🏃‍♀️ Unpaid internships, good perspective, & more

What’s up y’all? Cici here.

Welcome back to More Her Speed, a weekly no-BS newsletter all about women in coaching.

Last week, we crossed the 1,000 subscriber mark and I just have to say how TRULY GRATEFUL I am. Can’t thank you all enough for making us a small part of your weekly routine. Be sure to pass the secret along to your friends in the industry!

Providing vs. Taking VALUE

The past few months we have been very busy at Spellman Performance with two major aspects of our business… NFL offseason training and our Speed City Tour.

In the past week or so, BOTH of these have come to a close.

After spending a few months wrapped up in these environments, and receiving help from so many different coaches and experts across the country, I recently paused to reflect on one controversial topic in the coaching world… unpaid internships.

An internship can provide a young coach with ENDLESS

• Resources

• Information

• Education

• Value

I worked a lot for free, and I know a lot of my fellow coaches did as well. There is a ton of value in some of these situations where you might not be paid at first, but capitalizing on the opportunity will lead to a paid gig down the road.

It can be hard to find your lane or your niche off of a paid position. Interning allows you to see what you enjoy and don’t enjoy about different roles in the industry.

If you’re going to spend your time somewhere and not get paid for it, you want to soak up everything that you can… ALL of the value that you can.

WHILE providing the most value that you can.

On-field is Just the Start

A great resource for coaches and athletes is the Simplifaster educational platform.

I recently read an article from David Maris, who is a former sprinter and now coach’s NCAA DIII Track at University of St. Thomas in Houston.

I appreciated this article because he talks in detail about the amount of work that has to be done OUTSIDE of actual coaching.

He details

• Recruiting

• Helping athletes mentally

He also touches on the disadvantages of not going to college in the states, and how he overcomes that to build relationships with his athletes.

I’m sure all of you can relate to at least one of those points in some way or another as we go through this journey in coaching.

I definitely can:

The rest of our team always jokes around and says that I’m the “relationship-keeper” of the team because I keep in consistent contact with all the athletes and they are likely to confide in me if they’re going through something.

It’s not something you initially think about when stepping into this role, but it soon becomes a reality for most of us.

Maris is very honest and raw about some of the struggles we all see, whether that be the physical demands of the job or the minority in the group.

We all have different experiences in the space but it was refreshing to read the transparency and relate to his content.

Quote of the week

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”

-Coach John Wooden

The big things don’t just happen. They are the product of doing the little things right over and over again.

Have a blessed week.

Appreciate y’all,

Cici