Mike Potenza: HOW TO SPEAK COACH….  REPORTING, EVALUATING, COMMUNICATING

Mike Potenza – Co-Founder of Metabolic Elite, High Performance Director, San Jose Sharks (NHL)

A critical skill for a performance coach is communicating the results of objective performance data to players, support staff members, fellow coaches, scouts, and management. It is important for the coach to understand who the stakeholders are in the conversation, what information is critical for them to make their evaluations/decisions, and what to visualize in a data set.

It has taken me 19 years to learn, practice, trial, and perfect my approach to communicating with the decision-makers at the teams I have worked with at the professional level. In this article, I will share some of those keys and strategies in hopes that it can prepare fellow coaches for those high-level interactions and sometimes tough conversations with coaches, management, players, and athletic directors.

KEY 1 – The info helps THEM make the decisions. Ultimately, our job as performance coaches is to provide information to key stakeholders that helps them make decisions on player movement, retention, team scheduling, and on-ice/field/court activity. We can’t take it personally if they don’t listen to our recommendations. Performance coaches need to provide data, background information, and logical reasoning for what we provide so that a coach, general manager, or scout can make the best decision they can.

KEY 2 – No bias zone. Performance coaches spend a ton of time with the athletes during the calendar year. We are invested in their process, want to see them succeed, and create new limits for themselves physically and athletically. That support or bias in no way should affect what is reported in their physical testing performances, whether improved or unimproved. You don’t play favorites or massage the data. We are in the business of difficult conversations, and with all parties, honesty must be forthright. Honest conversations around performance data and tracking sets the path for the player who needs to improve, the coach who needs to pull back workloads, and the athlete who is on track and needs to stay the course. Remember, you are not picking sides! You are just reporting the numbers, and the path needed to make gains or adjustments for the team to be at their best when the whistle blows.

KEY 3 – Don’t overload the staff with data. Data can be extremely useful to help guide your training and planning, but in the same light, data can be paralyzing if too many tests are captured and have not been vetted properly prior to implementation within the team. You shouldn’t test simply to test! It should be purposeful, relevant, reliable, and provide insight into a player’s performance and be a beneficial KPI for return to play. Once you have established the physical qualities that you want to track for your sport/athlete, decide on parameters for those categories that best reflect measurements that are highly correlated to successful performance in the sport. It is important to communicate the relevance and relationship that the chosen tests/parameters have to the sport to all parties involved. Once that is established, the performance coach can then be detailed with what is presented on player performance to the coach and GM.

BE READY!

Common Questions I’ve gotten over the years…
To provide deeper insight into a meeting with a performance coach and management, sport coaches, scouts, and medical team members, I have provided some common questions that come up and to be prepared for. Questions cover three main areas: individual players, team test scores, and how does this player improve on them? Is the player better than last year, or last training camp, at this time?
• Who is a comparable player at this position?
• Where does this player rank among the team at this training camp and historically for our team?
• How long will it take to get this player to an elite level of performance?
• Are they back to their personal best after injury?
• If an injured player is not back to his or her personal best performance baseline, how long will it take?

Ultimately, the art of communicating performance data is about striking a balance between providing comprehensive, actionable information and avoiding information overload. By mastering this skill, performance coaches can significantly impact their team’s success, player development, and their own professional growth in the competitive world of sports.

Moreover, being prepared for common questions from management, coaches, and other stakeholders demonstrates a coach’s professionalism and expertise. This preparedness not only enhances the coach’s credibility but also facilitates more productive discussions and decision-making processes within the organization.