Varsity Head Boy's Basketball Coach

Reports to: Director of Athletics

Length of Contract: Depends on part-time vs full-time

Summary: Varsity Head Coaches are the Program Directors for their respective sports. Program Directors, in partnership with the Athletic Leadership Team, oversee all teams and all levels in their sport. This provides a firm foundation for program development. The coach will strive to motivate and assist athletes, both in-season and out-of-season, to achieve their full potential as young women and as players.

Responsibilities Include But Are Not Limited To:  

• Ø Plan – Written tryouts and/or practice plans are required with no exceptions. Written plans provide the coach with the ability to be both productive and efficient. A progression of skill development and conditioning improvement should be apparent from practice plans. 
• Ø Supervise - A coach must be physically present and provide supervision over a structured practice that is appropriate for the age and maturity level of players. Coaches also need to supervise the condition, safe usage, maintenance, and upkeep of equipment and facilities.
• Ø Assess Athlete Readiness for Practice and Competition – Coaches must be able to evaluate a student-athletes’s physical or maturational ability to compete. If there is any doubt at all, the athlete should not compete until cleared by a medical physician. Our school’s Athletic Trainer will not allow an injured or sick athlete to participate without medical clearance from the athlete’s physician.
• Ø Maintain Safe Playing Conditions – Coaches, full or part-time, paid or volunteer, are considered trained professionals who possess a higher level of knowledge and skill that permits them to identify foreseeable causes of injury specific to a sport and inherent in defective equipment or hazardous environments. Weather conditions are also a consideration here. 
• Ø Provide Proper Equipment – Coaches must ensure that all players are properly equipped with equipment that is appropriate for the age and maturity of the athletes and that is clean, durable, and safe.  
• Ø Instruct Properly – Practices must be characterized by instruction that accounts for a logical sequence of fundamentals that consider the developmental level of the athlete and that lead to an enhanced progression of player knowledge, skill, and capability. In this regard, instruction must move from simple to complex, known to unknown. Instruction must demonstrate appropriate and safe techniques and must include 
• warnings/education about unsafe techniques and prohibited practices.
• Ø Match Athletes – Athletes should be matched against each other with consideration for maturity, skill, age, size, and speed. 
• Ø Condition Properly – Practices must account for a progression of cardiovascular and muscular-skeletal conditioning regimens that prepare athletes sequentially for more challenging practices and competitive activities. Weather conditions should also be considered.
• Ø Provide Emergency Care – All coaches are required to be CPR and First-Aid certified. Coaches are expected to know how to engage professional emergency personnel (911) if needed. Coaches should know where automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are located on campus.
• Ø Other duties as assigned

Expectations:

Long-Term, Program Development Focus – We expect varsity head coaches to be committed long-term to the development of our programs. This means that the girl’s varsity head coach will invest time and energy into developing our coaches and players, starting in the 7th grade and earlier when possible. The ideal candidate possesses the ability to create a pre-season, off-season, and summer schedule within TAPPS rules and school policies to maximize high school player development.

Code of Conduct - Coaches are one of the most significant components of the athletic program and, therefore, must be Christian role models who are committed to fulfilling the mission of the school, desire to disciple our student-athletes, serve their families, and are knowledgeable in their sport. Mentoring, development, care, and safety of our student-athletes are the most important responsibilities of our coaches. Because the behavior of a team can reflect the coach’s manner, attitudes, temperament, and approach to athletics, coaches shall conduct themselves in a way, both on and off the field, that brings positive recognition to God, Fort Worth Christian School, their team, their sport and themselves. Instruction and correction, while demanding and critical, should be positive. Coaches should never intentionally embarrass or demean student-athletes as a method of teaching. The same high standards of preparation, organization, hard work, self-discipline, sacrifice, and Godly behavior that coaches expect of players should be the same that are expected of coaches. Coaches will model good sportsmanship and respectful attitudes toward officials and opposing teams in victory and defeat. All coaches are expected to know the rules of the game and the rules/policies of TAPPS and their league.

Be Certified – As a member of TAPPS (Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools), all high school coaches must be certified to coach. This means that coaches must invest 5-10 hours each year before the start of the season to go through TAPPS-required training and certification.

Be a Master Teacher – This starts with a spirit of humility and a hunger to improve your craft as a coach continually. Great coaches are master teachers. Knowing “x’s and o’s” is one thing… getting players to execute at the finest level of detail requires a master teacher. 

Be Present – Coaches are expected to attend all scheduled events (practices and games). Coaches should arrive at practices and games early enough to set up equipment and the facility and greet their team prior to the scheduled practice. Coaches should not leave the facility of a game or event until all student-athletes have left the premises, or have made prior arrangements with parents.  

Be a Good Steward – Administratively, logistically, and operationally, high school athletics is a large undertaking. Coaches need to keep all equipment, storage areas, locker rooms, weight rooms, fields, and gyms neat, clean, and secure.

Communicate Well and Often – Being a great communicator with players is a given. Varsity Head Coaches must also communicate effectively and routinely with parents. Proactive communication with parents creates clear expectations and minimizes conflicts.

Care Greatly About Details – Coaches must be detail-oriented and organized. Coaches who cannot care about the fine details should not expect a player to care about the fine details. This includes practice plans, drills, game plans, post-game evaluations, playbooks, etc. Assuming you have fine attention and care for detail, you can expect the same from your players. Coaches get what they tolerate.

Focus on the Process – All we can do and ask of our team is to prepare well, work hard, and give great effort while exemplifying the Lord in all we do. Sometimes, doing that produces a win, and sometimes, it does not. We will not focus on the scoreboard or wins and losses. Regardless of baseline talent, we will work to get better each day.

Qualifications:

• Christ-follower, first and foremost
• College degree (if full-time); 3 or more years of high-level head coaching experience required
• Having a CDL is a plus but not required