on the game. More focus means less mental errors. Plus with communication, if someone does have a mental lapse, everyone is talking and letting them know where the play should be which helps keep a mental lapse from turning into a mental error or any other kind of error." And finally communication promotes team building "When teammates are communicating with each other it increases the sense of a common goal and teamwork. Your team will perform better as individuals and as a unit with improved communication."

Without communication among teammates we would not have as many great athletes as we have today. For example, look at Tiger Woods, many people think golf is a one person sport but without the communication between Tiger and his caddie I guarentee you that he would not be as successful as he is today. Tiger's caddie knows every inch of every green and fairway in any tournament Tiger plays in. Without his caddie's knowledge of the course and all the elements involved with making a golf shot, Tiger's accomplishments would be half to two thirds of what he has today. All in all, communication between teammates is always key in the success of any team.

Tips: How players should communicate with the media

Attire: One of the most important things an athlete can do for a press conference is to dress like a professional. You want to be as presentable as you can, because ultimately you are representing your team.

Responses: These need to be thought about before taking the microphone. Responses should be safe, and direct to avoid any media conflicts.

Answers: Each question should have an answer in a timely manner. Do not rush yourself and do not take too much time in responding to one question.

Be Prepared: Do not answer any questions that you are not prepared for. Players do this all the time when asked a tough question about contracts or referee calls, the best thing to do is just sidestep the question with another response. You want to refrain from giving too much away as a sports athlete, you don't want to give too much away about your team, just keep it simple and respond to the questions that you are prepared for.

Be Positive: Focus on the good things, and the success of yourself and your team. Example: If a teammate is leaving the organization: tell the media that he was a great teammate, but whatever happens is for the better of both the player and the team. Be sure to let them know that there are plenty of possible prospects looking to fill the position.

Relationship: Keeping your media relationship on a respectful level is important. These reporters, columnists, and sports radio hosts can make or break you. Depending on what they report, your popularity can change in an instant because ultimately they have control of the public eye.

Eye Contact: Be direct with your responses and make sure you are not looking down or away. Who ever is asking the question will have their eyes on you, so be respectful and return the look. This displays confidence and will make the media believe you are not a liar.

Weakness: At times these conferences can be emotional depending on the purpose of it, but if the media sees weakness for any other reason they'll try to bring that out of you every chance they get.

These are all very important aspects involving the image of yourself and more importantly your organization. These basic tips can help a player on avoid negatives of media and maintain a positive view of yourself as well as the organization you are representing.

Talking With the Media

Their are many different approaches coaches can take to communicate with the media but to get the optimal results you must follow a series of steps. These steps are very simple and may come natural to many coaches when talking to the press.

1) Be Courteous and Respectful

Many coaches forget to keep their cool while on the stand from the press which in the end hurts their careers and images. So the best way to behave is in a respectful manner saying "Thank you" and being very courteous to the representatives (they are, after all, just trying to do their jobs). Never sware because that creates a bad atmosphere with the press and you should always keep a positive image with the press. It will get you exposure to the nation which could ultimately boost your career goals.

2) Take Responsibility For Your Actions

If your team has just lost a big game, do not go out and start pointing fingers at others. At the end of the line, you are the one who should take responsibility for how your team played. Blaming a player would disrupt your locker room that could possibly lead to a mutiny from your players. This is one of the main reasons that you should take the blame.

3) Be  Cautious of Your Responses

Often times coaches leak locker room information or say damaging responses about their players which the media will blow into a very large ordeal. These responses damage not only your image, but those of your team as well. Thus, always think before you respond to questions and be wary of what you say. Also as a side note, be humorous with the media because that will improve your standing with them and lead to a positive outlook with all of your responses.

In summation, by following these three simple steps when conducting communication with the media will drastically improve your image and standing with other coaches, sportscasters, etc. After all, what coach wouldn't like having the approval of all of his peers in the workplace.

Family Members, Your Biggest Critic:

As a coach of a sports team, there are many challenges you will face with your players. Teaching the athletes fundamentals, preparing for a big game, and effective practices are the major obstacles but one of the toughest challenges can be communicating with family members of your players if it is not approached the correct way.

Some things to consider when first communicating with family is that they will always see their family member with a little bit of an opinion on how good of an athlete they are, and they will be very protective of that person. Because of this view, things can get a little tricky, especially in a sport that is more focused on the team as a whole. Proper communication is necessary to keep the peace so to say; minor issues can become a huge problem if they are not effectively approached.

Communication between family members should begin at the beginning of the season, there should be meetings that include family members just so they are not left out of the picture, after all they do have a big part in your athletes life. In these meetings, you should always go over team rules, your coaching philosophy, team goals, and outline the practice and game schedule. It is very important to get this out on the table in the beginning of the season to prevent any misunderstanding of what will be expected of your players. Also at the ending of this meeting you should always open up to questions that family members may have, because any issues should be resolved immediately!

During the season there will always be common issues with play time, publicity, and injuries so be prepared, and give a rational answer as to why something is occurring never leave people out in the dark about these things, there is a need for a common understanding among everyone. My suggestion is not to discuss any of these topics immediately after a game because emotions will always be at their height, especially after a loss, before or after practice is ideal.

In the end just remember that YOU ARE IN CHARGE, and you don’t have to change anything to accommodate to others demands, however you should listen to what family members have to say and always know what you stand for, communication is key!