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Coaches Corner: Take Advantage of Professional Development Opportunities, Especially State Coaching Conventions

01/24/2017, 11:45am CST
By Jeff Dorschner, Crivitz AD & baseball coach

"Coaches Corner" articles are written directly by high school coaches, providing a unique perspective on topics both on and off the court that impact the game and prep sports in general.

Written by Crivitz athletic director and baseball coach Jeff Dorschner, who has coached baseball for eight years at the school.

The State of Wisconsin has some of the best coaches associations in the country. I have had the opportunity to begin attending the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Clinic while I was still attending college and since I began coaching high school baseball back in 2006, I have had the chance to take in the WBCA clinic every year in February in Madison.  

The Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association as well as the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association put on a great clinic every year in their respective sports that I have had the opportunity to attend. Almost every interscholastic sport in our state has an annual clinic. Many volunteers spend tireless hours lining up guest speakers to come to our state from around the country and share the knowledge of the sport we all love to teach.

If you are a young coach starting out or even if you have many years under your belt, you owe your student-athletes and your coaching staff to be a life-long learner. Coaching clinics provide opportunities to get involved and share your knowledge of the game. It gives coaches a chance to network with college coaches and other high school coaches from around the state.

Speaking from personal experiences, the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association does not get enough credit for all the time and effort they put into promoting baseball in the state of Wisconsin and encouraging our student-athletes to play at the next level. Wisconsin has been a hot bed as of late for southern schools to come in a recruit our players. Mark Fuller of Cumberland, Marty Paulson of Fond du Lac, Joe Waite of Cumberland, Tom Wilson of Shawano, and Ron Kading of Potosi are just a few of the long standing members who have been leaders within this organization to provide education for our coaches in this state for decades.   

Budgets seem to get tighter and tighter in school districts across the state. However, schools spend money every year on in-service training for their professional staff development. Coaching clinics provide that same professional staff development for you and your assistant coaches. If your budget currently does not allow you to attend these clinics, I encourage you to have a conversation with your athletic director about providing your coaches within the district the opportunity to attend these annual events. Your players deserve your best effort and the recognition. To all the high school baseball coaches in Wisconsin, we will see you February 10th in Madison!

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