Ashland University head coach Robyn Fralick presented Player/Coach Relationships during the WBCA’s August Webinar Series. If you missed it, check out the full webinar on the WBCA Coaching Library.
Due to time constraints, some participants’ questions were not addressed during the webinar. Fralick submitted these answers to those queries.
What are some things you do to make sure your players are great teammates?
We have our players do a summer buddy reading series where once a week, in the summer, they are communicating with each other — going over articles about leadership, selflessness, etc. In preseason, our captains lead Sunday articles where they go over topics such as: what is our locker room going to look like; what is our huddle going to be; or what if you don't play?
Do you have any type of parent meeting explaining core values/great teammate philosophy? We do have a parent meeting going over our expectations in our program and the process in which we communicate. We emphasize how their level of support will greatly impact their daughters’ experience. We also review our core values and general information for the season for all the new parents. For returning parents, we send out a letter with this information.
Culture…other examples of building blocks of culture and how you integrate that as a new coach? Your culture and values need to match what you value and truly believe in. The trick is to find ways for those core values to come alive in your program — where your team is living them out with purpose. This requires some thinking outside of the box.
Can you give an example of some of the pre-practice connectors? Do you have everyone share every day or just a few? We do pre-practice connectors every day. I alternate weeks between doing Minute Mondays, Tough Tuesday, Wisdom Wednesday, Thankful Thursday, Funny Friday and Sunrise Saturday (highlight of the week). The alternating week I do our core values as pre-practice connectors. Participants share every day — except Tough Tuesday (it’s an open forum).
Fun Fridays, tough Tuesdays, what do you do the other days? (see above.)
What is a quote that you go back to daily or often? And who is the biggest influence for you? A quote I think about a lot is, "Don't confuse simple with easy." My goal is to try and simplify the game and the experience so players can trust themselves to play and to enjoy the experience.
Biggest influence: Jesus and my family. I have a 10-month-old and 4-year-old and they teach me so much every day.