Positive Coaching Alliance: Social Media Training

In August, Sammamish Rowing Association (SRA) announced a 3 year partnership with the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA). The PCA works to develop better athletes and people through resources for youth and high school sport coaches, parents, administrators and student-athletes. Through its resources such as printable tools, videos, workshops, and audio tools, PCA strives to create a positive, character-building youth sports culture. 
 
SRA’s partnership with PCA aims to help our coaches become and remain Double-Goal Coaches. A Double-Goal Coach strives to win while also pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports. Our coaches continuously think about balancing the drive and ambition to win while also building a lifelong passion for rowing. 
 
Just this fall our coaches have participated in a PCA workshop, and have been taking part in the ACCEL Sports Management Certificate at the University of Washington. In these courses our coaches have worked alongside other sports coaches to discuss team culture, leadership, and athlete development. They’ve learned creatively through engaging lectures, group work, role-playing coaching scenarios, and completing worksheets and assignments meant to explore all areas of their coaching.
 
PCA training has seen higher retention rates of both coaches and athletes which they attribute to the Double-Goal Coach Model Training that influences coaches to change their coaching behavior, enabling them to more positively influence the experiences of the athletes on their teams. We believe that our athletes deserve the best, and when we invest in our coaches we invest in our athletes.
 
The PCA also works with student-athletes and parents. Many SRA parents attended the Second-Goal Parent workshop in September to learn how they can best support their student-athlete. This Saturday, our rowers will attend their own workshop focusing on social media usage. All rowers are required to attend the PCA training this Saturday, November 17th, from 8:30 am-10:30 am.
 
In a world where social media is becoming increasingly used in our daily lives this training will be an opportunity for our athletes to examine their use of social media and its impact on the team, themselves, and the community as a whole. A certified PCA trainer will use a series of personal reflections and several real-life scenarios to help athletes think deeply about their use of the various social platforms. Rowers will consider their personal brand and how social media plays into other people’s perceptions of them, including collegiate coaches and recruiters.
 
Upon conclusion of this workshop, our student-athletes will leave equipped with social media guidelines that they can enact in their school community, personal life, or team. We hope this training helps carry on the goal of PCA to create better athletes and better people. By being deliberate in how our athletes present themselves at school, around the boathouse, and within their own communities they can work towards becoming a positive influence on others and leading by example. 
 
We look forward to seeing all rowers present at this training, and we hope this workshop creates an open dialogue within friend groups and families on the importance of smart social media use. If you would like to learn more about the PCA and explore some of their 1,500+ free resources, check out their home webpage linked in the article. To read about our 3-year partnership visit our blog post linked below.

Learn More: PCA

Learn More: PCA & SRA