🎯 What Sports Coaches Can Learn from Great Teachers

Every sports coach knows the feeling...

You’ve planned a great session — thought carefully about the drills, the progressions, the learning outcomes — and then halfway through, it starts to unravel.

A few athletes are switched off, messing around, not listening. The intensity drops, the energy drains from the group, and you find yourself getting frustrated.

I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit. You can see potential in the group, but when they’re disengaged, it doesn’t matter how good the session design is — nothing really sticks.

My wife’s a brilliant teacher (I'm in awe of her but obviously I don’t tell her that nearly enough), and we talk about this a lot. In her world, engagement is everything.

It’s not just about keeping students busy or quiet — it’s about getting them genuinely involved: thinking, questioning, and caring about what they’re learning.

When students are engaged, behaviour improves, learning deepens, and everyone feels part of the process.

And the more we talk, the more I realise how much sport has to learn from the education world.

Teachers have all these great techniques and skills to manage the classroom setting and student behaviours. The best teachers are masters at creating environments where every individual feels challenged, supported, and involved — and that’s exactly what great coaching is too. 

Here are a few lessons from the classroom that I believe translate directly to the field, court, track or water 👇

1️⃣ Engagement drives learning and behaviour

Teachers know that engagement is the bridge between attention and learning.

If a student’s not engaged, nothing else works.

In coaching, it’s the same — disengaged athletes don’t learn, don’t improve, and often disrupt others. Engagement isn’t a bonus; it’s the foundation.

2️⃣ Active learning keeps everyone involved

Great teachers don’t lecture — they create active classrooms where every student participates.

As coaches, our sessions should do the same. Keep athletes moving, thinking, and deciding.

Design activities where everyone’s involved rather than waiting their turn. Learning happens through doing, not watching. 

Please please, no long lines of players waiting for their turn and no long lectures - be concise, be clear and move on!

3️⃣ Ask better questions

My wife often talks about how she uses questioning to keep students thinking:

“What did you notice?” 

“Why do you think that worked?”

Coaches can do exactly the same. Asking rather than telling helps athletes reflect, problem-solve, and take ownership of their development.

It turns compliance into curiosity.

4️⃣ Different challenges for different learners

In classrooms, teachers tailor work so every student feels stretched but not overwhelmed. They call it differentiation or to be right up to date “adaptive teaching”

Coaches need to do the same — small adjustments to task difficulty, space, or rules can keep everyone in that sweet spot where they’re challenged and confident.

When challenge and support are balanced, motivation soars.

This can be a real challenge in big groups - you’re facilitating the session rather than coaching it. My old head coach at cycling used to say “I’m not paying you to facilitate, I’m playing you to coach” 

If you have enough coaches a skills carousel can be a great way to divide and achieve more.

5️⃣ Structure creates freedom

The best classrooms and lessons run on clear routines and expectations.

That structure actually creates freedom.

In sport, consistent session flow, clear communication, understood behaviour expectations and simple frameworks do the same — they free athletes to focus on performance rather than confusion.

Structure isn’t control. It’s clarity.

“When I’m talking, keep the balls still - no bouncing/kicking/throwing them”

6️⃣ Variety sustains attention

Teachers vary pace and activity to hold attention.

Coaches can too. Mix short, intense bursts with slower reflection. Change tasks, constraints, or team setups.

Variety isn’t about entertainment — it’s about keeping people mentally alive.

7️⃣ Connect learning to purpose

Students switch on when they see why something matters.

Athletes are no different. Link drills to game situations, race plans, or performance goals.

Create a clear session objective and articulate it at the start of the session - having it written up on a white board is even better and allows you to come back to it within the debrief. “Have we achieved what we intended to?”

When the “why” is clear, effort and focus follow.

8️⃣ Relationships are everything ❤️

The best teachers know their students — their personalities, their triggers, their strengths.

Coaching is no different.

The deeper the relationship, the stronger the engagement. When athletes feel seen and understood, they give you their best.

Connection always comes before correction.

9️⃣ Feedback fuels motivation

Teachers use feedback to guide, encourage, and celebrate progress.

Coaches can do the same. Recognise effort, highlight progress, and be specific.

Feedback isn’t just correction — it’s fuel for motivation.

💬 Final thought

Coaching and teaching have more in common than we sometimes realise.

Both are about creating environments where people want to learn and feel safe to fail, experiment, and grow.

So next time a session starts to unravel — when attention drifts and you feel that frustration rise — take a breath and think like a teacher.

Ask yourself: 

👉 Is every athlete engaged? 

👉 Are they thinking, doing, and learning?

Because in the end, engagement isn’t just a teaching term — it’s the heartbeat of great sessions and great coaching.