Gameday’s can be complicated but they shouldn’t be. Depending on the size of your operation, the head coach can be in charge of balls, water, visitors locker room and more. Or you may be able to just show up and everything is there. For those of us somewhere in the middle I have a suggestion…..you NEED a Gameday Coordinator.
Gameday Coordinator
You may have a parent that wants to assist in someway but they don’t want to commit a lot of time and meetings that may be expected of the booster board. I’ve got the perfect job for them. Giving them the job of a Gameday Coordinator (GC) makes them feel like they are contributing to the team, but also takes a lot of work off your shoulders. And the time required is only on gamedays. They should get the list of pregame to-dos and be the primary contact for all parties come gameday – not you. The coach has plenty to think about on gameday, and running around finding managers, balls, and cones really shouldn’t be one of them.
GC Gameday Job 1. Keeper of the important things. The GC should have or know where everything is. Examples: cones, game balls, table and chairs for sideline, visitors locker room, team camera, scorebook and extra pens, water bottles, and whatever else. If they know where all this is, then you don’t need to be asked about any of those things. And you can focus on your job, coaching lacrosse.
GC Gameday Job 2. Hopefully you have found managers already for your season. The managers job at a minimum is setting balls and cones around the field and taking stats. You should spend time with them before gameday, at a scrimmage or watching a game on TV, to teach them the stats you want to keep. They should know where to access the balls, cones, and scorebook. If they do not, they should report to the GC. I recommend my managers show up 30-40 minutes before gametime to ensure everything is set up (and so we know they are here). GC should also have the manager’s phone numbers to track them down if necessary.
GC Gameday Job 3. If you school does not supply a contact for the opposing team when they arrive, then let your GC be the go between. They can handle showing the visitors the locker room, letting them know where the trainer usually is, where they can fill up their water, and answer any basic questions. If your GC cannot answer all questions they can reach out to you, but this should limit your involvement from the other team before the game. Because lets be honest, do you really want to “help” the other team before the game 🙂
GC Gameday Job 4. Time and checklists are a valuable thing. There are times I have gotten a little into what we were doing and I get the team out to the field a little late. Or because of what I’m focused on I forget the rest of the items on the gameday checklist. This can be put on the GC. Their job is to ensure that everything up until gametime runs the way its supposed to. Maybe they are knocking on the locker room door, or running around the field. But ultimately they are getting things done without you.
GC Gameday Job 5. Postgame. You can have your person involved in postgame and making sure all the items that were used (cones, balls, etc) during the game get to where they need to. I usually take the scorebook and camera with me, they can keep the game balls and cones. If yours is really good you can have them aggregate all the stats and send them to you. They could take your camera and upload your film to whichever site you are using. There are options dependent on your relationship and their knowledge.
Remember the bottom line is to have a Gameday Coordinator to help alleviate some of the non-coaching activities off your plate so you can focus on the task at hand. This person can really be invaluable and their time commitment can be quite minimal. And most of there job is really for home games so that cuts their necessary time even further. Quick tip – ensure your AD is aware of the arrangement and ok with it so they don’t chase off your GC. If you have a parent or person that will be there anyway, why not ask them to be the Gameday Coordinator because it will only benefit your team.